Guest Post from Moxie's Mom: Five Ways to Use Play To Teach Your Child To Read

Carrie wrote in with the following question:

"My 3 ½ year old son has been asking me to teach him to read.  This is fantastic, of course, and I want to help him.  I’ve always been of the opinion that he’ll learn when he learns.  I am the anti-thesis of a flashcard parent.  I believe children this age should have fun, not be pushed into academics.

But he asked, so I guess that means he might want flashcards.  Is there a pre-K reading program you or your readers could recommend?  Hooked on Phonics is the only one that comes to mind, but I’m sure there are tons out there."

I asked my mom if she could write a response. She was a reading specialist for years at the lower elementary level (often working with kids who had reading problems), and my brother and I were early readers. She does NOT recommend flashcards, and thinks there's no need whatsoever to spend money on programs. Here's what she sent me (I didn't edit anything, but I typed it in from her longhand, so all typos are mine):

Five Ways To Use Play To Teach Your Child To Read
By Moxie's Mom

My daughter doesn't remember learning to read. As far as she knows, she always could, so the mechanics of it are not obvious in her experience. So how did I do that? Organically! With play.

That is to say, we played with words and letters and rhymes and sounds. (Just like Sesame Street, you say? Or Electric Company? Right!)

Her dad had a collection of ABC books, which helped. But often it was just: "M is for Moxie and Mama and maybe." Or "B is for baby and boys and bla-bla-bla."

Sometimes it was just made-up sing-songs as we walked around the block. "Walk-walk-walk, talk-talk-talk, rock-rock-rock, sock-sock-sock, knock-knock-knock" until you run out and choose another word to rhyme and chant with each step or hop or skip.

An old word-and-letter game goes like this: "Moxie von Boxie, Tea-elligo Foxie! Tea-legged, toe-legged, bow-legged Moxie! Daddy von Baddy tea-elligo Faddy! tea-legged, toe-legged, bow-legged Daddy!"

SING the old alphabet song to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star. You gotta know the alphabet--in order. And I know a few adults who hum under their breath when looking up phone numbers--alphabetical order, uh-huh! So sing it to and with her, and in connection with movement when you can--walking, hopping, bouncing a ball to punctuate each letter, jumping rope if your kid is athletic (mine weren't).

Why MOVEMENT? I don't know the whole science, but it just works that way. Incorporating sound (song) and movement helps one learn. Kind of like opening more windows and doors to let the fragrance in.

Now let me digress. You will be amazed at the Power of Cute when your poppet sings her ABC's for others! I once found my friend's 5th grader and his buddies gathered around Moxie, age 2, asking her to sing her ABC's again! When we got home, she had pennies clutched in her little fist. They'd been paying her to sing her ABC's! (Less messy than lemonade stands; give it a thought!)

Buy those PLASTIC LETTERS with magnets on them, and clear a space on your refrigerator or the side of your file cabinet. Just not the stove! Then go for it. Slap a letter up. (Or ask him to put a letter up.) And then say its name to each other. And the sounds the letter makes. (Some have several sounds, true.) And do we know some words that use this letter/this sound? Family names, pet names, street, toys...you get it. Dwell on things that are important to your child.

Did I tell you to read, read, read?! Of course, you've been doing this to your kid from before he talked. (If not, drop this and go read to him now!)

And you've held her and read to her at bedtime. And you've even read the same book eight times in a row, until she can recite it back to you! You blessed, patient parent! She'll read to you when you are old.

You have let them see you reading everything from road signs to cake mix instructions to the daily paper. Have you pointed out the letters on the cereal box--if you have that at hand? Or the bread bag or the flour sack and the canola oil bottle. Messy as it may be to take time with these labels before popping them in the cupboard out of sight, the time taken to search for "my M" is important to your pre-reader.

That reminds me--just as important is the running, yelling and climbing your little ones do whenever you let them. Active play--the large muscle activities--yeah, throwing things, too--are necessary to provide the basis for the small muscle activity of reading. Huh? I said: Let your child work out his whole body before you expect him to sit still and move only his eyes in 1/1000 of an inch intervals. Large muscles develop coordination and make possible the small muscle coordination used in reading. For some reason, boys need more of this large muscle activity in the early years. But don't worry; they catch up and read just as well.

Have you got a couple of letters or even words she recognizes now? Let her cut them out of your magazine and stick them on a paper to keep. (Glue sticks work well for this.) Now she has her own word list--for on the refrigerator, of course. So she can show off every time she breezes by. It could even be her "dictionary" or "glossary," and if you wrote that title on it she would learn a very big word!

Do you have sidewalk chalk? We once had--in crayon--MOXIE IS A PIG AND A HOG inscribed on the piers of our front steps when Little Brother was learning to be literate.

By then Moxie had taken over my manual portable TYPEWRITER. Buy one at a garage sale or Craigslist. Ask, if you don't see one--they probably didn't think anyone would want it. But you do! It is good practice identifying letters, learning to read printed letters--which aren't shaped exactly like the letters we print by hand. And it provides opportunities for creative writing. Yes, it'll maybe drive you a little nuts to have to spell things over and over. But because what's on the paper in the end is meaningful, she will learn quickly to read it back. After awhile, she'll stop asking how to spell "and" and "the" and the cat's name. And there you go: tomorrow you may find out who's a hog and a pig!

Don't think you need to buy new technology to help your kid read. Re-cycle junk mail and newspapers. And remember Jesus wrote in the dirt. What about toothpaste on the inside of the bathtub? Alphabet macaroni? Alphabet soup?

Your attitude counts.The story in our family is that Grandpa came home from his first day at school and wrote HEN on the back wall of the farmhouse. He must have gotten praise for it, not rebuke, as he was a lifelong learner and educator, retiring as Education Professor and Placement Director from the oldest teacher training institution west of the Mississippi.

While you're at it, make your child map literate, too. Map the house, the neighborhood--from home to the park and the store, the backyard with an X where the jar of treasure is buried, the way to school, the road to grandma's or wherever you go for vacation. Use maps, make maps, orient them properly and follow them. Talk about north, south, east and west as well as left and right. The idea is to make your child literate. If she turns out literary, also, fine. She may ask you to write a column some day.

Comments

[laury]

What a cute column! Can we have more?

[Mel]

That was awesome! Thanks so much Moxie's Mom. What great ideas!

[Kate]

I heart this. I had the same experience--can't remember learning to read, it's always been there. And my daughter, too, just seemed to wake up one morning last summer knowing.

There is nothing as sweet as watching your kids sit happily with books--so you can too :)

[sudru]

Just beautiful!

[Erin]

That was really amazing advice. The timing of the post was really perfect for me - my little one is just learning how to talk, but I'm trying to stay ahead of his developmental curve by figuring out what he needs NEXT before he needs it NOW. This will really help me think about the next big stage. I don't think it ever would have occurred to me to tie physical movement to the rhythm of rhyme. We are big players, so this should be easy for us to incorporate. I bet we could use some of the same techniques to help him learn words too. Thanks, Moxie's Mom! I see rocking runs in your genetic pool.

[Abacaxi Mamao]

Such great ideas! And I'm so happy to remember so many of these things as part of my childhood.

I do remember learning to read, in first grade, with the rest of the kids. But before I learned to read, I wrote my first book. I remember sitting at my little table in our playroom (basement) and running up the stairs to ask my mom how to spell "flower" and "rainbow," because that's what my first book, at age 5, was about. We had magnets on the fridge from forever. The first book that I read (but didn't write) was "Pat the Cat" and I was so proud! I remember my parents and older sister sitting around reading and I wanted to read, too! After "Pat the Cat," my next regular reading material were "Garfield" and "The Family Circus," as well as the back, front, and sides of the cereal box.

[Shanna]

Terrific advice, Moxie's Mom!

My kids (now 2y5m) adopted two defunct keyboards (we have a lot of dead computer equipment lying around) as toys a few months before their second birthday, and they learned their capital letters that way...sitting on the floor with Mommy or Daddy (usually Daddy) asking, "Daddy, what's this letter? Daddy, what's THIS letter?" And he instinctively responded with "M for Mommy," D for Daddy," and so on. Same thing when they find letters in our books or on signs they can see or whatever. We also sing (and sometimes try to sign) the alphabet song, but I never thought of big movement to help with that. Next big challenge is lowercase letters - at the moment, my son thinks a lowercase L is an I.

[Shannon]

Great post! I heartily agree. My grandmother taught me in the same way, esp. with lots and lots of reading to me, and I began to read shortly after I turned 2!

[Michelle]

This is a great post! My little guy just turned 3 and is VERY verbal so we have already been doing some of this stuff; although not really with the goal of early reading. He learned the alphabet song way before he could actually recognize the individual letters. And we got him the Leap Pad Letter Factory dvd which goes over all the letters and their sounds. Picked it up for $10 and he freaking loved it. I did get him some Thomas the train alphabet flashcards because he asked for them. They were really helpful for learning his lowercase letters as it has both upper/lower case letter on one side and an engine or item on the other side that starts with that letter.

You can get foam alphabet letters for the bath that stick to the tile from Target/Walmart for $5. These were invaluable when my older stepson was a little delayed in his speech/language.

And he has a big basket of books that he can easily reach and will often grab one and flip through it making up his own stories to the pictures on the pages. Although he still tries to con mommy into more than 2 stories each night at bedtime. Heh!

[Shanna]

Oh yeah, Michelle reminds me that our kids also "read" to us at bedtime. It's really more memorization than anything else, but they each read/recite one of the stories from Sandra Boynton's _Snoozers_ (seven 2-page quickie bedtime stories/songs), with the parent on duty helping point to the general part of the page and filling in/helping with words when it seems appropriate. Not as good for the imagination (that happens other times of day), but it's probably helping make the connections between sounds and letters.

[michaela]

Loved this - not least because it makes me feel good about our decidedly low-key approach with my 3 y.o. daughter. She is all about recognizing the first letter of her name -- "Dat's my letter, Mama!" she yells. At the moment she's got little to no interest in other letters, but she loves "reading" to her animals and doing storytime with them a la daycare.

One thing I'm curious about: We have both wooden magnet letters and the Leap Frog letters on our fridge, and it just seems like too much to me -- I can barely think straight when I see them all jumbled up there. I'm thinking of taking one set off so the remaining letters are a little less cluttered - does that make sense??

[marci]

thanks, moxie's mama!! my little guy (2 1/2) can say & recognize the letters in his name and sing the rhythm of the alphabet song while muffing most of the letters between h & v. i really appreciate the ideas about jumping/running & singing. we also got some wall stickers (low tack, like a cross between wallpaper & a post-it) of the alphabet that we put by his high chair.

[rkmama]

Loved this. Thanks, Moxie's mom! Especially the points on incorporating movement and gross motor skills. I never thought of that, but it makes complete sense.
I was a s-l-o-w one to learn reading, so I remember the struggle. My mom still talks about how I just thought I should be able to look at the words and have them make sense- I didn't want to go through the process of, I don't know, say, sounding them out or anything ;).
Still though, once my 1st grade teacher recognized I was having trouble, all my mom did was cuddle up with me and read me whatever I wanted. 20+ years later I have a degree in English Literature and Writing and a ridiculous number of bursting bookshelves. That is to say, there is hope for other slowbies out there, such as myself.

[the milliner]

Had to smile at Moxie Mom's reference to the Electric Company and Sesame Street. For the longest time I've used the '1-2-3-4-5, 6-7-8-9-10, 11-12' 'song' from the Electric Company to calm/distract my little guy when he's having a fit on the changing table. Works like a charm. So does singing the alphabet at varying speeds (fast and slow within one round). DS thinks this is the most hilarious thing ever. So glad to hear that this might help him in his reading as well one day (he's 12.5 mos).

Loved all the suggestions and loved even more that it encourages reading so organically. Easier on the parents, easier on the kids, more fun for both. DH & I are avid readers, so we've made sure to have a lot of books around from the start, and have read to DS almost from day one. Must admit I was quite surprised when he started turning the pages himself (each time after I paused in reading) during our bedtime read at about 10 mos. We keep books around as play things that DS can easily access himself, and I'm hoping that encourages him to explore books on his own. Even if it is just for putting in his mouth now. But he does flip the pages now and then. Now I just need to convince his daycare that his room (infant room 0 - 12/14 mos) needs some books for the littlest ones to play with. Even if they can't read...yet!

FWIW, we bought some bilingual flashcards (same illustration on both sides with English word on one side & French on the other). I don't really use them with him yet, but we think they might help him out when he starts to speak & is learning words in both French & English, which are both spoken to him and around him daily. We'll see...

[marci]

ps - love the tags! ;)

[Cloud]

Pumpkin is loving her magnetic letters, which I bought her just last weekend. She'd been playing with some at day care, and her attachment to them was making it hard to get her out the door... so I decided I needed to find her some for at home. I had a hard time finding big ones until someone gave me the idea of going to a teaching supply store. I wanted to be able to let her play with them while I was cooking, with my back turned to her.

She likes to group them by letter and by color, and she has been picking up new letters from this. She knew about 4 when we started, and probably knows 10 or so now. She likes to bring me the M's (and W's- they look the same to her) and tell me "M is for Mommy".

@Michaela- given our experience, I'd move the leap frog letters for now. Pumpkin is less interested in the little song (she has the leap frog school bus that does this) than in playing with the letters by color and identity. Of course, your kid may have different interests.

[Cathy]

Excellent ideas!

We put our set of Leap Frog letters on the back of our front door. When kids are waiting by the door because it's time to go, we'll sometimes hear, "A says Ah. A says Ah. Every letter makes a sound...." Also, we have some magnetic poetry words up higher on the same door, and they have been rearranged into odd statements by the older people.

For @michaela, concerned that there are too many letters on the fridge, you could try a "letter of the week" thing and put only a couple letters from each set on the fridge at a time, too.

My husband picked up a memory game that had pictures like fish, bed, dog, etc. and put some of them into an inexpensive photo brag book for our 18 month old to "read". Also, I made a similar book for La when she was about that age that had family photos of people sleeping (I called it, "Sleeping is Fun.") It was a fun story to "read".

[Kathy]

Your mom is awesome!

[Jac]

I love all these ideas. With all three of her children my mum used Ladybird's Dick and Jane books to teach us to read. I'm like Moxie - I dont remember learning, it just feels like I've always known how. My brother and sister are the same - all of us were reading by the time we started kindergarten. My mum still has the whole set of Ladybird books, so I'll probably use them too. However, it would definitely be complimentary to other ways of introducing reading, because the Ladybird books aren't the most interesting story.

[Aaron]

@michaela - I would take one set off for sure. A friend of mine would even put 4 or 5 of the leap frog letters up at a time. When her son got bored of those she'd switch it up. He knew all his letter before he was 2 and his alphabet (in order) not much after that.

[Cynthia]

My just-turned-2 year old was an early learner when it came to the letters and corresponding sounds - we have the leapfrog letters and big foam ones for the bath, both are great. He thinks rhyming is the funniest thing on earth. My question is, what are some good phonics/rhyming books for a really young kid who happens to be into it? I don't want to push him, but I figure I might as well encourage, since he really seems to enjoy it.

[Aaron]

@ the milliner - Our 2y.o. daughter has her own shelf on our bookshelf in the living room. We too read to her from the time she came home from the hospital (actually before that I read to her in the womb). She can recite some of the books she loves best (that we have read over and over again) - blew us away when she started doing that. She goes and selects her own books and either sits and "reads" them herself, to her stuffed monkey, or brings them to us to read to her. So, it will pay off and he will explore books on his own because of it.

[Aaron]

@cynthia - try any Dr. Seuss books - "Hop on Pop." Also a cute one we discovered was "Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb" by Al Perkins. After reading it to our daughter 4 times (22 months at the time) she was reciting it back to us.
P.D. Eastman books are good too, "Are you My Mother?" is fun. Those are all "Bright and Early Books for Beginning Beginners" by Random House.

[Cloud]

@Michaela- one other thing I forgot: we put a small shoe box next to the fridge. Pumpkin's letters can go on the fridge or in the box. This lets her decide how many she wants on the fridge at a time and has cut down on the number of letters on the floor.

@Cynthia- I can't think of any books that aim to teach rhyming, but a couple of our current favorite books that rhyme are Silly Sally and Llama, Llama, Red Pajama. Pretty much every book my Hubby's parents send us rhymes, too- they live in New Zealand, and apparently rhyming is a big thing for kids books there. Sadly, my absolute favorite of these (The Kings Bubbles, by Ruth Paul) doesn't seem to be available in the US. You can get the Hairy McClary books here, though, and Pumpkin likes those. She likes the good old Mother Goose rhymes, too.

[hydrogeek]

How funny, my daughter did the large movement learning thing to ME! All the sudden started demanding to sing ABC's (or other songs she was trying to learn) while holding my hands and jumping on the bed. We are jumping "in time" so maybe she's learning that too. Who knows. Awesome to know that the big motion helps with learning, so thanks Moxie's Mom!

[Cathy]

@Cynthia - He might like Snug House Bug House (also a Dr. Seuss Bright and Early book). Also Chicka Chicka Boom Boom is fun. My 18 month old likes "Hippoes Go Berserk" by Sandra Boynton. We have Vroom Chugga Vroom Vroom from when the monkey was little. I think cadence is just about as important as rhyme....

[Jenn (dish)]

This post was great! We have been using the methods your mom described and so far we have one very literate little boy (and his little sister is not far behind). Most of it was self-driven--the kid is simply enthralled with all things letter. Fine by me. One thing that we have in our collection that gave him a jump start on some of the letters and words was the "A to Z Symphony". It's a collection of 26 one-minute pieces of classical music set to a video of something related to that letter. So, for instance, B is for butterfly and the music is Spring by Vivaldi. The information is introduced right before the clip. My son started spelling words by using the connections in the video (so, HAT would have been "horse, apple, tea party). That started around 18 months. Now, at age four, he knows the letters by their actual names but will identify classical pieces by their "letter." Too funny.

Oh, and a side note about the alphabet song--my daughter, who is now 22 months, has been singing the song for the last month or so, but has completely interwoven the alphabet letters and the "twinkle, twinkle" lyrics. "How you are, Q, R, S..." I love it.

[michaela]

Duh, why did it never occur to me that I could just put up a *few* letters, rather than the whole set?? My mind defaults to all-or-nothing scenarios more often than I would like to admit...

Thanks for the suggestions, y'all!

[MrsHaley]

"And remember, Jesus wrote in the dirt."

Boy, doesn't that just say it all!?!?

[Elaine]

I second @Cathy's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom/cadence suggestion. I can get my toddler to dance to that book if my cadence and speed are just right. Same with the book Bear Snores On.

I'll be printing this out and referring to it again and again. Thanks Moxie's Mom.

[Bonnie]

This is incredible! We are raising our child in a two-language household so this will come in handy. Actually, I'd love to know if anyone else is raising their children in bilingual households and how they are dealing with teaching language/learning to read...

My husband was also one of those kids who just knew how to read and my mother-in-law swears by a series of (out of print) British books called Puddle Lane...

[mom2boys]

@ Cloud Llama, Llama, Red Pajama just came in the mail and it's the new favorite book before bed at our house. Go Dog Go is a big favorite as is Goodnight Moon. Those are the three bedtime books in the current rotation.

[rkmama]

I don't know how you all do it because all our magnetic letters and numbers are residing under our fridge and stove. Well, except for the Q, W, 0, A and 8. The kids love them but they are the bane of our bare feet's existence, which is why they haven't been retrieved yet :).

[Charisse]

Love Moxie's mom! I have some questions about a later stage--Mouse is 5 now, so maybe we're not really talking about early reading anymore...so I hope this isn't a highjack, but I would love any advice from parents of kids who fell somewhere inbetween "taught self to read smoothly at 3" (that was me which is part of why I'm confused) and "learned in first grade as planned".

So Mouse can sound out words pretty well up to 7 or 8 letters, writes little stories spelled phonetically, has quite a few short sight words, recognizes clusters like -ing, -ell. etc. (I've just been helping her with -ight words the last couple days since she got pissed off trying to sound them out)--no flashcards ever involved, just stuff like Moxie's mom recommends, tons of reading to her, and montessori activities at school. But she wants to read chapter books, real bad. She says "mommy I can't really read, I want to read the books I like". I know that she's well on her way, and time and practice should get her there, but she gets really annoyed about reading books at her level. Just not super interesting. Right now, I'm giving her a reward (I read her a chapter book from a certain godawful series she loves *cough*rainbowmagicfairies*cough* for every I Can Read she reads to me. It does seem to be helping her build skills and gain confidence but it just seems kind of external and crude. Would love suggestions, reassurance, or lists of I Can Read level books that are more interesting. (Dr. Seuss check, Halibut Jackson check, couple of new Fancy Nancy ones look fun...)

[AmeliaV]

@Bonnie, we are also raising our daughter in a two-language household, but haven't gotten to the reading part yet. . .She is only ten months old. So far, she seems to understand so much in both Portuguese and English. We are not living near a Portuguese-speaking community, though, so I wonder how much we'll be able to maintain the Portuguese as she gets older . . . Really, we are so culturally isolated that sometimes Portuguese feels like our own made-up language. But that's another topic.

I am getting a PhD in literacy studies, and just want to say that Moxie's mom's email is the tops. I just want to add that literacy is happening on the computer more and more. If jesus wrote in the dirt, then we are writing on keyboards. Letting your kid bang away is good socialization into what literacy means today.

FWIW, I think it's important as well not to make too big of a deal about reading. If you do some of the things Moxie's mom said (have an environment where reading is encouraged, where there are books around, where reading and writing are just part of family life), then literacy is a value that is probably picked up. And if it's NOT picked up wholesale and your kid doesn't especially like to read, I think it's also important to remember that there are lots of other ways of being smart.

Of course, this is all theoretical advice. For now, I'm happy to report that my ten month old loves books, especially for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I actually found a little piece of what i recognized as Dr. Seuss in her diaper the other day.

[Claudia]

@Bonnie, We're a bilingual household, and our daughter is 3y3m. So far she knows "M is for Mommy" (and W as well, so her spatial relations ability is fine) and the first letter of her name. She doesn't have much patience for me to read books with too much text, especially if I'm reading in my non-native language. So I generally tell the story's gist in English, and ask her what happens next. I could use some other tips as well. We happened to have had our language assessment meeting with the preschool today, and she is a bit behind in certain aspects, but overall is fine. I'm not worried; she's a smart cookie.

I will do more with the singing ABCs with bouncing or running or hopping. This is also timely for me, since we're visiting the states next week, and I can go buy some books being recommended here!

[Cloud]

@Charisse- we're obviously not there yet on this (Pumpkin is 2), but how about A Frog and A Toad? That's sort of chapter like and the copy we have says "I Can Read" on it.

Do you have a library near by with a good children's section? This is the sort of question I'll bet children's librarians love to get.

I feel for Mouse, though. That has got to be frustrating.

[Zoe]

I haven't read all the comments, but thought I'd chime in with a little. I work with 3-5 year olds every day and some of the pre-learning games we play is of course rhyming, and counting the syllables (Mo-xie! two! clapping along) and then a really fun game that my kids love. It's the take apart game! If I say garbage can, and I take garbage away, what's left? can! If I say high school, and I take school away, what's left? high! Also, you can put things together. This is really good both pre-math exercise and gets them to think about words a little differently, especially long ones and compound ones. (Of course, that's more important in my language since we compound pretty much anything;)) They also love writing their letter in the dirt, finding other words that start with their same letter (Hey, David starts with a D just like Daniel and Drew!) They also love hunting through signs and such to find their letters.

great post :)

[Steph]

Another high level but fewer words book example
is the Peter rabbit collection by Beatrix potter. They
are on like a 7th grade level but have lots of
nice pictures.

[Jill in Atlanta]

great ideas. I realize how much my early reading 5yo learned without being taught. For example, he got interested in letter sounds and one day said "church? what letter does that start with?" I explained that H has lots of buddies and that if C & H played together they said "Cha cha cha". I introduced SH, PH and WH the next few days so I wouldn't confuse him with too much. But it all started with his interest.

@Charisse: we're having good luck with Rookie Readers as well as the ones you mentioned.

[Cathy]

@Charisse - It looks like there are some Amelia Bedelia books in the 1st grade reading level. The Scholastic web site has a bookalike search, where you can find books of a similar age-interest or reading level to one you already like.

[Cat]

Ah, how fitting that your mama is as cool as you are, Moxie. Simply splendid! And chock full of great ideas, too! Merci!

[Kate]

@ Charisse, have you tried the Mercy Watson series by Kate DiCamillo? If I recall there is a lot of repetition of words, but the premise of the series (a pig who lives with people who treat her like a queen) leads to some hilarious (to the preschool set) situations. Short chapters.

Also: the Zelda and Ivy series by Laura McGee Kvanosky. Longer chapters, maybe 3-4 stories within a book.

Other I Can Read classics that are much loved around here: Harry the Dirty Dog series by Gene Zion, Mouse series (Mouse Soup, Mouse Tales) by Arnold Lobel.

[Bonnie]

@AmeliaV and @Claudia - thanks. Well, Boo seems to understand "drink milk" in Chinese pretty well (I cannot say it unless it's time for a feed, otherwise he will whine and lunge at my boobs, hahahaha). We are doing key phrases in Chinese, diaper change, food, sleep, etc. I find it difficult to do the bilingual thing because his father is American and doesn't speak Chinese (though he tries, bless his heart!). hopefully when we move back to Hong Kong Boo will spend more time with Chinese-speaking grandparents and go to Chinese school. I find it hard to teach two languages that are entirely different to each other - so I got a big blackboard and am writing Chinese characters on them, hopefully they will be imprinted in his subconscious long before he can actually read!

[Summertime]

@Charisse-- I see that Amelia Bedlia and Beatrix Potter books were already mentioned, and I would love to second those. I was an early chapter book reader as well and those usually held my attention at that age. I also really liked James Harriott, but I was kind of obsessed with animals and horses. I seem to remember his stuff being a nice meld between advanced reading level and picture books.

[Lisa]

we're in the throes right now - letting the (very verbal) kid lead... he can sound short words out, but is less interested in doing so than in MAKING something - preferably something silly. Writing seems to come before reading in his case.

- The foam bathtub letters have been a big hit - he'll give us silly words to spell ("Cheese! Butt! Cheese butt!"), or DH will play a game with T. (as DH puts up the letters in a word one at a time, with many false starts): "Let's see. Bar of SOAB? Bar of SOAZ? What? That's not right?! How about bar of SOAP?" Ridiculous voices and splashing required.

- At a certain point, we needed two sets of fridge letters, so he/we could spell the words he dictated without having to dismantle one to get to another.

- On the computer, he enjoys AlphaBaby (freeware) and "typing" in a special Word doc I set up for him (24-point type in different colors). Just getting into iWriteWords on the iPhone... small-motor skills are age-appropriately shaky at 3.5, so tracing the letters is a challenge (if a fun one). Mostly he prefers typing or dictating as we type, and that's fine for now.

- We did get a copy of the big DK phonics book, which sorts a bunch of words/images by sound, and he enjoyed playing with that for a while. So he knows (many of) the sounds each letter makes, and associates sound-letter combos with certain words/names. We did this with friends, too. B is for our friend Bob, Y (when pronounced like "ee") for Yvonne, etc. I figure that, once he does want to read, this will stand him in good stead.

- Another recc. here for Seuss, Boynton, _Bear Snores On_, Mother Goose (Opie and Wells' version is nice), _Poetry Speaks To Children_, Ant & Parker's vehicle series (_Tremendous Trucks_ et al), PolkaBats & Octopus Slacks, and/or any other rhyming/scanning stories - T. really likes completing a line or reciting favorites to us.

...Lisa (who's salivating at the thought of getting a bit of my own reading time back once T. does take the plunge... some of my happiest memories are of cuddling up on the couch next to my mom, each of us with our own book)

[Tor]

Lisa, thanks for the heads-up on AlphaBaby, looks like that's going to be a hit here!

My 20 month old isn't interested in the words in his books yet, only the pictures, but is OBSESSED with the letters in his foam alphabet interlocking floormat in his playroom. He loves pulling up the letters and asking about it or trying to announce it's name or sound or hunting for ones we ask about. It's a start, and we are just trying to roll with it and give him opportunity to take the lead in learning for now.

Thanks everyone for these great ideas on other opportunities for fun "accidental learning" to offer him.

[Cathy]

Hey @Charisse - the Step Into Reading books have some trendy level 1 & 2 stories. La has several that are based on a popular fashion doll, a few of which she can mostly read herself. And we have some that are based on recent summer movies. :) Certainly not HighBrow Literature, but it's reading and it's fun.

Also I've been reading Junie B Jones books to La at bedtime and they are hilarious. The 15 year old sticks around to hear them during story and my mother (a children's librarian) snatched up La's whole stash and read them up in one afternoon after hearing a few chapters of one.

[Kate]

@ Cathy, my 5 yo likes the Junie B Jones books, but it drives me CRAZY that the narration (not just the material where she is speaking) is in 5 yo language. She reads them by herself; for reading together along the same themes I much prefer the Ramona books (which are, of course, not written at a 1st grade level).

[Sharon aka Mommie Mentor]

That was great information!!!

That's how I taught my kids to read. I really believe that the "old way" has so many benefits compared to the computer.
It creates focused one-on-one time without much effort, a computer is a solitary event.
It has remote connection qualities, you can tell where your child is by singing your songs back and forth as you throw a load of laundry in.
As Moxie's mom described wee ones shine when they sing for others. Now we know when Moxie's entrepreneurial spirit was born!

Tall and taller still remember all the silly games we played as they were learning to read. Tall had a hard time reading, the specialist told me to let him use his large muscles, not to force him to read until he showed signs of interest and to look into creating sand paper letters like Montessori uses at home They're both veracious technical readers now.

I've found a great book for wee ones to practice their letters and numbers before entering Kindergarten. This book was created because the author, now a friend, found that there were 7 things each child needed to know before entering Kindergarten. I had no idea. Of course that's not to put pressure on any one, tall and taller made it through kindergarten just fine without knowing this stuff before hand. 25 years ago kindergarten was where children were supposed to be taught all of this.

However, these days things are a bit more rigorous, some schools even make you apply to get into kindergarten. What's up with that????

This book can be used for the times when you don't have the energy in you to put the teaching hat on and you wished your sweet pea was old enough to get a book and sit down and read for a while.

The book is called "Let's Get Ready For Kindergarten." It's one of two things from others we sell on our site, I like it that much. It's under "All we offer" on the site.

Kids love this book, it's a self reader. It allows children to practice their letters repeatedly in several different ways so they really learn them.

I can't say enough about the methods Moxie's mom wrote about.

Thanks for making all of us "old schoolers" feel so good about how we did things in the old days!!