5 Games to Promote Fluency
5 Games to Promote Fluency
By Christa Fletcher
Learning to read is both a challenge and great joy in life. While finding books you and your child enjoy reading together is a great way to help your child become a more fluent reader, there are other ways to improve your child’s literacy. Since kids play to learn, it’s also a great way to help with reading. Playing reading games will strengthen your child’s passion for reading and improve their comprehension skills. For many kids overcoming the challenging aspects of reading can be solved with fluency games like the ones below.
Label Common Household Items: For young kids, learning the words for everything in the home and seeing them every day will help them associate the letters to the objects they represent. You can even make a game out of it and go on treasure hunts for words. Or have your child match the words on sticky notes, to the objects. Knowing these common words will help them build their vocabulary.
Concentration: Combine art and a game in one! With 3x5” note cards you can create your own deck of memory cards. Make it fun with animals, fruits, and activities your child likes to do. Write the words on a card and have your child draw pictures that represent the words on another. When you’re ready to play, turn all cards over and match the word to the drawing!
Rhyme Time Ball Toss: Get a ball and practice saying rhyming words while tossing the ball around. Start with something easy like “cat,” then toss the ball to your child who has to say a rhyming word like “bat” before tossing it back. Keep going until you can’t find another rhyming word. For an added challenge, you can spell the word aloud too!
Build a Poem: Reading nursery rhymes are a great way to help kids learn rhyming and recognize word familes and story patterns. Choose some of your child’s favorite poems or nursery rhymes to print (or write out). Then cut out each word. Now, work together to put the puzzle together again! For an extra fun challenge, make a poem of your own!
Hopscotch Words: Time for chalk! Create a four by four grid of simple words with sidewalk chalk on the ground. Use words you’d like your child to learn that are fun to say aloud. You can start with a few fun rhyming words or use some more challenging sight words. Once you’ve written the words, read them to your child. Then, tell your child to hop on the word when you call it out for lots of hopping, reading, and giggles. You can add words to the grid for more fun!
Happy reading!