Letter Sounds While We Play
Here's What To Do
While you’re playing together with your child, highlight letters and letter sounds.
For example, as you’re pretending to be on a busy bus, point out that you heard a lot of “b” sounds. Ask your child to remind you what letter makes the “b” sound or you can name the letter.
Don’t spend too much time at once focusing on recognizing the letter sounds – you don’t want your child to feel like they’re being drilled.
Just point out simple letter sounds while playing, talking, reading or running errands so your child develops an understanding of letters and sounds in daily life.
Put PEER Into Action
Pause:
- Pause with your child throughout the day and take a moment to play this simple game.
Engage:
- While playing together: “You want me to write a prescription for your teddy bear?” “I’ll write ‘M’ for ‘m-m-medicine.’ ‘M’ makes the ‘m’ sound.”
- While in the grocery store: “Let’s get some bananas.” The word bananas starts with a “b” and makes the ‘b’ sound.
Encourage:
- Focus on highlighting one or two letters over time.
- As your child becomes familiar with them, ask them what sound that letter makes when you see the letter in books, on signs or on labels.
Reflect:
- “What letter did you see when we were playing? What sound does it make?”
Not quite ready?
Introduce one or two letters and their sounds. Point them out when you see them around. Your child will become familiar with them over time.
Ready for more?
If your child is familiar with all letters and common sounds, introduce other sounds for letters such as the long vowel sounds when the vowel says its name (e.g. the A sound in “airplane”).
As your child masters this skill...
They will be able to provide letter sounds for some letters.