How to teach a child to read syllables at home: games and recommendations

Many parents, seriously concerned about the development of the baby, decide to teach their child to read long before entering first grade. And psychologists agree with them, since it has been proven that at 5 years old the learning process will be easier than at 7. A large number of different methods have been developed to teach a child not just to put letters into syllables and then into words, but also to understand and think about what they read. Do not forget that the development and thinking of all children is different. Some people begin to read syllables at the age of 5, some succeed much earlier, and some do not want to do this even at 6. Take into account the individual characteristics of your child, do not compare him with others. Not everyone can catch everything on the fly; some need more time to learn new things. Everything is individual.

Readiness to learn

There is no need to teach your child to read fluently right away. First, he must master the reading technique, that is, learn to compose syllables independently, be able to read them, then compose words and sentences. It will be slow at first. The parents’ task is to quietly and calmly correct his mistakes, to teach him as if through play. After all, play is the absence of stress.

Readiness for training can be judged by the following indicators.

The child is already quite independent, knows and understands a lot.
Active speech is formed, the child speaks in complete sentences, and can compose a story.
Good development of phonemic hearing. By about five years of age, a child can distinguish individual phonemes from the general sound stream. To learn to read, he needs to be able to “recognize” the sounds in words. You can ask him to guess what sound the word begins with, or name several words starting with this letter.
Correct pronunciation. Existing problems in pronunciation will further complicate the perception of text, causing letters to be “swallowed” while reading and letters to be missed when writing words.
Confident orientation in space. Concepts such as "right" and "left", "up" and "down" must be taught very clearly. Otherwise, the child may get confused about which letter to start reading from, or “mirror” words, starting to read from the end.
It is necessary to instill a love of reading; the child should be interested in listening to new stories. Parents read at an early age. This should be done as often as possible.
Sometimes vision or hearing impairment in children can become a major problem. In this case, you will need the help of specialists.

What does it take to learn to read whole words?

Reading speed depends on several factors:

the child must confidently read all letters and their combinations and not confuse them;
developed speech and a fairly large vocabulary (try to read a text containing long words that are unfamiliar to you without hesitation);
correct speech breathing (there should be enough air until the end of the phrase or semantic passage).

It follows that you should move on to smooth reading when the child learns to read syllables quickly enough - about 45-50 per minute.

This is also important because we pronounce the stressed syllable quite loudly and it has a long duration. But the unstressed one is fast. And if a child does not know how to read a syllable quickly enough, he begins to stretch out the unstressed syllable. As a result, the word becomes “smeared” and the emphasis is not heard. And the child himself does not understand well what he has read.

Best age

So, experts are sure that teaching the science of reading should begin in preschool age. At school, a child will encounter many innovations, first of all, his main activity will change, and he will unexpectedly move from playing to learning. It is not simple. You have to sit at your desk for a long time, concentrate on what the teacher is talking about, learn to communicate with previously unfamiliar peers, and look for your place in society. The student becomes more independent, he now needs to behave in a disciplined manner, become familiar with arithmetic operations, learn to draw, make crafts, and so on. Therefore, acquiring another new skill - reading - will cost a lot of effort. And those parents who feel sorry for the child, do not want to read with him, strive to extend his childhood by at least a year, are actually doing him a disservice - time is wasted, their child will have to study hard and intensely at school.

It’s better to start at 4.5-5 years old. At this time, the child is able to concentrate for about 10 minutes, which is quite enough for learning. You can learn letters earlier - at 3-4 years old, the baby has all the reserves to become familiar with the alphabet and gradually memorize letters.

In your baby's room you should hang a beautiful, bright poster with letters on it. Gradually they will be deposited in the head thanks to passive memory and become recognizable.

It would be useful to let a child of 3-4 years old play with cubes, on the edges of which letters are written and an object is drawn, the name of which begins with each of them (for example, K and cat). As the child builds a fort out of cubes, during the game he will gradually remember what the letters look like and what they mean.

It is equally important to form a sustainable interest in the book. Parents of preschoolers have a great responsibility: if they force their child to read, yell at him, and get nervous, then there is a high risk that the child will forever be disappointed in reading and even in adulthood will be extremely reluctant to open a book. This can be avoided if you regularly praise him, and the process itself, despite its seriousness, is transformed into an exciting game.

When and how should you start teaching your child to read to prepare for 1st grade at age 7?

According to child psychologists, the most optimal age for teaching a child to read is 4.5-6 years. In practice, many children themselves express a desire to learn from about 5 years of age. There are a number of indicators by which you can judge whether your daughter or son is ready for such activities.

Age characteristics and readiness to read at 7 years old

At the age of seven, children begin to actively take an interest in what is written on the objects around them.

Note! If by this age a child still cannot read, this is not a reason to panic, but an absolutely normal phenomenon, but at the same time it is worth understanding that it is time to move on to intensive studies.

First, you need to understand how ready the child is for such an important and difficult process. This can be determined by:

no problems with pronunciation of words;
sufficiently good command of oral speech;
development of phonemic hearing, when the child is able to distinguish and repeat heard sounds;
no hearing problems;
free orientation in the environment.

Attentive parents will always note such progress in the development of their son or daughter, and will help improve these skills and abilities.

Best practices

Before teaching a child to read, parents themselves need to get an idea of how this should happen. For this purpose, special techniques have been developed that will help carry out such important tasks with children 7 years old without pressure and haste:

Doman's method. This method is also called “global reading”. It involves learning to read whole words by engaging rote memory. So, on the table you need to lay out cards with simple words written on them: “mom”, “dad”, “wardrobe”, “chair”, etc. Seeing them constantly, the baby will remember the spelling, which will subsequently help him learn to read faster.

Such classes can be carried out even with babies 5-6 months old.
Read also: Speech development of a young child. First words
To learn individual syllables, you can use the “Syllable Box”. Such training is best perceived by children aged 4.5 - 5 years.

This is one of the most common techniques, but you should be careful with it, since in the future the child may get used to “crushing” words.
Zaitsev's cubes. Studying syllables on beautifully designed charts, tables and cards will help memorize words, develop speech and improve thinking, and develop imagination.

Zaitsev cubes

The choice of methodology is best done together with a child psychologist. If this is not possible, then you can ask the pediatrician or the child’s future teacher for advice.

Learning to read by syllables

Classes should be conducted when the child is in the mood. The duration of each “session” should be 15-20 minutes, no more, so as not to lose interest in learning.

There are several proven ways to teach a child to read syllables.

Start with the alphabet. You can use different aids. Please note that the child must remember the letter, and not the picture next to it. If in the book the letter B means drum, then offer a die on which B is a hippopotamus. After that, symbols without pictures are used. You can purchase a set of letters on magnets. They will be useful later to form words.
There is no need to learn the letters in order. Start with vowels (A, O, U, E, Y) and voiced consonants (M, L, N...).
Don't try to teach your child all sounds at once. Study a few every day.
You need to start not with letters, but with sounds: not B, but [b]. After all, next you need to teach the child to “merge” sounds. We reinforce this knowledge of sounds with graphic writing in the form of a letter. It is very important to train both visual and auditory memory.
There is no need to explain which sound is a vowel and which is a consonant. The best explanation would be the following: this sound can be sung, but this one breaks off, cannot be sung, and is pronounced with obstacles.
The best solution would be to do the exercises while playing. Moreover, you need to choose outdoor games. Through movement it is easier for a child to perceive the world. Offer to sculpt letters from plasticine together; draw with crayons on the asphalt and then jump on them; decorate in an album; cut out of colored paper.
Before learning something new, don’t forget to remember the material you’ve covered—it needs to be consolidated.
Don't wait until the alphabet is fully learned. Start adding the letters you've already learned!
The main task is to teach the child to pronounce sounds together.
It is very important not to rush or force. Continue learning letters (more precisely, the sounds they represent) and forming syllables from them. First, open ones, starting with sonorant consonants (“MA”, “LA”, “LU”), then syllables with voiceless and hissing consonants - “ZHI”, “SHI”, “SHU”.
When open syllables are mastered, move on to another type - syllables that end in a consonant - “AM”, “US”, “AS”.
Having studied the alphabet and learned to add syllables, the child can move on to reading. It's better to start with simple words.
Pay attention to pronunciation. Teach your child to pause between words and sentences and observe intonation.

There's no need to rush. Even when all the letters and syllables have been learned, reading will not be easy. Books with large pictures and large font will help.

Reading in sentences

Having mastered reading words, move on to sentences and then to short texts. There are special editions for children starting to read. It is important that reading is enjoyable for the child, challenging but doable.

What difficulties most often arise at this stage?

Sound fusion. If the child pronounces each sound separately, but cannot pronounce it together, draw a path and write two letters of the syllable along the edges. Place your child’s finger on the first sound, pull it while you “run” along the path to the second. Extend the sounds with your child, show how they merge into a word.

Regressions. These are recurrent eye movements for the purpose of re-reading what has already been read. To avoid forming the habit of reading and pronouncing a word several times, carefully observe how your child reads. Do not rush to move from syllabic reading to reading words, otherwise the child will get used to first reading to himself syllable by syllable, and then reading the whole word out loud.

Anticipation. This is the name of a semantic guess, the ability to assume the logic of a text. A very useful skill, but in the first stages of learning to read it leads to mistakes. The child, in a hurry to read the word and get approval, “omits” the endings, having read only the first syllable, “finds out” the word. To overcome such mistakes, suggest games with words, for example, reading “gibberish” poems - a set of rhyming combinations of sounds. And again, do not “press” your child in mastering the skill of reading. This is a long and complex process.

Try to immediately orient your child toward meaningful reading. Before reading, look at the illustrations, read the title, guess what the text is about, ask questions. While reading, ask clarifying questions to understand what you have already read, clarify the meaning of new words. After reading, discuss who you read about and what he/she does. Draw and act out the stories you read.

To overcome slow reading, develop your child’s memory and attention. Play with words and with words, expand your vocabulary. The success of learning to read is determined by the development of thinking, memory and speech, formed by motivation.

Basic techniques

There are several methods that allow you to teach a child to read; we present the pros and cons of each of them in the form of a table.

Method name	Short description	Advantages	Flaws
Sound (phonetic)	Children learn to pronounce words and sounds and begin reading when they remember enough phonemes to read their first words.	Used at school, so the baby will be saved from having to relearn. Eliminates speech defects, teaches you not only to read correctly, but also to pronounce words. You can exercise anytime, anywhere. Read also: What time do babies start sleeping through the night?	Requires a long time, training will be long. At first, the baby will be so focused on the process of correctly pronouncing phonemes that he will not understand the meaning of what he read.
Zaitsev cubes	Learning to read by sequences (a sequence is the pair “consonant + vowel, or consonant + b, b).	Learning through games will be fun for both children and adults. The child learns to read quickly, with joy, and does not suffer from performing a boring and obscure action. The system is not tied to a specific age; it can be used at least one year old, at least 5-6 years old.	At school, children will be retrained, since they will teach phonemic analysis of a word, and not dividing it into words. Some problems may arise with the letter E: on the cubes there are many variants such as “BE”, “DE”, but in the Russian language there are very few words of this kind.
Doman cards	Recognition of a whole word - without dividing it into component parts. Rather, not reading, but memorizing and reproducing. The child quickly makes progress thanks to his amazingly flexible memory, and gradually he develops an understanding of the principles of reading a particular group of letters.	Memory development, the ability to teach reading from an early age.	Preliminary preparation is required (make a lot of neat cards), regularity of classes. Cards with specific words should be shown to the baby several times a day, taking into account his individual pace of perception of information. Often children taught in this way learn to read situationally, unable to read, for example, a familiar word, but printed in a different font.
Maria Montessori Method	First, children learn to write (frames-contours are used for this), only after that they become familiar with letters.	The classes are fun and not boring, children learn to read and write at the same time, and during the reading process they do not divide the word into syllables, reading it completely. The activities also help develop fine motor skills.	The technique is intended for work in a kindergarten group, and not at home. You will need a large amount of didactic material that will have to be purchased.
Olga Soboleva's program	It is built according to the method of letter recognition and is aimed at the creative development of the baby. There is practically no mechanical memorization; the work is based on associations.	Children have fun and learn to love reading. The technique helps you learn a lot of new words and not give in to a new type of activity, and feel free to use a creative approach.	Suitable for creative kids and their equally creative parents. There is no clear description of what should be done and how, so you need to use your imagination.

Each of the considered methods has both pros and cons, so parents will have to choose the elements of each of them that best suit the characteristics of their baby, and use them in daily, targeted work. There are several interesting activities that parents can use at different stages of learning to read.

We teach a child to divide words into syllables

Before your child begins to master literacy, teach him to divide words into syllables. Pronounce the words by clapping the number of syllables. In Russian, a word has as many syllables as there are vowels: sa-mo-let, ka-ran-dash - 3 vowels, 3 syllables; u-zhi - 2 vowels, 2 syllables; sport - 1 vowel, 1 syllable, 1 clap.

Play Finish the Word. You throw the ball to the child, saying the first syllable of the word, for example, “ma.” The child returns the ball, calling the ending, for example, “sha.” Say the word in full: Ma-sha. Guess the endings of words, change places with your child.

The first stage of classes - word games

Learning to read must be carried out in a playful manner, otherwise the child will quickly get tired and lose interest. At the first stage, it is necessary to explain to him that the word consists of syllables. The easiest way to do this is with a card. First, the parent shows the child a card on which a simple word is written (for example, “dog”), then cuts it with scissors: so-ba-ka.

It would be even more interesting and clearer to make a card with an image of a dog with an elongated body, for example a dachshund, and stretch the word itself. When the illustration is cut, the child will understand that just as a dog is “put together” from pieces, so a word is made up from parts.

Next, you can invite your child to play with the syllables.

"Catch the Sound"

We tell the child words, and he should clap his hands when he hears a certain sound (for example, [l]).

"Fisherman"

You will need fish with paper letters, each with a paper clip attached. You need to catch fish with a fishing rod (with a magnet on it), name the letters on them, and put them in a bucket. You can ask your child to name words that begin with these letters. Later, you can make syllables from these letters - and pronounce them too.

Album with syllables

Invite your child to work on creating his own ABC book. He will definitely like this idea! To begin, take a regular sketchbook. We divide each sheet in half. On one half we write the syllable that we are studying today. We invite the child to name objects that begin with this syllable. Then he needs to draw them on the second half of the sheet. You can use applications.

Airplanes

The simplest airplanes are made from paper. On each of them a syllable is written (KA, TU, MI), then the parent temporarily turns into a dispatcher and begins to give instructions which particular airplane should land or take off, or go to a pre-designed hangar. The child must figure out the syllables and complete the task.

If airplanes are of little interest to girls, you can offer them a similar game “Butterflies”.

Shop

First, adults prepare the material - the vegetables that will be sold. These could be pictures, toy vegetables, grass, even real foods. Next, cards are made that will play the role of “currency” - they are written syllables with which the names of goods begin (for example, if there is a zucchini on the “counter”, then there must be a “KA” card). Next, “money” is given to the children, who must make purchases on behalf of the dolls.

First, you need to pronounce the syllable several times so that the child remembers it, and only after that start playing. If a preschooler makes a mistake, you should correct him, but very delicately.

The most popular methods of teaching reading

There are many different methods and techniques - both time-tested and relatively new. How to quickly and easily teach a child to read with their help? To do this, you need to choose the program that best suits the characteristics and needs of the future reader and is truly capable of producing obvious results.

Let's look at several methods that are most popular among domestic parents and teachers.

Traditional method with the alphabet and primer

Photo: https://pixabay.com/photos/abc-school-kids-september-1-4431556/
The classic, but not the fastest way, used by both teachers in preschool institutions and teachers at school. First, the child is taught to distinguish and pronounce sounds and letters, then - to combine sounds into syllables, and then - syllables into whole words. This method requires perseverance from the baby and patience from the adult.

The main teaching tools are the alphabet and the primer. These books are often confused, and yet the alphabet does not teach reading. It helps to remember letters through the use of so-called mnemonic pictures: on the page with the letter A they draw a watermelon or a stork, next to B there is a drum, and next to Y there is a spinning top.

The primer, unlike the alphabet, teaches children to combine sounds into syllables and so on. Today you can choose one of several author's primers. Thousands of kindergarteners and primary schoolchildren study using the textbooks of O. Soboleva, N. Betenkova, V. Goretsky, N. Pavlova, D. Fonin.

But still, Nadezhda Zhukova’s primer is especially (and deservedly) popular. The author very clearly and clearly explains a difficult moment for a child in learning to read: how to “transform” letters into syllables. If you do everything correctly, according to the method, then after a while the child will understand that you need to read pa-pa, and not pe-a-pe-a.

Pros:

the classical method on which millions of children in Russia were raised and are being raised;
very good teaching materials (alphabet books and primers), which are easy to use for both teachers and parents;
The child learns at home the correct method of reading - from sounds to words and sentences.

Minuses:

If you are wondering how to teach a child to read at 2 years old, then this technique is not for you. It requires a certain level of speech and psychological readiness;
This is more an educational rather than a gaming technique, so parents will have to include “entertaining” moments in the process themselves.

Zaitsev cubes

If, when working with a primer, children gradually move from letters to syllables, then Zaitsev’s technique assumes a fundamentally different approach. The child is presented with 52 cubes with warehouses depicted on them. These are combinations of a consonant and a vowel, a consonant and a hard or soft sign.

Each cube has a certain size, color and sound. For example, cubes with wooden filling mean voiceless consonants, while cubes with metal filling mean voiced consonants. The larger ones contain hard warehouses, while the smaller ones have soft ones. Everything is done so that the child, along with the warehouses, actively remembers their significant characteristics.

The set includes signs with warehouses that adults must sing (not pronounce, but sing). This makes the educational process much faster and more efficient. In particular, for such a playful coloring, many parents fell in love with Zaitsev’s method of early development and teaching reading.

Pros:

playful nature of activities;
a fundamentally new approach to teaching reading;
the technique is not tied to age, you can practice with children three years old and older;
rapid acquisition of reading skills;
a pleasant “bonus” in the form of the development of musical ear and fine motor skills.

Minuses:

the child “swallows” the endings of words;
there may be difficulties in understanding the phonetic composition of words and parsing them by sounds;
At school, the child will continue to be taught reading using the traditional method.

Voskobovich's technique

Vyacheslav Voskobovich is a St. Petersburg developer of a huge number of educational aids and games. He suggests teaching a child to read using two techniques: “Folds” cards and “Teremkov” cubes. The cards are a revised version of N. Zaitsev's method. 21 pictures show warehouses with cute illustrations. This technique is relevant for teaching children from the age of three; they will enjoy looking at pictures and pronouncing words in words.

If you don’t know how to teach a child to read at the age of 2, then pay attention to “Teremki”. They include 12 wooden consonant cubes and 12 cardboard vowel cubes. Initially, the baby learns the alphabet, then adds syllables, and only then words. For example, to a tower with the letter D, cubes with the letters O and M are added. The result is the word “house.” The set also includes a detailed teaching guide with game options.

Pros:

the opportunity to learn from the age of 2;
game form of conducting classes;
rapid acquisition of reading skills;
parallel development of fine motor skills.

Minuses:

there may be difficulties in understanding the phonetic composition of words and parsing them by sounds;
at school the child will continue to be taught reading using the traditional method;
manuals and games are quite expensive.

Chaplygin's technique

The author, Evgeny Chaplygin, an experienced teacher and father of many children, took as a basis Leo Tolstoy’s idea of teaching children to read using warehouses. The technique is also similar to the method of Nikolai Zaitsev, according to which Evgeniy Vasilyevich taught his youngest son. However, the teacher found the original source to be overly complex, so he simplified the program and reduced the amount of methodological material.

As a result, Chaplygin’s manual consists of 10 cubes and 10 rotating blocks. Each movable element, in turn, consists of two parts - a consonant and a vowel. The baby’s goal is to scroll through the cubes and find the right pair. Children grasp the meaning of the game (and these are play activities) quite quickly, so over time they begin to learn on their own. Which cannot but please parents.

The technique is recommended for classes with children over three years old. The author makes a bold promise that the child will begin to read after just a few games together. However, everything is individual here: some kids quickly understand the essence of the manipulations and actively tinker with dynamic cubes, while others need much more time to master new knowledge and skills.

Pros:

can be practiced from the age of three;
a simplified version of Zaitsev’s technique;
game form of classes;
a ready-made set of didactic material and manuals.

Minuses:

expensive (the kit will cost a pretty penny);
not suitable if the child has speech therapy problems;
not all children are delighted with playing with blocks (however, the mother’s pedagogical talent and her desire to teach the child to read play a role here).

Doman cards

Initially, the American doctor’s technique was developed for classes with “problem” children. As it turned out later, many children with central nervous system lesions were able to catch up with their healthy peers in terms of mental development. After this, the author adapted the technique to suit average children.

The method is based on the demonstration of cards with images, when the child sees the entire word and remembers it. This is its main difference from other programs, which imply a smooth transition from letters/sounds to syllables, words and words. You can practice from infancy.

This educational program has both supporters and opponents. The latter include many psychologists and neurophysiologists who claim that Doman’s cards are not aimed at targeted learning to read, but at memorizing visual images of words. That is, the baby mechanically remembers objects, and does not actively learn about the world around him.

Pros:

the opportunity to learn literally from the cradle;
parallel memory development;
quite easy to do;
You can make teaching materials yourself.

Minuses:

the child’s passivity in the educational process;
the child does not analyze the text and does not know how to divide words into their component parts;
Children quickly get bored with the process itself;
I'll have to make a lot of cards.

Introduction to letters

The first step has been taken, preschool children managed to remember some syllables and understand that any word consists of such “bricks”. Now it is necessary to open up the world of letters to them and introduce them to their diversity. This will be the most important step in preparing for school.

You can purchase various visual aids, such as a set of letters with an alphabet board, which will help you get acquainted with serious material in a visual, playful way. You will also need large cards on which each letter of the alphabet is depicted. You can get acquainted with them according to the following scheme.

Show the child the card. It can be not just a boring image of a particular letter, but an interesting one. For example, L - in the form of a gymnast with his legs spread wide.
To make memorization easier, you should prepare in advance all the variety of items that you can find at home. So, while studying the same L, you can show your child a spoon, a (toy) horse, a light bulb, a chandelier, a dream catcher - everything that he knows. And then offer to continue the chain, look in the room (on the street, on the way to kindergarten) for all objects starting with L.
Invite your child to sketch the letter he is learning.

Sometimes parents focus on the correct pronunciation of the letter, for example [em], and not [m], then it will be very difficult for the child to readjust during the reading process. He sees a familiar M, but reads it as [um]. When studying, it is better to use the names of phonemes.

At this stage of children's education, it is necessary to use various rhymes that, in a fun way, help them remember the letters. For example, Genrikh Sapgir created a large number of wonderful texts especially for the youngest readers and listeners - they will help to visualize each letter and quickly remember it. It’s better to start with the poem “The Cheerful Alphabet,” in which each letter has its own lines. You need to be patient, the work can be long and difficult.

Learning letters

There are different points of view as to whether it is right to memorize all the letters of the alphabet before starting to read. The author of the original methodology for teaching literacy N.S. Zhukova warns against such actions. The primer she developed is built in such a way that the child learns letters gradually. As the number of familiar letters increases, the syllables become more varied and complex, and then turn into words.

Magnetic ABC Zhukova

Parents who decide to follow one of the author's methods of teaching reading should follow the recommendations of their developers. And those who decide to teach their child to read the old-fashioned way don’t have much choice. They have to first memorize the alphabet, and only then start reading. It is advisable to show letters to a child from two to three years of age.

An original way to learn letters

An important point: the child learns consonant letters the way they are read in a word - without the “e” sound. The correct pronunciation is “r”, not “re” or “er”. If this rule is not followed, the child will begin to read the syllable “ra” as “rea” or “era”.

Learning letters is facilitated by their visualization. Cubes with letters, a magnetic alphabet, an interactive poster with the alphabet - any auxiliary equipment will come in handy. To begin with, the child needs to be taught to quickly search for the desired letter among those offered. Later, you can use it to lay out a letter from sticks or matches, sculpt it from plasticine and, finally, write it. For those who confuse letters, it would be correct to suggest that they feel their three-dimensional images with their eyes closed. Tactile sensations help memory.

You need to pay attention to the correct pronunciation of sounds

Tip: when learning vowels, it is important to pay the child’s attention to the sound reproduction pattern. For example, “A” means the mouth is wide open, “y” means the lips are like a tube, “e” means the mouth is stretched to the sides.

Working with a syllable

Now that the preschooler knows all the letters, you can teach the child to read syllables. To do this, it is best to use Zhukova’s bright and colorful “Primer Book,” the lessons of which will be of interest even to parents. This book can be purchased or downloaded online and printed. The main advantage is that parents do not have to think through a lesson plan - they just need to move consistently from page to page, keeping the pace that is comfortable for the baby.

But to prevent learning from turning into a routine, you can also play. There are several interesting games.

"Elevator". The parent prepares a simple visual aid: a column divided into cells, in each of which consonants familiar to the baby are written. Separately, a card is made with a vowel, for example A. The child’s task is to imitate an elevator: the letter A moves along the floors of consonants, and the preschooler reads the resulting syllables aloud.
"Find the syllable." While walking, you can invite your child to discover and show recently covered syllables (for example, RO is in the word “Products”).
Write a syllable on the magnetic board.
Correct the mistake (the mother makes up a syllable, but “confuses” the letters in places (not MA, but AM), the child must read what happened and correct it).

Classes should be held every day, but a portion of new knowledge should be within the child’s capacity. Someone can easily learn several syllables in one day, while another little one needs a series of home lessons to be devoted to a specific syllable. Everything is individual.

Reading syllables

It is important that in the perception of a 5-6 year old child, the unit of reading becomes the syllable, and not a separate letter. The letter combination should be perceived by the preschooler as a single graphic element. If you do not pay enough attention to this issue, the skill of reading syllables and words by letter can be fixed in a child for a long time. This will prevent him from reading syllables and perceiving words. A child who has learned the wrong reading method will eventually have to be retrained.

It is worth trying the following method of teaching merging letters into one syllable. One letter is written at the beginning of the line, the other at the end. A connecting arrow is drawn between them. The child is asked to slowly move his finger along it and all this time “pull” (pronounce out drawn out) the first sound. It is enough to pronounce the second sound briefly. Example: A?U is pronounced as “aaau”, N?O as “nnno”.

Leading syllables help smooth pronunciation

As a result of such training, the child should independently, moving his finger along the connecting line, freely read syllables of two letters. Syllables should be offered to the child in the following sequence:

consisting of vowels (ao-, ua-);
open, consisting of one consonant and one vowel (na-, yes-);
closed, consisting of one vowel and one consonant (an-, em-).

Many children find it difficult to determine the sequence of letters in one syllable. For example, they can read “am-” as “ma-” or vice versa. The ability to correctly combine letters in a two-letter syllable must be brought to automaticity. Offering the reading of three- and four-letter syllables is only possible for preschoolers who can read two-letter syllables fluently and fluently.

Reading syllables should not be considered only as preparation for reading words. Reading syllables, especially complex and unusual ones (shpy, vpu, smo, zdra) trains the skills of correct sound pronunciation. Unlike words, the child does not mentally associate abstract syllables with anything, so reading the syllables eliminates the temptation to read at random.

Pictures help you read quickly

Advice: in parallel with reading, it is worth teaching a 6-year-old child to contrast syllables with hard and soft consonants (ma-mya, nu-nyu, ko-kyo). This will help your child write them correctly at school.

Reading the first word

To prevent reading for preschoolers from turning into punishment, it is important for parents not to forget to praise the child, but they should make comments to him as little as possible. When the syllables are already well read and compiled on the magnetic board, you can move on to the next task - read your first word. It should be simple and understandable, for example “mother”.

For this lesson, the parent prepares two cards - on one the word is divided into two syllables - “ma” and “ma”, and the second card is cut into these syllables. It is necessary to invite the child to read the syllables one by one: ma-ma. Next, ask what happened, what word? First, he is shown the first card, then the second. The baby will most likely answer correctly, this will be his little discovery - if you read the syllables together, you will get a word! Subsequent work on reading words syllable by syllable is structured in a similar way; the child is given the simplest combinations: dog, road, fishing.

After reading each word syllable by syllable, you should definitely ask the child what happened in the end, what word. This will help ensure that he is reading intelligently.

At this stage, we learn not only to read, but also to form words from syllables, so we can offer the child all kinds of puzzles: put a word together from individual syllables, guess a riddle and put together an answer from cards.

How to teach a 7-year-old child to read step by step at home

This process is labor-intensive, complex and very responsible. Parents must show persistence and perseverance, otherwise all their efforts will be in vain, but at the same time, the atmosphere during learning should be friendly so as not to discourage the child from learning.

Where to start learning to read by syllables?

It is important to consider that speed reading should not be taught to seven-year-old children. This technique is still too complicated for them, and is only suitable for schoolchildren 10-12 years old. Before children reach this age, it is best to teach them to read at a conversational pace. This will make it much easier for them to remember and assimilate new information.

If a mother doesn’t know where to start learning, then she needs to pay attention to specialized bookstores with children’s books. Today, there are a huge number of brochures to help with this process, so there will be plenty to choose from.

The most effective today is considered to be Zhukova's primer, where the sequence of classes is carefully selected and advice is given to parents for proper learning to read by syllables.

Cubes and cards are very suitable for preschoolers who are just beginning to learn the basics of reading. But for seven-year-old children, you need to buy alphabet books, posters, and puzzles.

How syllable tables can help and how to use them

Syllable tables are an excellent way to learn. These are special sets that consist of syllables repeated several times in a row. A striking example is the following plate:

Syllable table

The advantage of this technique is that pronouncing syllables perfectly trains the child’s articulatory apparatus. To begin with, all syllables are pronounced at a slow pace, then it gradually speeds up. The result is a kind of tongue twister that is pronounced “in one breath.”

Thanks to such activities, speech motor skills are significantly improved and oratory abilities are developed. Of course, it will be difficult for the child at first, so you should not expect lightning-fast results.

Important!

All classes should be based on the principle of a game - this way learning new things will be easier, more interesting, and more fun.

You can recite no more than 3 lines in one lesson. If it’s difficult for a child, then you need to stop at line 1, but study it thoroughly. Otherwise, there will be no effect from the classes.

Open syllables can be read in two directions - diagonally or vertically. The consonant sound must be “pulled” so that it slowly and smoothly flows into the vowel. This principle is typical for reading diagonally. If you read vertically, the vowel will remain the same, but the consonants will change.

Exercise options for learning to read at home

There are several effective exercise options that will help teach seven-year-old children to read:

The child sits on a chair, hands on his knees. When the command “throw” is given, he begins to read, but when the word “notch” is heard, he stops. The rest lasts a few seconds, after which the “throw” command sounds again, and the student must find the line where he finished reading and continue the process. The lesson can be continued for no more than 5 minutes.
During the “Tugboat” lesson, you need to change the pace of reading from slow to faster. At the same time, the child should not lag behind in the speed of reading the text. Then you should move on to reading “to yourself,” which the student must also repeat.

After a while, you need to start saying the words out loud again.
The last lesson is based on searching in a table with the syllables of the second part, which will form a specific word.

These activities are best done in a group of children. But if lessons are held in a family circle, then both parents must participate.

First sentence

Learning to read is almost complete, and if everything goes correctly, the baby will be able to read his first sentence without difficulty. It should be simple and understandable, for example: “Inna washed the frame,” and you can read a short sentence even before all the sounds are learned, the main thing is that the selected piece contains only syllables familiar to the baby.

As a rule, this stage passes quickly and cheerfully, the child likes what he can read, children begin to practice with pleasure and often, thanks to their linguistic intuition and amazing memory, read even those letters that have not yet been studied with their parents.

This is a step-by-step program for learning to read in preschool age. If mom and dad were patient and gentle and praised their baby, then home lessons were easy and fun, so success would please both. Training should be carried out regularly, but not take a lot of time - it is necessary to stop even before the baby gets tired, be sure to inform him that tomorrow he will be introduced to even more interesting information, then he will look forward to the next lesson.

Separate rules regarding learning letters

It is important to encourage your child to listen to words and look for the right sounds in them. If the letter “o” is memorized, you can tell the child words that begin with it: cloud, deer, donkey. To check how well the lesson has been learned, alternately with words starting with “o”, correctly offer the child words starting with other letters. In a similar way, a child can quickly be taught to find the desired letter at the end and middle of a word.

It is important to know: the easiest way for a child to identify the initial vowel in a word (especially if it is stressed). It is relatively easy to indicate the final consonant. At the same time, it is very difficult for a baby to identify the initial consonant and the last vowel.

Modeling letters helps you remember them faster

It is useful to write letters with paints and felt-tip pens with your child. It is important that in your imagination, when identifying a sound and a letter, it is not limited to a certain size or color. You can display different fonts in newspapers, on containers and packaging, on signs, etc.

Advice: a child under 6 years old should definitely not be confused by offering him to read capital letters along with printed ones.

Moreover, you should not teach a preschooler to write in cursive at home. The skills acquired at home may not correspond to the teacher’s ideas regarding slant, continuous or separate writing, method of connection, etc.

Tips for parents

Start learning with sounds, not letters. Otherwise the child will get confused.

Eliminate any negative emotions during the learning process. They scare the child and discourage learning.

For many children, the words “study” and “lessons” cause protest. Conduct classes in a playful way so that the child has fun and, most importantly, interesting.

No need to force. Learn to negotiate. For example, suggest playing letters first and then going to the park.

How to teach a child to read - procedure

Let's try to understand the basic principles of teaching children to read, from sounds to words. This information will be especially useful to those parents who prefer the classical method, which has consistently shown good results for many, many years.

Photo: https://pixabay.com/photos/for-reading-granny-grandmother-813666/

What rules should parents follow?

Don't learn the alphabet in order. Start with vowel sounds that are easy to pronounce and hum. Then move on to consonants.
Make sounds. The most important nuance that many parents forget about. You need to pronounce the sound, not the letter. For example: M, not EM, V, not VE.
Teach your child to combine vowels. Everything is simple here: AU, OU, UA. The baby can even sing a similar combination.
Study syllables that combine vowels and consonants: PA, MA, BA, DA.
Always start with the syllable MA, since the combination of these sounds is familiar to children from an early age. “Mom” is the first and simplest word to understand.
Pull sounds. First, make the sound M: Mmmm, then A: Aaaaaa. Then connect: MmmmAaaaa.
Learn back syllables. Direct - this is when the consonant comes first, and then the vowel (PA, MA, MU). Reverse - first a vowel, and then a consonant (AP, AM, UM).
Alternate syllables that begin with a voiced and an unvoiced letter. For example: GA-KA, PA-BA, ZA-SA.
Learn to read words sequentially. At first these will be monosyllable words: CAT, OAK, HOUSE, DREAM. Then two-syllables: MOTHER, PAPA, FRAME, SOAP. Then three-syllables, etc.: COW, MILK.
Learn to read simple texts. Usually these are children's fairy tales, the plot of which is repeated over and over again. “Ryaba Chicken”, “Turnip”, “Kolobok” are suitable.

In any case, you should first read the recommendations of the author of the method, who will tell you in detail how to teach your child to read. Once you understand the principle, you can structure your activities without any problems.

Benefits

No matter how effective modern methods are, no one has yet canceled the usual primer. You can compare several benefits and choose one.

Parents leave good reviews about “ABC for Kids” by O. Zhukova. A well-known speech therapist and teacher offers a non-standard method of teaching reading. It is very interesting and easy for children to follow the funny little men who run from letter to letter, helping to add syllables. Invite your child to continue the sound until the little man gets to the next one: “A-a-a-a-u.” You can use not only the ABC book, but also cars and dolls. Move them from letter to letter, and let the child pronounce the sounds.
The manual by E. Baranova and O. Razumovskaya “How to teach your child to read” also offers play. The authors use train travel as a way to teach reading. The carriage moves along rails with written consonants, there is an empty window on it, and next to it is a vowel. There is no need to cram boring syllables, just name the “station”: BA, MA, GU, etc.
The author of the Primer for Kids, E. Bakhtina, uses her own technique: each letter has its own funny image, they are friends with each other, and the baby is interested in participating in games with them.

Of course, this is not a complete list of benefits. You can use several in combination. Be patient. And remember the most important thing - you can’t scold or punish if something doesn’t work out. Put it aside for a while and then try again. And don’t forget to praise, because praise makes you want to move on.

The most common mistakes parents make

There are several nuances that need to be taken into account when teaching a child to read. The most common mistakes parents make in this case are:

Pronouncing not the sounds themselves, but alphabetic letters. For example, KA, EM, PE, etc. It would be correct to say M, L, N, etc. If you make such mistakes from the very beginning, then you can ensure that the child does not understand the specifics of reading syllables, he will have problems problems with their pronunciation and formation. For example, he will not be able to read the basic word “mother” when pronouncing “meamea”.
Many parents subconsciously teach their future schoolchild to “take out of context” individual words, phrases or phrases. This is fundamentally wrong, since children with this approach in the future will have difficulty reading large texts or even paragraphs consisting of several sentences.
Remember!
Therefore, it is better to teach the child to immediately pronounce all the words in a certain passage, repeating the completed stage several times.

And, of course, one of the most common and, perhaps, gravest mistakes parents make is haste. You should not demand the impossible from a primary school student - to learn to read right away, you need to be patient. If it’s difficult for him, explain everything again, in as much detail and detail as possible. Only then will the efforts of the student and teacher be rewarded to the maximum!

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Stages of training

Even a very inquisitive, gifted child cannot be taught to read spontaneously, unsystematically. The skill will be developed sustainably if you use an integrated approach.

Do not rush to immediately give the concept of a letter, a word, how to add and read them. Use our recommendations for creating a lesson plan.

Development of phonemic hearing and imaginative thinking at an early age

This is extremely important for the perception of sounds, letters, and text. The ability to read begins in infancy, although many parents do it unconsciously.

Play noisy games with your baby, use musical instruments, onomatopoeia. Develop a sense of rhythm with the help of a ball, jump rope, singing, poems. Learn to distinguish between quiet and loud sounds, knocking, humming; there are many options for the development of phonemic hearing.

The last stage is the differentiation of sounds at the beginning and end of a word. A child should answer such questions by age 5. You don't need to know the letters to do this. Name a word starting with C (magpie, catfish), let him come up with a few more similar ones. Then use the last letter. You say HOME, he calls MOM, MOUSE.

It will not be possible to cope with the last task right away. Don’t insist, practice on the way from kindergarten, ask to repeat the correct answer after you, spend more time studying unfamiliar sounds in nature, at home.

Getting to know sounds

Before you get acquainted with the appearance of the letters, tell your child about the sounds. Divide them into several groups. For example, vowels - they can be sung, voiced sounds - show them using the example of sounds of nature (thunder rumbles, a tiger growls), unvoiced ones relate to quiet, non-melodic sounds (shhhh, puff).

At this stage, it is important to form an image, a phonetic shell of letters.

This will help the child perform syllabic and phonemic analysis of words at school.

On a note! To distinguish between voiced and deaf when speaking, use your fingers to your throat. When pronouncing R, D, M and other voiced consonants, there will be vibration under the fingers. When pronouncing deaf words (SH, P, S, etc.) there is no vibration.

Learning and remembering letters

Start getting acquainted with letters by setting goals. Explain why you need to know this. Tell us about the possibilities that the book opens up, about writing, the culture of different peoples. The main task is to interest the baby.

Continue the motivation with simple examples of letters. Start with vowels, for example A, U. The kindergartener will quickly remember them, learn to write, and be able to read the first word: AU!!! When he realizes that reading is not difficult at all, the lessons can be entertaining and fun, move on. Combine new letters with adding syllables and simple words.

Another option for learning about letters is studying with reference to a picture. For this you need primers or ABCs. M - cars, T - cake, V - crow, etc. This method is necessary for visual children. To quickly memorize symbols and write the alphabet, use modeling, coloring letters, and tracing them in copybooks.

On a note! Nikolai Aleksandrovich Zaitsev, the author of the method of teaching reading by letters using cubes, believes that there is no need to teach knowledge about letters gradually. He suggests memorizing the entire alphabet, and then moving on to warehouses.
You can agree with his opinion or not. Focus on the temperament and abilities of your baby.

Adding the syllables

Your baby has learned to combine two vowels and can easily read AU and IA. Move on to merging vowels and consonants. First teach to read open syllables, then closed ones. Make the first words from identical combinations: MA-MA, BA-BA. Use the reverse options: AH, UM, AM, OH.

Show how to sing the syllables. Focus on the fact that the sounds run after each other. This is well shown in the ABC of Nadezhda Zhukova. After this, you can connect several syllables together and put another consonant between them: ZHU-CH-KA.

The easiest way to automate reading by syllables is syllable tables. These are cards with columns of syllables. If you read them daily, gradually accelerating the pace, the child will easily recognize them in words. We advise you to print out syllables for teaching children to read on sheets of paper and give one option per lesson.

Making up words

For this stage, cut cards with syllables will be useful. At first, take 3-4 pieces, then you can have more. Give the task to compose words from the cards received; it is better if there are several options. For example, on the table are the syllables MA, RA, ZI, PO. Let him make up the words: WINTER, TIME, FRAME.

You can download cards with syllables below, click on the picture, download and print.

The next stage is composing words with closed syllables. You will need separate letters and cards with open syllables. For example, MA, PA, SO and the letters on the cards K, F, M. You get the following set: MAC, SOK, PAGE, COM.

After 2-3 lessons, offer to compose words of several syllables. Choose simple lexemes: HOUSE, GRASS, SHOVEL.

After composing words on your own, you can move on to studying books with short texts. First, the baby reads individual words with one syllable, then with two or three. There is no need to rush, scold, or suggest.

Reading the proposals

When your preschooler easily reproduces simple words, move on to sentences. At the initial stage, use familiar combinations: MOTHER, FOREST, WATER, CAT. Select material with short texts of 2–3 sentences. To ensure that the student enjoys reading and does not want to be lazy from boredom, use poems and jokes with meaning. For example:

Vanya has new books!
The son eats the soup himself. Mom is happy.
Teddy bear collected pine cones
And he tore off all the trees.

The next stage is expressive reading of texts of 5–10 simple sentences. Use entertaining tasks, pictures, riddles, and exercises so as not to turn the learning process into a tedious task. Remember, children learn best through play.

Useful tips

Teaching children to read can be a struggle for first graders and their parents. To avoid scandals, disappointments and not discourage your desire to master literacy, use these little tricks:

Exercise regularly. Lessons conducted sporadically or poorly organized will not give the desired effect. The child will simply forget all the information. Make a study plan and follow it strictly. Sometimes take a vacation for a couple of days.
Learn through play. For example, build houses from letter cubes and transport them on a truck to form syllables. Without strict rules and sitting at a table for 30–40 minutes, information will be absorbed easily and with interest.
Follow the sequence of training. The plan may look like this: sounds - letters - syllables - words - sentences - texts. Move from simple to complex consistently.
Use video tutorials to practice at home. This option is suitable for older preschoolers; use it for self-education for parents.
Review what you have learned regularly. Use different methods for this: print out cards, make drawings, learn riddles, songs.
Look for letters everywhere.
To practice reading, it is not necessary to have a book or blocks at hand. During a walk, ask your child to point out familiar symbols on the bulletin board, on the price tag in the store, on house signs. This is a great practical experience.
Don't force reading if your child doesn't want to study. You definitely shouldn’t teach syllabic reading to 3-4 year old children, they don’t need it and aren’t interested. It’s time for preschoolers, 6–7 years old, to learn to read. But if the kindergartener doesn’t want to, use different methods of motivation to revive interest: your own example, rewards for hard work, praise.

When to start

At what age do you start teaching a child to read? There is no exact answer to this question. Letter literacy lessons are taught at 4–5 years of age, before starting school, at 6–7 years of age.

The age of a preschooler is not the main indicator of readiness to learn new knowledge and concepts. It is much more important how prepared he is for classes intellectually, psychologically, physically. Pay attention to the following indicators, which must be normal to become familiar with reading:

The baby speaks well and uses common sentences to tell a story or answer a question.
Phonemic hearing and articulation skills are developed according to age. Pay special attention to the correct pronunciation of sounds; a preschooler must pronounce and recognize all phonemes.
The child maintains a conversation, clearly and consistently talks about the past day, a significant event.
A preschooler orients himself in space. Understands the directions right-left, up-down. If the baby confuses the sides, but corrects himself, this is considered the norm.
A kindergartener can play board games and drawing for more than 10 minutes.

If all of the listed indicators are normal or with minor deviations in a preschooler, he is over 5 years old, it’s time to think about learning to read.

Stimulate unprepared six-year-olds, attract them to the alphabet by your own example, and solve speech therapy problems. If the kindergartener is still very young, 3-4 years old, but asks to talk about letters, teach him how to add syllables, meet him halfway. Conduct classes in an easy mode so as not to discourage interest in reading due to large volumes of information and difficulties in assimilating it.

Comparison of techniques

Comparison table of popular reading teaching methods.

Method	Benefits for home use	Disadvantages for Homeschooling
Doman cards	You can practice from infancy. There is no need to obtain additional education or teaching skills. Classes are held daily, without special preparation for parents and children.	The method is based on photo memory. In the future, you will have to teach your child to read in a more classical way.
Zaitsev cubes	Suitable for hyperactive kids. The first lessons can be taught at an early age, after the child learns to sit. The technique combines the development of motor skills, speech apparatus, literacy, and phonemic hearing.	The technique is more effective when practiced in a group.
Reading by syllables	A simple technique known to all parents and grandparents. It is easily absorbed by preschoolers and does not require additional literature or equipment. Handmade cards, a notebook and a pen are suitable for lessons.	It is considered a universal technique, the best for Russian schools and home classes.
Reading by warehouses	Easily absorbed by children in a playful and serious form.	Most likely, the child will have to relearn at school, since reading is quite slow.
Zhukova's technique	The sound is emphasized, not the syllable. The child’s psyche is better prepared for this method. The primer is illustrated with bright pictures; it is interesting for a child to study with such a book. Zhukova does not advise rushing a child in learning to read; the transition to complex tasks is very soft and unhurried.	Parents should monitor the regularity of classes. Before starting Zhukova's alphabet lessons, you need to introduce your child to the alphabet.

Exercises to practice fluent reading

When the child has learned to quickly read syllables, he is offered two-syllable words like PA-RA, MO-RE - with stress on the first syllable. These words are easiest for him to read in their entirety.

They explain that we read the first syllable loudly, and the second one more quietly and faster. Each word is read several times until the desired result is obtained. Then the same words are given in groups of 4-5-6 pieces. And the child must read them all in their entirety.

Some might say that the child will simply remember. But that's good. After all, this is how the shape of a word is formed in the brain, which the child will subsequently recognize and read all at once, and not syllable by syllable.

Then words are introduced, also of two syllables, only with emphasis on the second - ZI-MA, KI-NO. And they work through it again until they get a fluent, confident reading.

Then you can move on to words with closed syllables, to three-syllable words, and to reading words with prepositions (they are also, as a rule, read together as one word).

Games

Game-based learning is considered the most effective. Do not waste time on educational entertainment for preschoolers, forget about boring lessons, then you will achieve success faster.

Letter learning games

We draw letters, paint them, sculpt them. Use coloring books, prepare stencils yourself.
Puzzles. Assembling letters from parts. Make the puzzles yourself and cut them into large pieces or buy teaching material at the store.
Memory. Write down the letters on small pieces of paper. Lay out the cards on the table. Let the baby remember, then turn it over. Let him look for the desired letter according to the model.
We write on sand and semolina. Attaching letters on loose material trains memory and motor skills at the same time.

Games for the ability to add syllables

Collect the word. Syllables are laid out on cards in front of the preschooler. Task: collect words, one or more.
Guess a riddle. In front of the baby there is a path of words, among them you need to find the hidden word.
Word in word. The child is offered a long word, 12-15 letters. You need to make smaller words from it.
Walking games. Prepare the playing field yourself. Write the letters in the empty cells. When walking the chip, the child reads the sounds, putting them into syllables.

To develop reading skills

Sounds in a circle. Children need to come up with words that begin with the last letter of the previous word. For example, window-OSA-Album, etc.
Reading with adults. The book is placed on the table so that the text is visible to the parent and baby. When one reads, the other follows. Stop unexpectedly and ask to continue. Attention and visual memory develop.
We are looking for an error. Parents give the child a text with errors and catches. For example, KoSa ate all the grass in the field. Sol(b) was spilled onto the table. The child’s task is to find and correct the mistake while reading.
Who's speaking? Animal toys and clean leaves will come in handy. Together with your child, sign the cards: Mee, Oink, Mu, etc. Empty will substitute the required syllable for the toys and read.