Help with teaching a 3 year old please

Australia
June 1, 2010 6:51am CST
Ok, my daughter is 3 & she loves to read but the thing is...she doesn't like to sit & listen to me or anyone read her a story unless she is at day care. Because of this, I want to teach my daughter to read so she can read her own books & she's not due to start school until 2012...I am planning on getting her some alphabet flash cards to start off with so she can hearn to recognise letters at first...is there anything else I should do? Did you teach your child how to read? If so, how did you manage to successfully teach your child?
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5 responses
@tjen_anni (317)
• Indonesia
2 Jun 10
I teach my son through games. First, he should know the alphabet first. I bought him the sesame street PC games. It is very educative and good for the children..
1 person likes this
• Australia
3 Jun 10
Thanks for both of your input...I am searching for a leap frog leapster & just missed out on one through frecycle...I am checking sites like ebay too...I did giver her a my first laptop for christmas...I will have to look & see if it has alphabet games on it.
@CJscott (4187)
• Portage La Prairie, Manitoba
2 Jun 10
I would use games too. We have a leap frog fridge magnet set, that sings the sounds the letters make to our son it helps a bit. He has the alphabet, and I think he is about ready to try the game again, it is hard, because of his attention span, and his fine motor skills. But, hey, He hits all the keys we ask him too. Cheers.
• United States
2 Jun 10
I did teach my daughter how to read. By the time she started kindergarten she was already sounding out words and surprised her teacher. I took her to the library a lot when she was little. Starting with the alphabet is a good way to start. Reading to her and also watching videos about books is good too. My kids liked Reading RAinbow, it's a good show about books and reading. Then there are other videos too. Reading to your daughter is good.. or even letting her "read the pictures" to you helps... and she can draw pictures to tell a story. hope some of that helps a little..
• Australia
3 Jun 10
Thanks for your help...my daughter does read the pictures to me every so often.
• United States
1 Jun 10
First off relax, if she is unable to sit for very long it is because she is not ready for that type of learning. If you feel the need to push this (3 is young and if in school you may be putting too much stress on her and that could in it's self be the issue) try some activities that are not sitting down. They can learn to read by doing other things. First it is proper to start with letters as this is the base of all reading. Try writing them with her in chalk on the side walk or make an alphabet hopscotch outside and have her hop about the letters stating what they are as she goes. If you want to work on words try sing along DVDs. They will cath her attention with the music and wit the words below and singing them she will pick things up. Music is a wonderful vehicle for learning hence the ever popular ABC's song. When in the store or out at the park start phonics. Point out birds and say " Bird starts with B" and so on. I worked in a Private day school and I know how many parents worry that their child will go to school and be behind the others, but at this point there is no need to stress out about it and the parents who push too hard often have kids with other health issues and mental breakdowns. They are learning everyday the other skills such as behavioural, social, large and small motor skills and language that in truth at the age of three are much more important then reading. Too much isn't good, if she is getting it at daycare she is getting it. Though another way to help them that sounds weird is to teach them another language as you go. Point out things, colors number excreta and say them in another language. Although his slows down their initial progress, and they will mix words from languages for a while, it has been proven that kids who are raised bilingual not only have better reading and math comprehension but fair better in all learning situations.
• Australia
1 Jun 10
Thanks for your input, I want to try to teach my daughter not because I want to push her into being a head of the others, it's because she likes being independent & has told me she wants to read....I will definitely take what you said for consideration as you have some really good tips there.
@Cutie18f (9551)
• Philippines
1 Jun 10
You start with letters of course, and it would be good to increase her vocabulary first, showing her plenty of pictures of different objects. This will improve her vocabulary. When she already understands the things that she sees around her, you can start teaching her the alphabet, associating each alphabet with the words she knows. Telling stories is also one way of enriching her vocabulary. A kid with a rich reservoir of words will love to hear stories and eventually love to read too.
• Australia
1 Jun 10
I do plan to start with the alphabet - I have found out that she already knows the alphabet song & can sing it with only missing about 5 letters - she learned this at day care & sings it a gymnastics when it's singing time. Thanks for your input.
@kukueye (1759)
• Malaysia
1 Jun 10
My kid is 2 years old, i used few methods first some pictures books,simple like A for Apple,Ball,Car and etc. Then also expose her to those Sing ALong Karoake cds , where u can see children or animation of cartoons singing with words subtitles.Like Twinkle twinkle,little lamb,McDonalds and such.Other children series like Hi5 , classic Sesame Street series are nice also. BEside that, talking to her in daily outings , in the garden , around the house is good also for education and bonding. Simple walk in the garden and pointing, Tree , Flowers , Bees, Butterfly, Sky , Moon, Birds(chirp chirp ) , dog (wowl wowl), horse(sounds) and others will stimulate her to explore the world outside. For children repetition and routine is imporant to improve their skills.My son is very active always moving around ,but can easily get his attention with simple things like a Lizards on the wall.He will stare at lizards..And said Lizzzas..will i gues is part of learning. Since your daughter like to read.Bring her to library will be a nice experience for her.
• Australia
1 Jun 10
Thanks for your input, you have given me some great ideas...my daughter loves sesame street, play school, the wiggles, etc...I will see if I have some picture books with the alphabet but I still plan on getting her some flash cards too.