How To Teach Your Child to Read: Easy Guide for Parents

Teaching children to read is something many parents are eager to start early, but it can seem daunting for anyone who doesn’t have a background in teaching. All About Learning Press has helped countless parents take teaching into their own hands and give their children the guidance they need to succeed.

Over the years, we’ve developed effective techniques and tips that break down the process of teaching kids to read into simple steps that build the necessary foundation for mastery. Whether you’re wondering how to teach reading for preschoolers or trying to help a struggling learner, these eight tips are the best place to start.

How To Teach Kids To Read: 8 Tips

1. Start With Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

Phonological awareness is a broad term that encompasses hearing and distinguishing the sounds in words, while phonemic awareness is the ability to hear and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in words. These foundational skills help children break down words. Start with simple activities, such as clapping out the number of syllables in a word or playing rhyming games. You can also practice isolating sounds by asking, “What’s the first sound in cat?” or “What sound does dog end with?” Then, you can play oral blending games where you say parts of words or individual sounds for your child to blend into words. These activities teach kids to listen closely to sounds, an essential step before they can connect letters to those sounds.

2. Introduce Letter Recognition

Teaching kids to recognize letters is one of the first steps in learning how to read. Help your child become familiar with both uppercase and lowercase letters, and start by identifying and naming them. Research has shown that children who know letter names learn the sounds more easily and have an easier time learning to read. Have fun by incorporating alphabet songs, flashcards, and letter-based games, which make the learning process more engaging. You can also incorporate real-life examples, pointing out letters on signs or in books to make letter recognition feel relevant. By mastering letter names, your child will have the tools needed to begin associating letters with the sounds they represent.

3. Teach Letter-Sound Relationships (Phonics)

Once your child knows the letters, it’s time to teach the sounds they make. Phonics is the method of linking letters to their corresponding sounds. Start by teaching the most common sounds each letter makes, such as “mmm” for the letter m and “sss” for the letter s. Phonics instruction builds the essential bridge between written symbols and spoken language, making it a crucial step in the reading process.

4. Practice Blending Sounds Into Words

Once your child is familiar with individual letter sounds, you can begin practicing blending them together to form simple words. Start with easy, consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words like cat, dog, and sit. Emphasize the process of saying each sound separately, blending the sounds slowly, and then blending them together. Cumulative blending, that is blending the first two letters before adding the third, can be especially helpful for children. Make the process fun by sliding a favorite toy from one letter to the next as you model slow-blending or using letter tiles or magnetic letters to physically manipulate the sounds. With practice, children will start to sound out and read simple words on their own.

5. Practice Rule-Breakers

About three percent of words don’t follow regular phonetic patterns, including words like the, was, and said. These words can be tricky, but practicing them separately will help with reading fluency. Use flashcards and memory games to help your child recognize them quickly. Show your student which letters in these words represent expected sounds (like the s and d in said) and which ones are not expected (like the ai in said). As your child builds his vocabulary, reading will become smoother and more enjoyable, as they won’t have to sound out every single word.

6. Read Aloud to Your Child Every Day

Reading aloud to children is one of the most important things you can do to nurture their love for reading. It exposes them to new vocabulary, sentence structures, and concepts long before they can read independently. Choose books that are appropriate for their age and interest level, and use different voices and expressions to keep things engaging. Point to the words as you read so they can begin to make the connection between spoken and written language.

7. Be Patient and Celebrate Progress

Learning to read can be a slow and sometimes frustrating process. It’s important to be patient and to celebrate even small successes along the way. If your child struggles with a certain sound or word, take a break and return to it later. Offer plenty of praise and positive reinforcement when they succeed, and remember that mistakes are part of the learning process. Children progress at their own pace, and consistency is key. The more relaxed and positive the experience, the more your child will associate reading with enjoyment rather than stress.

8. Use All About Reading From AALP

Planning a schedule and gathering all the right materials can be both time-consuming and intimidating. All About Reading is a ready-made reading curriculum developed for busy parents, teachers, and tutors who want to teach reading in the most effective way possible. It’s founded on research-based multisensory instruction with lightly scripted lessons that give results in only 20 minutes a day. Each level includes a fantastic array of review books, activities, teaching aids, and accessories that make learning engaging and exciting.

All About Reading Pre-Reading is perfect for children who are just starting their reading journey, while the convenient placement test is a great way to make sure your student is using the materials that are right for them.

Reading Placement Test