Are you bombarded with words?

I am hardly ever caught without a book when we are traveling, but this weekend I made a conscious effort to observe life through the passenger side window. I couldn’t help but notice how I suddenly felt bombarded with words. Shop names, restaurants, information signs, vehicle registrations, etc. 

I suddenly remembered a saying that I used to love expressing to colleagues ” If you can read, you can succeed” 

Whilst observing all the letters coming at me, I really appreciated being able to read and I realised again just how important being able to string letters together to form words actually are. 

Fun fact: The stringing together of letters to form words is called “BLENDING”

Anyway….back to importance, as I sat there watching a live display of words, my mind drifted to thinking about things such as the ability to read the information on medicine bottles, being able to order a simple meal from a restaurant and even being able to understand basic instructions of a DIY project. I feel privileged, because oh how ever important reading actually is. 

But…..

Did you know that even before a child learns to physically read we expose them to unintentional reading from a very young age? Take for example our ever so famous KFC. By sounding out and visually displaying the logo to a young child, they develop what the industry calls PRINT AWARENESS. 

There are many ways in which you can enhance the print awareness of your child, however, I found these 4 main ways to categorise them: 

[ ] Read Books Regularly

By reading aloud to your child you help them develop both listening and language skills. It also serves as excellent bonding time and aids in understanding the world around them because it engages their imagination 

[ ] Teach them the alphabet (be sure to teach the sound as well)

You can play lots of memory games whilst learning the alphabet. This is a great way to spark their interest in recognising letters

[ ] Pretend playwriting

Choosing a nice recipe where you have to write out the ingredients for baking later for example

[ ] Reading different types of print

As mentioned earlier be sure to engage your child in everyday information by teaching them to look for and recognise letters, words, and or number sequences. (I.e. billboards etc)

Here at Magnificent Kids, we aim to please and therefore have the most excellent reading program available which is sure to captivate the mind of your little one if you prefer to teach him/her yourself or alternatively you could contact an agent closest to you and see how your child could benefit from enrolment in our program on a monthly basis. Our Reading Program is available in English and Afrikaans.