One of the most
effective teaching methods for children is to use materials that the
child has a natural interest in. Teaching reading to your child
is no exception. Our kids (as I'm sure most kids) have a natural
interest in animals. Right from the beginning we had great success using
their natural curiosity and affection for animals to teach the basic
formations and sounds that are associated with the letters and pictures.
This naturally progressed into using the same to aid in teaching reading
to them as well.
There are several children's magazines available
for you that are dedicated to the animal child connection. As our kids
got a bit older we even subscribed to a couple of the magazines for
them. You talk about
generating an interest! Just wait till the kids realize that every so
often the mailman brings them a present.
They couldn't wait and it
certainly helped us with teaching reading to both of the kids. If
your kids, are struggling to read or maybe struggling to get interested
in reading, use a tool that they are naturally interested in. For us,
the animal stories and magazines were a great way for us to get started
teaching reading.
Find a magazine that seems to fit the age level of
your child. For younger children, I recommend one that has big bright
colorful pictures with interesting facts. One of our favorite children's
magazines is
Zoobooks. Some even have interactive puzzles
and games the child can play and learn. A simple search on the internet
of “children + animals + magazine” will turn up many choices for you.
Teaching reading to your child is 100 times
easier when you employ the use of a subject that children naturally want
to know more about. In fact, one thing that we discovered was that once
the one of the magazines had been used and was no longer current, they
made great tools for the kids to cut some of the pictures out and make
bulletin boards, calendars, and it made a great start in getting to the
next level of reading by learning to make up their own stories and
adventures using the pictures they cut out and the information from the
magazines!
Whatever you choice of tools you are considering
using to teach reading to your child, I highly recommend the use
of some good children's magazines.
