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"A Child who Reads grows into an Adult who Thinks!" - Unknown

Reading is an important criterion when it comes to a child's overall development. It is one of those skills that not only proves useful in fetching good scores during school but also in the latter part of life. It is a necessary element that must be nurtured early right from childhood.

Do you remember the days when our parents read out bedtime stories before putting us to sleep? And how curious we were as kids to know what happens next in the story? This eventually turned out to be a ritual during the olden days that introduced children to the world of imagination and exploration. This practice seeded in their mind the ability to enjoy reading and discover a new world of ideas.

As per studies, habits instilled during childhood eventually go on to become an integral part of a child's life later on. Reading is also known to have multiple long-term effects on a child, the fruit of which is witnessed in the future.

In this blog, we bring about you two most sought techniques to instil reading habits in kids. This blog also throws light on how reading can benefit your child in developing its mental growth and imagination.

1. The phonics method

Phonics is the most sought method applied for teaching kids the art of reading. In comparison to the olden days, a lot has changed in present-day learning pedagogy.

The present system begins with teaching children alphabet sounds. This not only includes recognizing each letter but gaining an insight into the sounds. Furthermore, children are taught to blend two or three letters together to form a new word. This is possible only when they have gained a good grip on the sound of letters. Thus, this makes the phonic method immensely beneficial.

Tips to teach your child Phonics

Kids are a bundle of energy. Keeping them engrossed in a single task for a long time is quite impossible. The process must be entertaining and short to avoid kids getting bored. To keep their level of enthusiasm high, explain to them the meaning of each word as well. Teach one letter a day and let your child learn it perfectly. If your kid takes a few days to muster one letter, then do not get disheartened.

Try to make the process more interesting by not keeping it bland. Combining phonics with images, pictures, audio and visuals can prove to be beneficial in instilling curiosity in their mind. It will make it easy to memorize words by connecting them to the images as well as learn their actual tonation by listening to the audio.

How does it benefit?

This method basically assists children to learn how to break words into sounds. Secondly, it's effective as when it comes to the English language, for representing words on a page, one must foremost translate the sounds into letters and later into a combination of letters. Thus, phonics herein benefits kids in decoding words and transforming them into sounds and thereby building curiosity of reading.

Although the process seems slow initially, with time they become automatized and more fluent. It not only helps kids start reading but also perfects their vocabulary by helping them recognize sounds effectively.

Word recognition - Look and Repeat Words

Reading includes using all three senses viz. Visual, sound and repetition. This approach focuses primarily on the learner's ability to recognize words.

How to carry on this process?

Begin with introducing your child to a particular word. Also, teach the child the sound of the word and its pronunciation. Later ask your child to repeat the word again. You can also make use of flashcards and pictures to make the method more effective. The use of visual images makes the whole process more effective in helping kids connect with the words. This technique is called sight reading which combines together visuals and sounds to turn the concept of reading effectively.

Benefits of sight-reading

Sight-reading works around the concept of exposing children to words for a long span. Kids thereby learn to recognize and read the words. Begin with short sentences and move ahead to longer ones. This will assist kids in recognizing each word by looking at the picture and thereby strengthen their basics.

Related Reads: Benefits of Providing Preschool Learning to Kids

Considering modern-day needs, many preschools have modified their pedagogy. Target Publication brings about a wide range of Pre Primary books that cater to instilling in kids the habit of reading.

You can check our Phonics books by Target Publications, where we have introduced kids to the basics of alphabet sound using colourful illustrations and examples. Kids are introduced to the sounds of each letter along with providing pictorial examples. Additionally, the book also introduces kids to two and three-letter words accompanied by examples of sentences, thereby offering children the basics of sentence formation.

Our storybooks are crafted as per the age group and comprise of splendid stories surrounding different elements witnessed in nature. Offer your kid a childhood that promises a launching pad filled for creative growth, the building of mental ability, and instilling the basic foundation of reading.

Classic Tips to Instill reading habit in your kids | Part I