Practice Reading with a Word Hunt
In first grade, there's a lot of new words your child will be learning to recognize. If you want to help, try playing this fun search game that'll help improve her reading skills! Using two identical sets of word cards, your child will try to find the matching "lost" card that you've hidden somewhere in the house. She'll get to play detective and practice reading at the same time!
What You Need:
- 20 index cards
- Basket or bag
What You Do:
- On each of the 10 index cards, write a different word. Then make a second set of cards using the same words. Words like "the," "was," "have," "all," and "some" are all great examples of words you might want to put on the cards.
- Have your child close her eyes or go into another room while you place the cards from one set around a room. Put them in easy-to-find places, like on the floor, on the coffee table, or on the arm of the couch. If your child is an expert at finding things, feel free to make it a bit more difficult by hiding the cards in less obvious places, like sticking out of a book or leaving them half-hidden under a coffee cup--just be sure you don't forget where you hid them!
- Hand the other set of cards to your child and ask her to read the word on the first card. If she struggles, help her sound it out.
- Tell her she is a detective and needs to find the matching word for the card. Maybe even create a story to make it more fun; say the two cards are friends but one got lost and it's up to your child to reunite the two.
- The object of the game is to have her hunt for the match to each card. She might come across a card that doesn't match the one she's looking for. If this happens, she'll have to recognize that it isn't the same word and keep searching.
- When she finds the match to the first card, instruct her to put the pair of words into the basket.
- Have her continue until all of the cards have been found and paired up with their matching cards.
- Once she can easily find the matches to the words, try a new variation of the game. Instead of giving her a second set of cards, this time you can read off the word that she needs to find and she'll have to hunt for the card with the word on it.
- Once she's mastered these words, make another set of words and keep on playing! She'll be a great reader in no time.