Teaching Your Baby to Read

You too can teach your baby to read.

I'm not going to be so presumptuous as to claim that my 20 month old daughter can read, but she read 38 separate words this morning.

Want to know our method to teaching her to read?

We first got a pack of flashcards from Grandma for Easter. They had good pictures on one side, then large writing on the back cooresponding to each picture.

A was for apple, B was bee, etc.

I first had her learn the names of all the pictures. I would teach her about 6 at a time, practicing first pointing to the picture with me saying the word...then gradually her saying the word with me pointing to the picture. I made sure to get really excited and happy when she got one right, and she started enjoying the new game.

After about 2 weeks of this game, she had all 52 cards down...so I could flip through them and she could say the word. I didn't intend on her learning this fast, but thought what the hell, might as well try teaching her to read the back.

I started teaching her to read in a very similar way to the words. I'd show her 3 cards at a time, picture up, then flip each card back and forth a few times saying the word over and over again. I then put the 3 cards behind my back (and made up a stupid gameshow doo doo doo song for her) and laid them out picture down. I said the word, and she guessed. I was amazed at the end of the first 2 days that she had memorized and was able to read all 6 words I had tried to teach her.

The challenge was on...I put the 6 she knew in one pile, and tried 6 more. I'd start by seeing how many she remembered from the previous lesson, put those in the "know it" pile and grab a few new ones to make 6 "learning them" cards.

I'd play with 3 of the learning cards at a time, first teaching her to point to the one I was saying then her saying the one I was pointing to.

She's been through periods where she isn't interested at all, when I generally will leave her alone and save the cards for later, and there's points where she'll play memory for hours. I'm trying not to push her to the point where she doesn't enjoy playing, but still keep teaching her to read more words.

We hit 38 this morning. She now demands a high five after almost every right answer, but I figure that's better than giving her treats after each right answer (please don't treat your children like dogs.)