Tag: Using Play In Learning

When your child is in Kindergarten or first grade and is struggling with phonemic awareness, it can be a very frustrating thing for parents, grandparents and caregivers. Most adults don’t remember learning how to read and put sounds together. So, it’s normal to feel lost, confused, and worried if it doesn’t connect right away for your child. 

The good news is that there is an educational enhancement program that could help to build phonemic awareness and boost Inventive IQ in your child.

If you want to encourage letter and pattern awareness in your child, a great way to do that is through MindFinity’s offline games, which take just a few minutes a day to play. For more information on MindFinity, please click here. 

What Is Phonemic Awareness?

Phonemic awareness is the ability to take individual sounds, focus on them, and speak them out loud. You may have noticed that you can read a word in your head, but you may have trouble pronouncing some – kids are the same way. Phonemes are combined to form syllables and words. It is how we can “sound out” words that we haven’t seen before. 

There are 44 phonemes within the English language, including letter combinations that create specific sounds – like “sh” for example. It is hard for many kids to gain phonemic awareness, but it is imperative they do. It is one of the most important skills for reading and writing, which impact all other subject areas.

Students who struggle with phonological awareness often have lower grades and require more help than their classmates. The good news is that there are games that can actually help to build that awareness, even if it doesn’t come naturally.

Play Games That Require Reading

Does your child love to play games? If so, try to introduce age-appropriate games that require them to read more. For example, old-fashioned board games like Scrabble Jr., Monopoly Jr., and Candyland require reading skills. You may have to help them the first few times, but they will start to remember certain words and phrases.

Some video games can also help to increase phonemic awareness as well. When words flash across the screen, particularly if they are also said out loud, children can better visualize the individual parts of the word and the overall sound they make.

Patterns Are Imperative

The key to phonological awareness is pattern recognition. Any game that helps your child learn about patterns and how they fit together will be beneficial to phonemic awareness. Of course, some games are better than others. Any game that requires building words, stories, or something tangible will be more helpful than games that just require counting.

Talking Is Helpful

Thanks to technology, people are talking less out loud than they used to, which means that children are actually hearing fewer words spoken out loud. Just taking the time to sit with your kids and talk to them can help to build up phonemic awareness. When you play games, try to keep up with the conversation, just so they hear more words.

Look For Card Games and Word Games

Gone are the days when the only word game options out there are Scrabble and maybe Scattergories. Now, there are plenty of games for children of all ages that focus on building words, wordplay, and more. Even if the game doesn’t focus on reading, anything that uses words will help to increase phonemic awareness, build vocabulary, and improve speech.

Interested In Learning More About MindFinity?

Join Mindfinity today, and see how playing daily games can transform your child’s mind into that of a multi-talented polymath thinker. Your membership includes: unlimited access to the videos from Opher’s Toronto Parent Workshop where he teaches you the methodology, and new educational activities to play each week in their Games of Genius Program.

It isn’t easy to overstate the importance of play in your child’s life. From the earliest years of someone’s life, they learn more through play and experience than they do in any other way. This is why so many education systems that are actually beneficial to children use play as the backbone of their curriculums. When a child is doing and playing instead of sitting and memorizing, they are increasing their IQs and becoming better global citizens.

If you want to encourage play that teaches them, a great way to do that is through MindFinity, which only requires a few minutes a day of different types of play. For more information on MindFinity, please click here. To see how else play helps your child, keep reading.

Play Promotes Critical Thinking Skills

When your child is playing alone or with other people, they are developing their critical thinking skills. They start to understand how things fit together and complement each other. As they play and pretend, they start to see how the world works and how they fit into it.

At the same time, it reinforces their memories and teaches cause and effect. Playing with dolls, cars, or other toys allows them to use their senses and imagination in safe ways. They create scenes in their minds and act them out, inspiring them to be creative. Just watch them playing with their toys and see what they come up with – it is quite something.

Play Has Physical Benefits

Play has physical benefits to children as well, including helping in the development of their fine and gross motor skills. The best play will have them running, jumping, dancing, riding bikes, climbing, and just using their bodies in new ways. They will learn how their bodies feel and build up stamina. 

Remember to provide them with protection and structure – they need to know what trees they can climb and which ones won’t hold their weight. The more play that takes place outside, the better.

Play Encourages Social Skills

When your child plays with another person, particularly other children, they are developing key social skills that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. They start to understand social cues and expectations. In larger groups, they will learn compromise and how to work together. 

While you may have to monitor your child and who they are playing with (especially if they are playing video games with people from across the world), encourage them to play with different types of kids.

Play Takes Many Different Forms

Not all kids are going to be rough and tumble kids who play tag until the sun goes down. Some kids are going to play video games, others are going to play with dolls. Play doesn’t have to look like one specific thing. It can look like a board game with family, building a craft set, or putting a puzzle together. Encourage play however you can while still pushing them to go beyond their comfort zone every now and again.

If your child is shy, you may need to encourage them to play with other kids. Sign them up for a group activity, if possible, or have them tag along with an older sibling.

Interested In Learning More About MindFinity?

Join Mindfinity today, and see how playing daily games will transform your child’s mind into that of a multi-talented polymath thinker. Your membership includes: unlimited access to the videos from Opher’s Toronto Parent Workshop where he teaches you the methodology, new games to play with your child released over time in the Accelerated Daily Games (Beta) Program, live online events, (membership to the private MindFinity Member Community on Facebook where you can share ideas, get help from certified trainers, and get inspiration from other super parents like you, discounts to upcoming live MindFinity events, and new levels of the MindFinity program as they come out.