Word Post-Its: A Simple Activity for Young Readers
Guest Post from Rachel of Thriving Home
Do you have a post-it pad and pen? You do? Then you’re set for this super simple yet fun learning activity for young readers.
When it comes to teaching my kids at home, simple games or activities that require no prep are my favorite. Today we made up one of those games and called it Word Post-Its. I say we made it up, but I’m sure many other people have done this before!
The Goal of the Activity
My intent with Word Post-Its was to help my little pre-reader (3-year-old daughter) and very early reader (5-year-old son), who already know their letters and letter sounds (for the most part), to:
– sound out simple and familiar words
– attach meaning to the words they sound out
– have fun learning to read!
How to Play Word Post-Its: Young Reader Version
1 – Write words on post-it notes of items around the house. I used only nouns for my preschoolers, but read on for another idea to make the game a bit more complex for older kids.
2 – Have the kids sound out the words or see if they recognize them.
3 – Then, have your child stick the post-it on the item it stands for.
4 – After I created a few Word Post-Its, my son wanted to try making some for me. So, not only is this a reading lesson, but it can also become a writing lesson.
Here are a few examples of my first simple Word Post-Its:
Next, we started having fun sticking them on each other. We raced around the house trying to get away from our post-it. Serious giggling ensued.
How to Play Word Post-Its: Older Reader Version
Now, here’s an idea for a little bit older kids or perhaps even some younger readers, too. Why not do sort of an Apples to Apples
1 – Write down adjectives on the post-its. Some examples: cute, silly, ridiculous, slick, germy, stinky, marvelous, gargantuan, etc. Explain to your child that an adjective is a word that describes a noun (a person, place, or thing).
2 – Have your child read the word, and then discuss its meaning together.
3 – Encourage your child to think creatively of what sort of item or person in your house would represent the adjective…and stick away! (Note: You may have to preface this portion of the game by reminding your child to “be nice” to others and thoughtful of their feelings. It’s probably not the best idea to stick “stinky” on sister, for instance.)
Now, you’ve got yourself a fun vocabulary, grammar, and reading lesson in one! My guess is this game could be hysterical. I mean, what if your son sticks “stinky” on his own foot or “cute” on his pet worm? You know that’ll get a little kid laugh.
Other Simple Learning Activities
Here are a few other quick activities I’ve done with my kids that require little to no prep.
Rachel is a stay-at-home mom who works part-time as a Family Events Coordinator at her church and co-authors the blog, Thriving Home. She enjoys playing with her three young kids (ages 1,3, and 5), creating healthy recipes, and walking with her friends.
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Great Idea!! I think my five yr old will enloy it.
Fun idea! I will add that to my list for preschool co-op next year. Thanks for sharing!
What a great idea! It’s inexpensive and effective. Kids see parents writing on post-it notes all the time and will love playing with them, too! Renee
A great opportunity to add a translation to another language (if I may say so ;)
Petra, I love your idea to use this as a way to teach kids (or adults!) another language.
One of my readers listed another variation to this game on my site, “This reminded me of another sight word activity the PE teacher at my school did. She would post sight words (or letters, for the youngest kids) all around the gym and have a bucket with the matching word (or letter) in the middle. The game was to grab a card from the bucket and run to the word on the wall. She also did this with spelling for the older kids with words in the bucket and letters on the wall, and they would have to run and tap each letter to spell the word. I always thought it could easily be transferred outside. The kids had so much fun running around they didn’t even realize how much learning was taking place!”
Yes, there are so many ways to relate to what the kids are learning in all the fields! This can have so many applications.
So simple, so fun! My kids will enjoy this I’m sure- I’m also going to use it to practice our French and Spanish vocab, and use it as a matching game on labels we already have on our furniture for the littlest ones. Thanks for the idea!
Interesting way to teach children. Thanks for sharing.