Instructions

• This is play, not work. This should be a fun experience all the time. Stop if anybody gets frustrated. Try a different game next time or maybe at a better time. Only you know what your child likes best.
  
• Play the games your child has the most fun at. We played all of these games at least once, but played the games that they liked the best 90% of the time. We just adapted it for letters/sounds/colors/shapes/etc.
  
• If your child is hungry, tired or sick - don't play. It is easier to get frustrated at these times. (Especially for parents)
  
• Sessions should be kept short (5-15 minutes), but played frequently (3 times a day). If you can't manage than, then try one 30 minute session and see how it goes.
  
• This program doesn’t take a lot of time for a child to learn to read. It works best when parents are excited about the games and consistent about playing them. A lot of praise is needed.
  
• These games can be adapted to anything you are teaching: letters, numbers, sounds (phonics), words, colors, shapes, etc.
  
• These games may seem very simple, but children love them.
  
• HAVE FUN!!!!

After the letter names have been learned you can go into learning the sounds. You can explain to your child that a cow doesn’t say “cooooow”, it says “moooooo”. The letters are the same way the “B” doesn’t say “B”; it says “buh”, and so on. The Leapfrog video "Letter Factory" is VERY helpful for teaching letter sounds.

** The Blends and Silent E are to be played after basic phonics is learned.

• Blends: Blends can be learned by using any games listed in these instructions.
• Silent E: Silent E words can be learned by using any games listed in these instructions or by playing the Magic E game.