How can you help increase your youngster"s word family skills?  Try the ideas listed below!

1. An Envelope of Words:   To encourage your child to practice letter patterns, write the words on paper and cut each letter apart.  Place the letters in an envelope, and label it with the word family.  Then ask your child to build words.  Your child could also write the words he/she makes on paper, chalkboard, markerboard, etc.  This activity can be extended to making sentences and cutting them apart to rebuild. .

2. Scrabble Pieces:   Use letter tiles from your Scrabble game to build words.  When your child makes a word,  math facts could also be practiced.

3. Nursery Rhymes/Dr. Seuss books:  Place small sticky notes over words in the story that contain word chunks.  Let your child play a guessing game and guess what spelling patterns/words belong it the space.  Lift the stick note to check your answer.

4. Magnetic Letters:  Invite your child to use magnetic letters to build words on the refrigerator.

5. Texture Writing:    Ask to child to make words by using a variety of textures:  Play-Doh, shaving cream, sand, markers, chalk, crayons, finger paint, waterpaint, etc.