I don’t know about you, but I LOVE CVC words!

They are a great way to not only introduce the concept of rhyming to your child, but they are also a good place to start teaching them how to read! 

After teaching my daughter the alphabet the next logical step was teaching her how to read. 

Admittedly, my first attempt at teaching my daughter how to read was simply memorizing words. After a few weeks I realized she was just looking at the first letter of the word rather than the whole word. Whether she was looking at DOG or DAD, she would shout out “dog” and be ready to move on. 

This wasn’t exactly ideal. 

Time To Research

After much research online I discovered that many people recommend teaching kids phonics and phonetic awareness. This helps set the groundwork for strong readers who know how to sound out and decode words. 

Once your child knows the sound of each letter the next step is teaching them how to blend those sounds together to form words. 

After reading a few blog posts, I was inspired to make my own CVC flashcards! On one side was the CVC word, on the other was a picture. These were very basic, hand drawn pictures I did myself. 

Make It A Game!

To introduce these cards I set up a game with my daughter that mixed some learning and good old gross motor skills. 

My daughter is currently obsessed with our stairs. She loves walking up and down them all day. I’ve no idea why, I just know we’re getting a lot of exercise done. 

To set up the game I drew some arrows on 2 flashcards. The first arrow went at the bottom of the stairs as an UP button, the second arrow went at the top of the stairs as a DOWN button. 

Grabbing my daughter and our handy, dandy flashcards, we started at the UP button. Showing my daughter a card I explained we were going to practice the letter sounds to see if we could guess what the word was. 

Once we sounded out each letter in the word I worked on grouping the sounds together for her. “B-AT. B-AT. BAT. Do you think there is a BAT on the other side of this card?” After checking the back of the card she’d press the button and we would run up/down the stairs. 

Don’t Loose Hope!

Admittedly, the first time we did this was a little rough and discouraging. While she knew the sounds of each letter, she didn’t quite grasp the concept of blending the sounds together. She did get excited about seeing what picture was on the back and pressing our elevator buttons though! 

Repetition is key! Most people (or kids) don’t learn something the first, or even second time you show them something. You need to practice, everyday if you can! 

A great thing about toddlers and preschoolers is their brains are little sponges. If you keep practicing something for 5 – 10 minutes a day, they will eventually start catching on. 

The best part about flash cards is you can use them in a lot of activities, like this Phonics Rice Sensory Bin! 

What do you think? What are some fun activities you and your child have done with flashcards?