Playground activities to help children learn to read
It’s no secret that learning to read and understand words is important for children to progress through school more easily. It also gives them confidence to learn independently and discover the joy of reading. Many reading journeys will begin at home with parents or guardians but that doesn’t mean that schools aren’t a part of this process. A lot of school-based learning will take place in the classroom but it can outdoors too. So we’ve compiled a list of playground activities that can help teach children to read.
Studying large alphabet playground markings
There are many colourful displays to be seen inside a classroom, so why not continue that tradition outside with a Dragon A-Z playground marking. The colours are a major draw here but one of the greatest advantages is to have such a large piece that will be easy for all your students to all look at it at the same time so they can learn together. You can use this piece to help learn the alphabet and to get the children to point out specific letters so you know they understand them.
Alphabet jump games
You can make it even more interactive with our Alphabet Jump Game, where you can encourage the children to find a certain letter or jump between letters to make words, such as their own names or more complicated words as they progress. You may have to allow jumping off the marking, if the next letter is a little hard to reach. They can always work on their hopping if they need to go around.
Create the letter shapes
For those classes that are doing well learning their letters, there are many games that you can play and one of those is using their own bodies to create the shapes of letters – just like in the well-known dance ‘YMCA’ or as seen in cheerleading. You can separate the children into groups and give each child a letter to recreate that will spell out a word, which will be guessed by the other teams. Just remember, not all letters are as easy to replicate so try to start off with easy ones like A, C, F, I, T, X and Y.
Spot and sound the phonics
Phonics are a fantastic tool to facilitate learning and, just like our alphabet playground markings, our Elephant Phonics Phase 2 and 3 can be used to teach the different phonics, sounding them out to progress through this stage. Why not see if your students can work as a group to stand on or next to the correct phonics to make a word? Giving them the opportunity to create the words and sounds can help to approach the subject from another angle.
Take books outside
Sometimes it can help to give the children a change in environment so something as simple as taking the books outside and giving the children the space to try it for themselves can be amazing. If you’re working on a particular book and everyone is able to see their own copy, you can read aloud and get the children to follow the progress by marking it with a trailing finger on their own copy. If they are feeling more confident or are ready for that stage, ask the children to read a few sentences and encourage their efforts. There are so many ways to enjoy reading so we’re sure you’ll find a way to make it fun for everyone.
If you’d like to discuss installation of playground markings that help children learn to read for your playground, get in touch with our team today! We have many educational playground markings that have been designed to help children learn their letters, numbers and other topics.
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