As children’s first teachers, parents and caregivers are the ones that start children’s lessons for learning to read. The first ones are of course talking to kids and helping them learn to use language. After that, there is a critical concept that kids seem to learn without our even knowing. This is that words are made of bits of sounds that can be combined in lots of different ways, (phonological awareness). An example of this is the bits of sounds in cat, the “k” sound and the “at” that can be changed into mat, rat, sat, hat, vat, etc. You may notice that all these words rhyme. Knowing about rhymes is so important that it will impact learning to read. Typically, this is something kids learn about the age of 4. Readiness for kindergarten evaluations often include a rhyming activity.
To help kids figure out that different words can sound almost the same, we need to provide lots of experiences of words that do just that. Songs and books with rhymes can help. “A Camping Spree with Mr. Magee” by Chris Van Dusen is a fun story about Mr. Magee and his dog Dee and their camping adventures, all in rhyme, of course.
Camping can help with kindergarten readiness in lots of ways. The camping season is just in time to help our kids with words that rhyme. Doesn’t this sound reason–able?