2 & 3 Year Old Reading

How to Teach a 3 Year Old to Read?

Is it even possible to teach a two or three year old toddler to read? And even if it is possible, to what level of reading skills can a child that young achieve? And by reading, do we mean simply memorizing some word shapes, or actual phonetic reading? Great questions, but before we answer them, please watch the following 2 videos:

After watching the above video clips, I'm sure you'll agree on 2 things: 1) it is possible to teach a 3 year old to read, and 2) it is possible to teach them to read phonetically. You might ask: what's so important about being able to read "phonetically"? Well, there's a world of difference between being able to read phonetically and "reading" through the look-say, or "sight", reading approach.

As the name suggests, PHONEtics deals with the sounds of human speech, and phonetic reading is the ability to decode printed text and pronounce any variety of familiar or unfamiliar words - something not easily achievable through the whole language approach. A child (or anyone) that is able to read phonetically can decode and "sound out" any number of unfamiliar words, and even nonsense words based on spelling.

The "Magic" Behind Teaching a 2 or 3 Year Old Toddler to Read

It certainly isn't a cakewalk when trying to teach a small toddler to read - after all, most 2 year olds have just learned to speak! At the same time, most parents will give you the funny, skeptical look if you tell them that your little 2 year old can read, and even read phonetically. It's not until your little one puts up a demonstration where skepticism transforms into awe, wonder, and the eventual question of "how do you do it?"

The path to teaching a small toddler (or older children) to read isn't difficult, if you have the right knowledge and use the proper methods. The first question you should ask is: are you willing (or able) to spend about 10 minutes each day teaching your child to read? What? 10 minutes a day? That's it? This might seem like such a short and effortless task, but believe me, getting those quality 10 minutes in each and everyday can become a daunting task sometimes.

The first step is, you have to educate yourself a bit about phonics and phonemic awareness. To teach your child to read, you need to learn the sounds represented by a variety of different spellings, and you need to know how to combine those together to "sound it out". For a grown up, this isn't all that difficult.

But when you attempt to transfer this knowledge to a 2 or 3 year old toddler, it becomes a vastly different process and poses various challenges. I know, because I've been through it all with my children, and also with other parents and their children. When it comes to teaching small children to read, it needs to be done in a stepped process that involves a logical but moderate buildup of learning achieved through a sequential and gradual process.

We have developed a super simple and super effective program that will enable you to teach your child to read through easy to follow, easy to teach, step-by-step lessons. Click here to see how you can easily teach your child to read.