So You Thought You Taught Your Toddler to Read… Now Every Word is a Fight
Does this sound familiar? You thought your toddler had reading down, but now every word turns into a battle. I’ve got good news and bad news for you.
The Bad News: There’s No Magic Tool
The bad news is there isn’t an incredible, magical tool that will instantly teach your child to blend words effortlessly. If you were hoping for an app, book, toy, or even flashcards like Lit Letters to do the job for you—sorry, it’s not that easy.
The Good News: It’s Simpler Than You Think
The good news is, teaching your child to blend words is actually much easier than you might expect. Even better—you probably already have all the supplies you need at home. All you need is the right strategy and three simple tools.
Hi, I’m Delainey
If we haven’t met yet, I’m Delainey—a reading specialist turned parent coach. I help parents give their children the reading confidence they need from the start. My approach is all about using research-backed strategies and fun games to make learning to read both meaningful and impactful. Today, I’m sharing my top three tools for teaching blending—one of them is even a freebie!
What Is Blending?
Blending is an essential phonics skill your child needs in addition to phonics knowledge. Phonics knowledge is knowing letter sounds, but blending is the skill of combining those sounds to make words. Your child might know the letter sounds “m,” “a,” and “t,” but can they blend them together to say “mat”? That’s where blending comes in.
Tool #1: Play-Doh
As adults, we tend to overlook the complexity of blending because we have phonological awareness—the ability to distinguish sounds in words. Your child, however, is still developing this skill. Play-Doh is one of my favorite ways to teach blending because it provides a visual and tactile input, making an abstract concept more concrete.
Start with two Play-Doh balls and give your child the sounds: /a/ and /t/. Have them press the balls as they repeat the sounds. Then ask, “What’s the word?” This helps them connect the sounds and blend them into words. Once they can blend two sounds, move on to three-sound words like “mat,” “pet,” or “mug,” and eventually to four-sound words like “crab” or “plan.” Play-Doh makes this learning process more hands-on and engaging for your child.
Tool #2: Blending Mat (Your Freebie!)
After preparing your child with oral blending, the next step is continuous blending with written words. Continuous blending is a specific blending strategy in which your child is taught to drag the sounds together instead of stopping between each one. Have you ever heard a child laborously say each sound, and then when asked what the word is they say a totally different word? When they are taught to drag the sounds together without those pauses, there is less room for error and it is easier to transition from sounds to words.
That’s why I love this freebie blending mat! The key is to teach your child to “keep their engine running”—dragging the sounds together without pausing between them.
For example, instead of saying /r/ /a/ /t/ with pauses, teach your child to smoothly say “rrrrraaat” as they roll the cat beneath the letters. Start with words that have a stretchy first sound like /r/ or /s/, and gradually move to more complex sounds. This strategy helps children avoid the common mistake of saying the sounds but failing to blend them into a word.
Tool #3: Games
Until your child can blend two-syllable words easily, books will be overwhelming. Instead, games are the best way to provide the repetition they need at the word level before moving on to sentences and books. In my membership, Play to Read Plus, I teach parents how to use over 8 different printable games to target the essential phonics skills their child needs to succeed. But these two are the easiest to start with on your own at home:
1. Tic-Tac-Toe: Draw a tic-tac-toe board and fill each square with a word your child is working on, like CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words or blends. Your child reads the word before placing their “X” or “O” in the square. This can be adapted for any phonic skill.
2. Board Games: Use games you already have at home, like Connect Four or Candyland. Write or print out words on cards, and before your child takes their turn, have them read a word. It’s a simple way to turn any game into a phonics practice session.
Join Play to Read Plus
If you’re ready to teach phonics skills through games and transform reading frustration into reading confidence, Play to Read Plus is the community for you!
Is Your Child Struggling with Blending?
If your child is struggling with blending words, grab the blending mat and join my email list because I’ll be sharing more about how spelling can support blending and how to help your child start blending sentences!
