Blending Games for Kindergarteners

Making Blending Fun for Kindergarteners

The best educational practice for kindergarten kids is to make learning fun. You can do the same by allowing these online games on SplashLearn to help engage them as they learn blends:

• Starting to blend: The first step to blending is identifying individual sounds and then learning to put them together. You can make this a single activity with the help of games that you will notice your kids playing for hours at a stretch.
• Blending in twos: Before encountering complex blends and sounds, children begin by blending two simple sounds. It is best, to begin with, the more common ones and interactive games bring great excitement to the activity. This marks the starting point of a long reading journey.
• Blending ends: Many common blending words end with 'at' and 'ap.’ Practice these first to help your child make multiple words using common blended ending sounds. This is an effective way to help your child build vocabulary and familiarize themselves with common blended sounds quickly.
• Blending sounds and sight: Blending is a required skill for reading and spelling. This means that you need to hear its sound and read it while identifying correctly. Simple games can help your kids accomplish both simultaneously.

The Best Time to Bring in Blends

It can take a while to get the hang of blends. If you start too early, you might intimidate your child and slow down their progress. It is important to begin right and work the right way. 

• Introduce blends only when your child has picked up all the letter sights and sounds completely. Do not bring in blends if they experience even the slightest doubt in sounds.
• Begin with common blends. You could start with the 'a' family and bring in various blends that contain an 'a', or use words that have a common consonant blend like 'an' and 'in.’ Children work well with patterns.
• Give your child plenty of practice using multiple methods like guessing, recognition, filling in a sound, matching sounds, and reading blends. The more ways they practice blends, the more adept they will become at using them.
• Kindergarten is among the best grades to bring in blends, although it is essential to keep your child's learning pace and stage in mind. Do not pressure them based on what other children are doing. The learning curve evens out eventually.
• When practicing blends, help your child call out the sound individually and then start to put them together. This means that they need to hold the first letter's sound and sound the second without breaking it. Do this slowly, and get them to squeeze in the sounds closer until it’s effortless.
• Once your child has figured out this technique, they will be able to apply this to other blends as well. Therefore, please spend some time and get it done right.

Supporting Your Blending Kindergartner

What is your role in the blending journey? Well, there is a lot that you need to do. For instance:

• Make it as exciting as possible. You can easily do this with the multitude of resources available on SplashLearn
• Be patient. Your child may struggle with sounds and blends initially. Please don't lose hope, and do not ever give your child the impression that they aren't getting it. Always encourage their efforts and try again. You may choose to drop the sound and pick up another or push it to the next day to prevent your child from losing interest and hope.
• Be motivating. Praise every small win and applaud the effort when your child fails. The purpose of the exercise is to create happy readers and not stressed children.

Is there something we missed out on? Write to us at [email protected] with your feedback and comments. We love to hear from you and improve the learning experience for your kids.