Four fun ways to practise keywords at home (that are quick to set up for busy mums!)

My little boy has just started in Reception. As a Reception teacher myself I was very excited when he came home with his first little bits of homework. A real reading book and some key words / sight words / high frequency words to learn!

Since he was born we have always enjoyed reading together as a family, snuggling up with bedtime stories, visiting the library and fostering a love of books! And I have been so looking forward to him learning to read and being able to discover the magic of losing yourself inside a story or finding out something new from a really interesting non-fiction book!

As he starts dipping his toe into the world of independent reading though, I am mindful of the fact that after a busy day at school he is not keen to sit and work through a pile of flash cards or anything that he might consider as ‘work’, so I decided to put my teacher brain to good use and create a few fun ways to practise his keywords / sight words / high frequency words. They have been quite successful so far and therefore I thought I would share them with you!

1. Big chalks outside

This was always one of my favourite types of activitiy when I was teaching in Reception for many reasons – it is active, outdoors, and very flexible, plus once you have written the words on the ground they stay there until it rains / you wash them away so you can keep returning to the activity or making up new games to play for quite a while with minimal effort.

You will need: big chalks such as these from Amazon, or many supermarkets and pound shops sell them too.

I spent two minutes writing the keywords that he was given this week on the floor, and since then we have played lots of different games involving them. We started by taking turns saying a word we could see for the other person to jump on. Next we tried to jump on each word and say it as quickly as possible. The next day we took some beanbags out and had some target practise as well, again taking turns saying a word and aiming for it. Another activity we havent tried yet with these is painting over them with large paint brushes and water. This has the added benefit of being a great gross motor / shoulder and elbow joint activity which helps with developing early writing skills. Also I am much more likely to get little man interested in doing this than any form of handwriting / letter formation practise indoors with pencils and paper! When you trace over the chalk letters they disappear but then come back as the water dries out, you can also practise copying the words or letters on the ground next to the chalk words as well.

2. Magnetic fishing

This was another really quick make. I drew some very simple fish shapes, wrote the words on and added a safety pin (I would normally use paper clips but we had run out).

You will need: card, scissors, pen, paperclips (or safety pins) and a magnet (add string and a stick if you want to enhance the ‘fishing’ experience!)

We had lots of fun saying words that we could see for each other to catch, and it was lovely to see Douglas paying really close attention as I got some words wrong on purpose, which he found very funny (“Silly Mummy!”) he then proceeded to choose the wrong word to trick me – which showed me that he was really thinking about the words. To extend this activitiy you could ask your little person to catch a sentence (as long as you have enough words to make one).

As he gets new words each week we will add them to the ‘shoal’ and keep playing the game for as long as he finds it interesting.

3. High five word hunt

This is another idea that I have tried and tested in the classroom. I cut out hand shapes and wrote the key words on them, then I stuck the words all around our house with bluetac. The idea is that whenever you pass a hand you give it a high five and say the word. This is less of an activity than just something you do in passing, continuing to build up familiarity with the words and developing automatic recall.

You will need: paper/card, a pen, scissors, blue-tac. Alternatively you can buy ready cut card or foam shapes from craft shops, or if you were feeling creative and wanted to give your small person more ownership of the activity, you could get them to create a set of hand prints and (once dry) cut these out and add the words.

4. Sensory salt tray

Another part of the homework that has been set by Douglas’ school during this first term is practising writing his name using cursive formation. There are many arguments on both sides of the cursive vs printing debate and I know that for many children learning to write is very tricky. I do think that the initial effort of learning to form letters with lead ins and lead outs is worth the effort for those who can, especially if you can make the whole process of learning the basic shapes and movements required into something enjoyable and kinaesthetic. Many years ago I worked in a school where they followed a scheme that linked all the movements ot actions on a bus eg ‘wheels go round’ (clockwise circular movement) ‘wheels reverse’ (anti clockwise) walk up the stairs (ascenders) etc etc, and it really helped the children to remember the different movements. I would say that if fine mortor control it tricky for your little person however, don’t worry too much about cursive formation, or letter formation at all to begin with, work instead on using lots of playdough, and small construction to build up their hand muscles, whilst also working on big patterns and shapes with their elbow and shoulders eg large paintbrushes outside, big chalks outside on the path / pavement / patio, painting at an easel / painting the shed or an outdoor wall with water etc.

That being said, for those who are reluctant to pick up a pen / pencil / writing implement, a salt tray can be a wonderful thing. In the picture above you can see how we have been practising key words and letter formation. I have made cards for all the letters in Douglas’ name, and to make the keywords he is learning at the moment. He can then choose which ones he wants to practise. Quite often he will do a couple and then draw a picture or make patterns in the salt, and I don’t mind this at all as it is all working towards developin his fine motor control. Later today I am going to make some new cards with handwriting patterns on to practise those key movements that I was mentioning earlier. Another way to make this fun is to have the words / letters / patterns you are wanting to practise on the faces of a dice, so there is an element of a game to the practise.

As a final point I would like to add that we don’t do these activities every day, sometimes we just play with the Lego, or go for a bike ride, or snuggle up and read stories just for fun. Some days he is really shattered and just needs to chill out with CBeebies while I do something else. I want to help Douglas develop a positive attitude towards homework and practising the skills he is learning at school at home. I really don’t think that making it an arduous task that he has to do every night would be of benefit to anyone, and none of us would enjoy it either. So I try to be pretty child led and if he is just not in the mood after a hard day at school, then that is absolutely fine by me!

So those are the first few quick and easy activities that I have set up to help my little man with learning keywords. Do let me know if this was useful or if you try any of the ideas and how they go. If you have any different sorts of early homework that you are struggling with (Reception / Year 1 / Year 2 age predominantly) do ask and I will see if I can help think of any ways to make them more active and enjoyable.