How Do I Improve My Child’s Early Reading Skills?

Age Groups

Topics

Kindergartner wants to improve reading skills. We read together daily. How else can I help her learn at home while keeping it fun?
—Amanda

Reading together is great, and probably the easiest and best thing to do. If you do want to get more into teaching reading, the key is to find an approach that focuses on phonics. (See more on why in this interview, and I continue to recommend the new podcast Sold a Story.)

For something that is just book-focused, the Bob Books work well. They focus on simple, decodable words and build up reading from a few letters into all of them.

An illustration of a colorful stack of books on a pink background. A small ladder is leaning on the stack. — Getty Images

If you want a more curricular approach, I liked Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. It’s intended to be used in one lesson each day, and they take about 20 minutes. This is going to work best if your child is really into it, so go easy to check in on that. You can always go back to just reading together, which is of huge value in itself.