I’m trying to teach my 5 month old daughter to read by the Doman method. I show her words on flashcards
and the IPad. So far so good. Now I started to label several of her beginner picture books (you know these
first picture books, where’s only one picture on each page and nothing else). I printed out the words in
as big as possible to fit in the book (about 1.5 - 2 cm high) without masking the picture and clue them
in the book with adhesive tape. This way I hope each time I read the book to her, I can point to the words.
I’m not really sure if she can already see such a small font and if she ever will look to the word and not
only to the image. In the next stage of picture books with more complex pictures and one or two
sentences on each page, I think I would stick only some sight words like cat, dog, etc in the picture
as the writing is often to small and complex for babies.
What do you think about such an approach to enlarge the exposure to sight words?
Did anyone of you try such labelling and would recommend it?
Lots of parents label around the house. Put labels on everything right at her eye level. Then you can print as big as you like. At 5 months old her eye level maybe just below your. You probably still carry her around but if she is crawling and sitting then you will need to put them quite low. Be sure to read them all out as you walk past them each time.
Labeling picture books is a great idea. I have always id I think mums know best at to what their kids can see. If your arnt sure then assume she can’t see the smaller print yet. I was quite sure my kids could see smaller print when I needed them to. Add some eye training cards to your day to help improve eyesight. Hre are some free to print under free downloads above. Start with the black and white and keep moving through them until she gets fixated on one. That should give you an indication of what she sees well. If she is interested it is working.
To label more advanced books I would recommend getting books with just pictures and the words are irrelevant. Cut them all up ( I cringe every time I suggest that!) put them back together with your chosen home made words or sentences on one side and the pictue on the opposite page. That way you can cover the picture so she focussed only on the words. And show the picture after. You can also print the words any size you like AND change them into sentences later!
You can also use your child’s own photos and have them printed in books with your choice of words. I can get an 8 by 8 inch book of 20 pages done for $5 on special! Try snap fish or your local department store. My kids loved this!
The photobooks are really a great idea. I will try them in the next weeks also for my older kids.
I have already shown my little daughter the infant stimulation cards from this website for
the first 4 months. She is interested in them and can locate the image on it (she will directly
steer her head in the direction of the image, so I think she is seeing at least some details).
She can also locate my homemade flashcards where the font is 4-5cm high.
Can I put sentences over several lines, or should that be avoided until the kid knows
how to read from left to right?
I just use masking tape and cover the smaller text a couple of times so you can’t see it through the tape and then write on it bigger and bolder with a black marker. The good thing about masking tape is that when she gets older i can always pull off the masking tape and there hopefully will be no damage to the book.
The “spot” book are quite basic and have clear words, but i took it a step further and added lables to the pictures eg “dog” “hat” “ball” etc and used signing while i pointed out the added words in the book. This worked really well.
Kiwimum,
The masking tape is a great idea! I will have to try that. I feel like I am limited in time always, so I may not have time to put in all the effort to cut out and paste pictures and then retype all the words on another page, but I can cover the current words with masking tape and write over!
Although, mandaplus’s suggestion may be better in the fact that the picture ends up covered up and just the words showing. I just wish there was an easier way to do it. I don’t mind printing, so if maybe I print pictures on card-stock and use a labelmaker on another piece of cardsstock for the words?