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Babies have the ability to learn to read beginning at around 3 months old. If you have the opportunity to begin early do so. Don’t wait until your baby is older. When you begin at a time when your baby is not doing much physically, they will give you their attention. When beginning with older babies, some parents struggle with holding their attention. When certain babies gain mobility, they have no time to sit still, even for a few seconds. Begin early and your child will never remember a time when they couldn’t read.

Magnetic Letters – Remember the magnetic letters we played with when we were kids? These letters are powerful tools when used to teach babies to read. They are so handy and useful for creating all kinds of words, couplets and sentences. You can use them on your refrigerator, or you can get a magnetic board and keep it in the baby’s room. Your baby will be delighted to see you spelling out their name, your name or any other word you come up with. They are bright and colorful, which makes them more attractive to a baby.

You can use magnetic letters to easily create words on demand or to review old words. When you put together words, you can spell them out as you assemble them, thereby teaching your baby the names of the letters and how to spell. Remember your baby is like a sponge and will absorb all this information.

I like to use magnetic letters to create new words quickly. If my baby is eating waffles, I will grab the letters and assemble the word while my baby is eating. That way, she is making the connection that there is a word that describes what she is eating, and this is what it looks like. Every time you show your baby a word, you are helping them to make connections. Nothing you do is wasted and no word you show is useless. There is something to learn from every word. Your baby is learning about the patterns of the language with every word you show them.

Dry Erase Board – If you get the board for the magnetic letters, it is most likely a dry erase board. This can be another wonderful tool when used to create words and sentences on demand. You can write your baby notes while you hold them in your arms. I used to write my son all kinds of sentences on the dry erase board before he was one year old. I could see him following the text with his eyes, even though he couldn’t really speak. I would write, “Joshua is a boy,” or “Joshua is handsome.

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