Ever wondered what the next step is for your toddler when he/she knows all their letters and their corresponding sounds? I am going to share with you what I am doing with my toddler twin girls, that is also working for us.

My girls recently turned two, and they already know all their letters — upper and lowercase. When I realized that they did, we started working on the letter sounds, and now they know them all.

I started going over each letter with them because they are still pretty young, but I felt as though I was doing a great injustice to them.

I decided to move them along because I felt going over the individual letters and sounds was a waste of time when my girls are already singing the alphabet, making the sounds of the letters, identifying the initial sound of new words being added to their vocabularies, and listing at least four objects that begin with each letter of the alphabet.

Now we are working on blending sounds (onset and rimes) because they are so young, I will be spending a lot of time doing so. 

What is Onset and Rimes?

According to ReadingRocket.org The “onset” is the initial phonological unit of any word (e.g. ‘c’ in cat), and the term “rime” refers to the string of letters that follow — usually a vowel and final consonants (e.g. ‘at’ in cat). This can help students decode new words when reading and spell words when writing.

I figured that since they are blending, I would teach them a few sight words that would lead to them reading simple sentences, so I made them this Word Tree Matching Game.

On a daily basis, we will be using it. I will also start labelling the items around the house for them.

How we use our Sight Word Tree Matching Activity:

1. I start off by showing the girls our Jumbo sight word cards. We read the words together, and for words ‘the’, ‘my’, and, ‘a’, three of the four words I am starting them off with, I place objects beside them, and we read. Example: The bear. My book. A cow.

2. I then touch the words on the tree and say them, over time they will be able to tell them on their own as they have already begun. I deliberately wrote each word a few times so they can remember what each word looks like and get the practice they need (through repetition) to identify each word.

I then show them the ladybugs and tell them we will be matching each with the words on our tree. My intention was to have them choose the bugs from the coloured rice, but I noticed the rice would be the focus and that is not the goal of this activity.

3. I hold up a bug allowing them to attempt to tell me what word is on it, and then I pronounce the word and give the bug to them for them to find the same word on the tree. The girls enjoy identifying the words and placing the bugs on the tree. 

Some children learn better when they are exposed to one word at a time. I find my girls are able to learn multiple things together, so I expose them to multiple things at a time. We are also using the program ‘Your Baby Can Learn’, and the girls are able to identify words from the program in and out of order without pictures.

When the girls are able to blend simple words and are a little older I will start teaching them the different vowel sounds as for now I do not want to confuse them.

What you will need to make your tree:

• Cardboard 
• Blue and brown paint
• Scissors
• Glue Sticks
• Hot glue gun
• Markers
• Pencil 
• Googly eyes if you decide to use them.
• Construction paper
• Laminator (If you do not have a laminator, clear tape can be used to cover the leaves. I laminated the leaves and the bugs so that I can erase and write new words when they are ready.

How to make the Sight Word Tree:

Step 1: Start by outlining the shape of the tree on your cardboard with a pencil. (I made a large tree because I have twins.) Trace the pencil lines with a marker.

Step 2: Pour out your blue and brown paint and paint your tree trunk and the background and allow to dry.

Step 3: Cut leaves and ladybugs of your choice from the construction paper.

Step 4: Laminate the leaves and ladybugs or place clear tape over them so that they are reusable.

Step 5: Remove excess laminating plastic or tape from the leaves and the ladybugs, and if you wish attach the googly eyes to the ladybugs using the hot glue gun.

Step 6: Position the leaves how you would like them on the tree, and use your hot glue gun to attach them to the tree

Step 7: Use your marker to write the words on the leaves and the ladybugs.

Your sight word tree is ready for days of fun!