Rusty and Rosy Learn with Me Blog

Alex has started to pick out letters everywhere. Last night, when he was pulling on his pajamas, he said, “Look, mom! It’s an f.” He was pointing to the fly on his pajamas. Sure enough, from his perspective, looking down, the seam of his fly curved around to make an f. On a walk the […]

Marie Clay, author of Early Detection of Reading Difficulties, states that learning something as simple as direction (left to right and top to bottom) can be very confusing for young children, but this skill is significant in teaching your child to read. You can provide many fun opportunities for learning and practice; here are some […]

Listening for and recognizing individual sounds in a word is key to learning to read and write. Reading alliterative picture books with your preschooler is a fun way to recognize letter sounds. (Alliteration is the repetition of a leading sound in a phrase.) A common example of alliteration is “Peter Piper Picked […]

Now that your preschooler has become adept at rhyming through the activities we’ve posted over the last weeks (Read a Rhyme, Change the Rhyme, Rhyming Riddles, Rhyming Bingo, and Rhyming Concentration), here’s a fun capstone game to share with the family. Once again, this is a great activity for older siblings to share—especially if you […]

This is another fun game to share with family members, especially for home schoolers. First, you’ll need to print and cut out the Sound Sense Playing Cards. You can also copy them on card stock and have your child color them. Select three to six pairs of rhyming words from among the cards. Show your […]

If possible, gather a small group of players for this game (with a maximum of eight). This is a fun game to share with the family, especially for home schoolers. Give each player a Sound Sense Bingo Card and some pieces to cover the squares (pennies, buttons, or beans work well.)
Each time you say a […]

Here’s another fun activity using rhymes to help your child to pay attention to the sounds in words. This is a great activity for car trips, long waiting times, and all of those moments you need to fill with some distraction.
Ask your child rhyming riddles. For example, “What rhymes with can and starts with /m/?” […]

Here’s an easy activity to help your child pay attention to the rhymes you’ve been reading. The next time you sing or read your child’s favorite rhyming book or nursery rhyme, mix it up a little. Choose a new rhyming word to replace the one your child knows.
For example: “Twinkle, twinkle little star” could […]

Many studies have demonstrated that children who can recite nursery rhymes are better prepared to learn to read—and generally they become better readers. So today’s advice is to read rhyming books with your child . The wonderful thing is that your preschooler will love it. Young children (and toddlers) naturally gravitate to the sing-song rhythm […]

Teach your child this fun chant when you have a few spare moments and then use it to fill time when you’re doing other things.
Your child will enjoy learning to clap or stomp beats in his own name, but this activity will become particularly fun when you think of silly names. Start with short names […]