"Banana, fana, fofana, fie, fi, fo, fana..."

Sound familiar?
This childhood ditty can be stuck in your head for hours, but it may eventually serve a purpose. You might want to make up your own silly version. Absolutely, GO FOR IT! Be sure to include your kids in the fun!
Why? Playing with sounds, rhymes, and nonsense words is vital to the logical progression of pre-reading skills. How?

Spoken language is made up of sounds (phonemes)
Sounds make words
Words make phrases
Phrases make sentences
Sentences have meaning

Mastering written language (reading) follows the exact same progression with the phonemes (sounds) represented by symbols (such as letters) called graphemes.
Remember how your baby would delight in your smiles, coos, and sound mimics during his babbling stage? As your child develops, she will mimic the sounds you make. Take advantage of these opportunities by making rhymes and word repetitions.

"bat, rat, cat, ratatattat"
"bed, bat, b, b, b, b"
"car, cat, cut, cot....bot, not, sot, rot, tot"

Discovery Toys has products that practice these language development games perfectly!
ABC Box: As you flip through the pages of the books, pause and add more words that start with the same sound. For example: after your child "reads" the Dd doll, dinosaur page, continue the fun with additional Dd words "dog, dot" etc. Practice rhymes as well: "doll, mall, call, pall, tall, small" etc.

Toddler Talk: Record funny sounds on the phone and encourage your child to repeat the sounds. Your child can record her own voice, too!



Sounds Like Fun: Practice letters and sounds with song! Once you and your child are familiar with the tunes, make your own silly words and sounds.



A B Seas: Pull up the letters, match them on the game board, AND encourage your child to make words that start with that sound. As your child masters beginning sounds, challenge her to think of words with the ending sounds. Imagine the fun you can have reading books with your child now. Discovery Toys has many excellent titles for encouraging a life-long love of reading.

-from "Miss Cathy" Reading Specialist, as seen in Discovery Toys newsletter