Test your child’s language skills in a relaxed, non-threatening way by combining a reading activity with a tea party! You will personalize “bags of tea” with jumbles of words that can be reconfigured to form a simple sentence. Make acquainting your child with sentence structure and improving her reading skills an entertaining challenge as she puts sentences together like a puzzle, while sipping on some tea (imaginary or real)!
What You Need:
White paper
Pencil or pen
String
Scissors
Glue or tape
Hole punch
Cups, plates, and treats for the tea party (optional)
What You Do:
On a blank piece of paper, write out a sentence that fits the reading level of your child. You may want to write something positive about your child, or an example of good manners at a tea party.
Cut out each of the words in the sentence so that each word is separate from one another. Make sure that the words are big enough for your child to pick up and read easily, but no wider or longer than 2 inches so that they fit comfortably into the tea bag.
Now, prepare the bags of tea. Take your sheet of white paper and measure out a 6” x 3” rectangle. Cut it out and fold it in half so that your fold creates 2 3” x 3” squares. Unfold the rectangle.
Place the pieces of your sentence in a stack inside the folded rectangle at the fold.
Refold the rectangle and glue the open edges together. You should now have a pouch with the words of the sentence held inside. Set the “word pouch” aside for the glue to dry.
Once the glue is dry, punch a hole into the top of the pouch and tie a string to the hole to finish the tea bag. The string should be about as long as your hand from the tip of your middle finger to your wrist.
Now you and your child are ready for your tea party! Prepare your child’s desired accompaniments, such as tea and cookies, then give your child her bag of “word tea.”
While she’s sipping her real tea, help her open the word pouch up, and watch her put together the pieces of her sentence. When she’s finished, she can read the sentence to you!
Consider making several tea bags with sentences that fit together, such as the beginning of your child’s favorite story. Once she has figured out each individual sentence, your child can order the sentences to make sense of the story. This is a fun and easy game that you can tailor specifically to your child’s reading needs!
