Reading

Slip in some learning ABC games this National Cupcake Day with ABC Party Cupcake Toppers from Learning Resources! This sweet, award-winning set includes six colorful pretend play cupcakes with slots on top and storage inside, 26 double-sided letter toppers, and 26 picture toppers for some delicious learning and fun! Designed to guide your sweet-toothed sweetie from letter names and sounds to simple spelling, there are so many ways to play, like:

1. Learn Your Letters

Place a series of letters (experts recommend teaching S, A, T, I, P, and N first) on the cupcakes and ask your child to find a specific letter. Give them a broad hint, if need be, by telling them whether that cupcake has chocolate or vanilla frosting, or give a more particular hint by sharing the color of the frosting with that letter on top.

2. Learn Letter Sounds

Place a picture topper inside a cupcake and slot the letter topper with the first letter of that word on top. Ask your child to identify the letter, then ask what sound it makes. Pop the cupcake open to see the object starting with that sound. Or switch it up by placing the picture topper on top and asking what letter or sound it starts with.

3. Spell It

Several of the picture toppers feature objects spelled with just three letters. Choose one of these simple, sound-it-out words, and place it inside the cupcake. Then use the letter toppers to spell the word on top of the cupcake. Help your child sound it out, then open the cupcake to check their work!

4. Alpha Order

Place the toppers with the first six letters in the alphabet on top of the cupcakes and shuffle them around. Ask your child to put them alphabetically, singing the Alphabet Song for support. Continue with the rest of the alphabet, then pick letters at random for an extra sticky challenge.

After practicing with the ABC Party Cupcake Toppers, surprise your sweetie with an actual cupcake-making session! Cupcakes make the perfect Valentine’s Day treat, and your kids can help this year because we’re sharing some of our favorite, kid-friendly cupcake ideas to make together on February 14. Once your cupcakes are baked and cooled…

Mix! Start with vanilla frosting (homemade or store-bought), drip a few drops of food coloring, and let your little one mix it up. Dip! Once your cupcakes are cool and frosted, let your kids dip them into bowls of sprinkles and candy hearts. Top! Kids can randomly place Valentine’s candies on top of the cupcakes or make patterns like Xs, Os, and hearts. Make a Monster! Make a mushy Valentine’s monster cupcake using marshmallows or M&Ms for eyes and pretzel sticks for antennae. And don’t forget to practice! Practice your letters while you bake by asking your child what letter makes the sound “mmm” like a monster or “Kuh” like a cupcake! Learning Resources’ ABC Party Cupcake Toppers make the perfect Valentine’s surprise for your sweetie – place your order today!

At Rolph Literacy Academy at Fundamental Learning Center in Kansas, we teach our students — who have dyslexia or other reading difficulties — to read. Through the years, we have learned some tricks to engage kids who are not natural bookworms to look forward to story time.

We recommend parents and caregivers help readers select books that have subject matter coinciding with a child’s interests. Research also shows reading aloud to children helps build comprehension skills, develop positive feelings about books, increase their vocabulary and more. We love using Learning Resources Color Cubes to help children comprehend text.

Here are five ideas Fundamental Learning Center uses to aid comprehension using Learning Resources Color Cubes:

1. Before you begin reading, assign each character a different color represented by the Color Cubes. Each time you are introduced to one of the characters as you are reading, have your child pick up the appropriate-colored block. This helps your child understand the players in your story.
2. Before you begin reading, pull out 3-5 vocabulary words from the text. Go over them with your child before you begin. Each time your child encounters one of the vocabulary words as you are reading, have him or her add a block to a vocabulary tower he builds.
3. When you are reading with your young reader and encounter a multi-syllabic word, have your child pull down a color cube for each syllable, moving left to right. Segmenting words into syllables helps emerging readers understand how words are built. This can also be done while segmenting sentences into single words.
4. If you are reading a non-fiction book, assign one colored block to stand for main idea, and one block color to represent supporting details. As you read, come up with main ideas and supporting details for the subject matter, using the blocks to help you keep track.
5. Write the following words, one on each block: who, what, where, when and why. After you are finished reading the book with your child, use the cubes to ask him or her each question as it pertains to the plot of the story. Who was this story about? What happened? Where did it take place? Etc.

 As you can see, Learning Resources Color Cubes can help emerging readers engage with the words in books. For more specific training on how to assist your emerging reader, visit funlearn.org and check out our curriculum and training to assist emerging readers, “The Sound Case.”