I'm looking for a great x-mas present for my young 3 year old who is obsessed with letters and is starting to read. Something that will be fun, but encourage reading. NOTE: We used to read to him all the time, but he no longer lets us except at bedtime. Instead, he sits and "reads" to himself. He has very high functioning autism and has dozens of books memorized. He just recently started recognizing words even in places other than in his books.
Not sure if you are looking for books, but there are great "learning to read books" out about Thomas, Diego, Dora...etc.
The $100 laptop is available for 2 weeks starting now.
www.laptop.org - and when you buy one, one is donated to a poor country for children to use.
Your son can log on and read lots of things, plus get experience with a computer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM33EEAszHA&eurl=http:...
I've seen lots of stuff about this computer and it's a great program.
FYI
We like the basic green Leap Pad (and related Leap Pad Phonics books) for more advanced reading skills. For basic 3-letter word play, we like the magnetic Word Whammer (also by Leap Pad, I think). The Word Whammer is under $15 at Toys R Us, and is great for hearing how the letters sound by themselves, as well as whole 3 letter words.
Good luck,
M.
Maybe interactive "kits" for his favorite books, where he can model characters with arts and crafts materials. Waldorf schools are great at this with fairy tales, they use all kinds of natural materials to play out stories. Chinaberry has some of these type toys. I hope that with his autism in the background reading continues to be interactive.
Hi,
I bought my son the Hooked on Phonics learn to read for Kindergarten and had him do it last year, age 5. He's at first grade reading level and just entered kindergarten.
The series so awesome. There are about 50 books they can read and color, 3-4 cd, a computer game, and a lesson book that teaches them all about phonics. The cost of the program is $40-$80 depending on what you purchase. Oh they also have charts and stickers for when they finish a book or lesson. I treated my son to a pool day when he reached the end. It was alot of fun and really easy to do.
I highly recommend it. I am going to be getting him the 1st grade one this Christmas and the kindergarten was from last Christmas and we finished it in about 5 months.
Highly suggest it!!!