Letter H
Teaching The Letter H
To properly pronounce H, you need to teach your child to open their mouth and use the vocal chord in their throat. When the air passes through the mouth it produces a hollow sound which is different to “eh” or “ah”.
Here are some common H words for kids:
Home
How
Head
Happy
Hair
His / Her
You need to be prepared for teaching the letter H to your child. You will need to have patience and teach consistently. Make sure that you read a lot to your child. You can get letter H books that will be interesting and fun for your toddler. Always choose books with drawings and nursery rhymes in them, as this will help your child to remember what they have learned.
You can have some fun teaching letter H if your child has an H in their name. Get some play letters or cut some out and spell their name in front of them. Show them the position of the H letter. If they do not have an H in their name, you can use names with the letter H of family members or TV characters they would know.
Some names that start with the letter H may already be familiar to your toddler. Here are some examples:
Harry
Holly
Heidi
Hope
Halle
Helen
These names that begin with the letter H are a bit more complex:
Hadwin
Harrison
Harold
Haley
Hannah
Harvey
Have Fun With Your Child Teaching The Letter H
The most effective way to get the message across to your child is to have fun teaching the letter H. This means that it is fun for both of you. Kids really like fun things, and by linking fun to learning they will always be willing to learn. There are various things that you can do to make this fun, and there are some more ideas below. A great fun example is illustrated letter H worksheets. You can find letter H worksheets for preschool children online and in stores.
There are plenty of letter H songs available, and your child will love singing these with you. There are letter H videos around too, and a lot of the letter H songs are in video format. Take the time to sit with your child and watch these videos, and you will soon be singing them together. There is a good example of a letter H song below.
You will create a significant bond with your child by watching videos and singing songs together that they will never forget. It is often the case that the child enjoys this experience so much that they want to repeat it many times. You need to be prepared to do this with them.
Ideas For Other Fun Letter H Activities
There are a lot of letter H activities for preschool kids that are fun and beneficial to them. A great game to play is:
Letter H Animals
If your child likes animals then you can have fun showing them pictures of animals that begin with letter H. One that most kids know is the hippo or hippopotamus. They may also know about the hamster, the hen and the hedgehog. They are sure to know about horses. Some that they might not know are hare, hummingbird, hyena, heron and the humpback whale.
After this you can discover animals that have the letter H in their name but not at the start. An easy one is shark and there are more like chipmunk, cheetah, dolphin and whale. When you are discussing all of these animals with your child, show them pictures and spell out the names so that they can see where the letter H appears.
What About Things That Start With The Letter H?
Think about the things that start with H that you can find in your home. You can start with home, and then there is hair, hairbrush, hammer, hands, handkerchief, honey and heart. When you think about it there are probably other objects starting with H such as horn, hat, headband, hamburger and hanger.
There are other things that begin with H that your child will have heard you or other family members say. Maybe they have heard things on TV too. These could be heavy, help, have, hearing, him and her, happy, high and hug. When you talk about these words use real life examples (such as hugging your child) or pictures. In each case spell the words out.
After you have talked about words that start with H, turn to words that have H in them. There are quite a few of these H words and some easy examples are shop, show, sheep, chew, change, chips, thing, think, that and wish. Spell the words out to your toddler and get them to show you where the letter H occurs.
You can play this H words game outside as well. When you visit the store, point out items that begin with H or have H in the word. If you are in the car then there will be street signs that contain the letter H.
Help Them Understand Big And Small Letter H
Show your child pictures of the letter H in the big letter H format (capital letter H) and the small letter H format (lowercase letter H). Explain that when a name is used it always starts with a capital letter.
Your child needs to understand the difference between the big and small formats of H and this will help them with their writing development. You can print out the formats and get them to trace them and then draw them.
Phonics Are Very Important
For your child to become a good reader they need to know about the phonics of letter H and the other letters. The individual sounds that the letters make, and letter combinations, are called phonemes. This is critical for reading development. The letter H sounds are further discussed below.
English Alphabet LETTER H SOUNDS:
H /h/:
The 8th letter in the alphabet is H. It is an unvoiced, consonant and pushing air through the mouth makes the letter sound. The letters “F”, “K” and “S” are also unvoiced sounds. Carefully say the /h/ without adding “uh” to it making it a voiced word that comes from the throat.
Examples:
HAM: /h/ /a/ /m/
HOP: /h/ /o/ /p/
HIP: /h/ /i/ /p/
Exercises for /h/
- Before you begin, print a piece of paper for the Letter H /h/
- Also print a piece of paper with the following words for H:
HOME
HOP
HAD
HID
HAPPY
HAM
- The Letter can be printed or handwritten on an index card or paper to help your child repeat the letter sound several times: H
- Note: Be sure to pronounce H as /h/ and NOT /huh/ otherwise your child will pronounce H words as /huh/ /e/ /r/ instead of /h/ /e/ /r/
- Listen carefully as your child repeats the sound after you
- Ask your child if different words have the /h/ sound and wait to see the response. Always repeat the word using the letter sound to be sure your child knows the sound
- Continue to repeat other short sound H words such as HELP, HIM, HIVE, HAND
- Finalize the lesson by asking your child to tell you the sound of the letters
Teaching Your Child To Read Need Not Be Difficult
A lot of parents do not have the confidence in themselves to teach their child how to read. All they are missing is the knowledge and the right tools to do this. You can teach your child to read in just 15 minutes each day if you have the right reading program. You will learn everything that you need to know to teach your toddler to read in simple steps.
When you are looking for a reading program, make sure that you choose one that is proven to deliver results. Programs like this will have many testimonials from satisfied parents, and one of the best proven reading programs is Jim Yang’s Children Learning Reading, Many parents have used Jim’s program to teach their young children how to read in as little as 12 weeks. Find out more about the program here.
You can teach your child the letter I using the great ideas in the next session. Please click here to go to it.
