Letter Q
Teaching The Letter Q
The letter Q sound is made by forcing air out of the mouth. Ask your child to open their mouth slightly, and then at the same time force the air out and push their lips forward as if they were going to kiss someone.
Q words for kids
There are quite a number of words that start with Q and your child may know some of these:
Queen
Question
Quack
Quilt
Quiet
Quick
You need to have patience when teaching the letter Q to a toddler. They will probably make mistakes and you need to accept this. Consistency is also important. You can obtain letter Q books from stores or online and you should read to your child every day. You may even be able to borrow these books from your local library.
It is unlikely that your child will have the letter Q in their name, but if they do, you can spell out all of the letters and show them where the Q appears. It is possible that you can find names beginning with Q in your family or from TV characters that your toddler will be familiar with. It is not very common, so it might not be possible to find names with Q in them.
Here are some names that start with Q for girls that may help:
Queenie
Quanda
Quest
Quillan
Quanita
Quintessa
And here are some boy’s names that begin with Q:
Quenby
Quillon
Quinlan
Quade
Quinn
Quincy
If You Make Teaching Q Fun Your Child Will Be Keen To Learn
You do not want your child to think that learning the letters of the alphabet is a chore. So have fun teaching letter Q so they will be eager to learn. You will see later in this article there are a lot of fun letter Q activities that you can do with your child. Letter Q worksheets are a good place to start, and you can get fun worksheets with illustrations online.
Do you think that it would be good fun for your child to sing a song about the letter Q? Of course it would and you can find letter Q songs online. You can also find letter Q videos that will make learning even more fun. A lot of the letter Q songs are in video format and you can see a good example of this below.
It is very important that you sing the letter Q song together. You can learn the song together first and then sing it together. Your toddler will really like doing this with you, and will probably want to do this over and over. If they do, then smile and sing the song with them. You will create a joyful experience for them that they will never forget.
Have A Look At These Letter Q Activities For Preschool Kids That Are Really Fun
Worksheets, songs and videos are really great ways to teach the letter Q. Here are some more stating with:
Are There Things That Start With The Letter Q In Your Home?
You may think that you don’t have any things that begin with Q in your home, but that may not be the case. Do you have a quiche or a quilt or a quarter? This is going to be a challenge, but it can be really good fun for your child. Whatever items you find, you should spell out the letters of the word to your toddler so that they understand that Q is at the beginning.
Now you can move on to other Q words that your child may have heard spoken by members of the family, or heard them being said on the TV. This could include queen, question, quick, quake, quest, quill, quit, quiz and quip. For all of these words use real life examples (such as doing something quickly) or use pictures to explain the meaning. Spell out the words using toy letters to show the letter Q at the start.
Change this game to finding words with Q in them but exclude words beginning with Q. These are easier to think of and you can use squeeze, squirt, liquid, squad, square, squat, squeal, equipment and aqua. You may have to explain some of the meanings here, so use real life examples and pictures to do this. As always, spell out the words so that your child can see where the letter Q occurs.
There will be occasions when you will come across Q words for kids when you are outside with your toddler, so be prepared to take these activities outdoors. There will be a few street signs that contain the letter Q, and when you are in restaurants or stores you will come across examples of words with Q in them. Write these down so that you can spell them out to your child later.
Are There Animals That Start With Q?
If you think that there aren’t any you would be wrong. There are not that many and it is unlikely that your child would have heard of any of them but they do exist. This is worth doing as kids like animals, and they will think it is fun when you show them pictures of these animals. Tell them about the quail, queen bee, queen snake, quetzal, quokka and quoll.
Now try to find animals that have the letter Q in their name but not at the beginning. This can be tough, but one you are sure to know is squirrel. Then there is a quahog and a coquina. These will not be known to your child, and it is a good idea to show them pictures of these animals online. Spell out there names so that your child can see the letter Q in their names.
Teach Them About Capital Letter Q And Lower Case Q
Your toddler will need to know that there are two formats that the letter Q can be written or printed in. These are the big letter Q (capital letter Q) and the small letter Q (lowercase letter Q). There are many pictures of the letter Q in both formats online.
Alternatively, you can use a word processor to type these two formats and then print them out. Make sure that you use large fonts, so that your child can trace around these formats and become more familiar with them. This will give them a head start when it comes to writing.
Talk To Your Child About Letter Q Phonics
You will want your child to learn how to read using phonics instruction as this has been proven to produce great readers. The letter Q, and all of the other letters, have unique sounds which are called phonemes. Once your child has developed good phonemic awareness they will be able to read with ease. There is more information about the letter Q sounds below.
English Alphabet LETTER Q SOUNDS:
Q /q/:
The 17th letter in the alphabet is Q and it is an unvoiced consonant that is pronounced by forcing air through the mouth. The letter Q is pronounced /koo/ because most English words have paired Q and u together. The Chinese “Qi” comes from /chi/ and “Cinq” is French. There are exceptions when the Q stands alone but usually those words are not English and originate from other languages. A few examples [nouns] are Iraq, Qatar. Nasdaq is English but also has a stand-alone Q.
Repeat the letter Q and its /koo/ sound to your child remembering to explain that in English, the Q is mostly written as Qu and not Q by itself. And for simplicity sake teach the sound Q sound as /koo/.
Note: The actual Q sound is “Qwuh” but young children can pronounce the /koo/ sound easier and it works as well as teaching the actual sound.
Examples:
QUACK: /qu/ /a/ /ck/ [koo-ack]
QUIZ: /qu/ /i/ /z/ [koo-iz]
QUOTE: /qu/ /o/ /t/ /e/ [koo-ote]
Exercises for /q/
- Before you begin, print a piece of paper for the Letter Q/koo/
- Also print a piece of paper with the following words for Q:
QUIZ
QUACK
QUEEN
SQUAT
LIQUID
- Show your child the Letter on the index card or paper and repeat the letter sound several times: Q and Qu are pronounced /koo/
- Take time with your child to be sure the /koo/ sound is pronounced correctly
- Explain that Q and u “Qu” are almost always paired together
- Listen carefully as your child repeats the sound after you
- Practice stretching the sound and say “kooooooooooo” to your child
- Ask your child if different words have the /koo/ 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 I words such as QUAINT, QUARTER, QUAIL, QUANTUM
- Finalize the lesson by asking your child what sound the Q and Qu makes16
Use A Proven Reading Program To Teach Your Child To Read At Home
You will want your child to be a good reader, and it is not always a good idea to leave their reading development to the school system. You can teach them to read before they start school by following a high quality reading program. There are many reading programs available, so choose one that is proven and has a lot of satisfied users.
A top reading program is Jim Yang’s Children Learning Reading. This inexpensive program will provide you with complete instructions, and all of the essential materials that you need to teach your child to read in around 15 minutes a day. The program has many satisfied customers and there are many testimonials from parents about how effective the program is. Discover more about the Children Learning Reading program here.
Please go to the next section to learn just how easy it is to teach your child all about the letter R.
