Letter X

Teaching The Letter X

Your toddler needs to know how to pronounce the letter X correctly. Tell them to open their mouth, and then expel air from the back of the mouth while opening their mouth wider, to make the letter X sound.

Here are some words that start with X for your child to practice with:

X-ray

Xylophone

Xerox

Xeric

Xylems

Xystos

X can be a difficult letter to teach your child so you will need to be patient and not worry if they make any mistakes. Daily reading to your child is recommended, and there are some letter X books available online and in stores. Try and get books that have funny drawings and nursery rhymes in them if you can. You might be able to find these books at the library as well.

It is very unlikely that your child will have the letter X in their name, but if they do, you can spell out the letters of their name and show them where X occurs. If they don’t have an X in their name, then think about other names starting with X that belong to family members or TV characters that your child knows. If you do find a suitable name, spell this out with plastic letters, or write the letters down, so that your toddler can see the name begins with X.

Here are some names starting with X that may help:

Xena

Xander

Xavier

Xanthe

Xandra

Xaviera

Xenon

Xenia

Be Sure That Your Child Has Fun Learning The Letter X For The Best Results

When you are teaching young kids anything, it is always a good idea to make it fun. They will respond much better to this, so have fun teaching letter X. Kids like fun things, and they will be more eager to learn. You will find some good ideas for letter X activities later in this article. Begin with fun letter X worksheets that you can find online. Go for those worksheets that have funny illustrations so that your child will enjoy using them.

Something that will really thrill your child is the learning and singing of letter X songs. They will love this even more if you do it with them. You will be able to find quite a few X songs online, so pick the best ones. Another fun idea is to find letter X videos that you can watch together. Below is a good example of a letter X song that is also a letter X video.

You should always be prepared to do these activities with your child. Make sure that you learn and sing the letter X song together. This will be really exciting for them, and they will never forget it. You will be creating a lasting bond with them. Watch the letter X videos together as well.

These Are Some Other Fun Letter X Activities For Preschool Children

You have made a great start with fun worksheets, letter X songs and letter X videos. Now you can do these activities starting with:

Searching For Animals That Start With The Letter X

Animals are usually great fun for kids, and you can try and find some animals that begin with X. You might be thinking that there aren’t any, but you would be wrong. There is a xantus which is a bird, another bird called xenops, a xerus and a xenarthra. It is unlikely that your child will have heard of these animals, so show them pictures and spell out each animals name for them.

Another great challenge is to find animals that have the letter X in their name, but not at the beginning. There are not many but there is fox, ox, lynx, ibex, oryx, hyrax and the waxbill.  For each of these animals, spell out the names so that your child can see where letter X occurs, and show them images too.

Are There Any Things That Start With X In Your Home?

Trying to find things that start with the letter X in your home will not be an easy task, but you can have fun with your child looking for these. It is unlikely that you will have an x-ray machine or a Xerox in your home, but you might have a xylophone. Maybe there are branded things that begin with X? Whatever you find, be sure to spell out the letters to show that the words begin with X.

Next you can try to find words that begin with X, which your child may have heard on the TV or spoken by members of the family. It will be tough to find words starting with X, but they may have heard of the X men from the TV, x-ray, xenoliths, Xerox, Xmas and x-ray specs. Whatever you can come up with will be good here. Spell the words out with magnetic letters, and show pictures if the words need to be explained.

Then try to find words with X in them, but exclude words beginning with X. There are a number of these and to help you there is ex, six, mix, axe, box, axle, exit, fix, fax, max, maximum, experiment, example, express, excess and pixie. If you need to explain the meanings then show pictures to do this. Spell out the words so that your child can see where the letter X is situated in each word.

This “X words” game is great to play outside too. If you are travelling in your car, or on the bus or a train, you can look for signs that have the letter X in them. There will not be that many, so tell your child to look hard for these. The same applies when you are in a restaurant or a store. Is there anything on the menu that has an X in it? What about toy names or food items?

Make A Point To Discuss Capital X

You need to tell your child that there are two formats of the letter X. Use pictures of the letter X to show the capital letter X format (big letter X) and the lower case X format (small letter X). Give your child some examples where a capital letter would be used. This could be when a person’s name is being written or a month of the year.

You can find pictures of capital X and lower case X online. It is a good idea to print these out so that your child can trace around the different formats. Alternatively you could use a word processor and type X in both formats. Be sure to pick the largest font possible, as you will want to print these out.

Phonics Are The Key To Good Reading Skills

It has been proven in many studies, that children who are taught to read using phonics instruction become better readers than those who are taught using other methods. Tell your child about the phonics of the letter X, and explain that every alphabet letter has a unique sound known as a phoneme. There is more information about the letter X sounds below.

English Alphabet LETTER X SOUNDS:

X  /x/:

The 24th letter in the alphabet is X and is another unvoiced consonant, however i t is the only consonant in the alphabet to use a combination of two letters /k/ and /s/ to make the sound. The letter sound for X is /ks/ and it is the most frequently heard sound for X, however, it can also sound like /z/ in xylophone or Xerox. This is for your information only because your child may get confused with the two sounds. So to begin you will only teach your child the basic code describing the X sound as /ks/ and NOT the /z/ sound.

Examples:

BOX: /b/ /o/ /ks/

FIX: /f/ /i/ /ks/

Exercises for /x/

1. Before you begin, print a piece of paper for the Letter X /ks/
2. Also print a piece of paper with the following words for X:
   FOX
   FAX
   MAX
   TAX
   X-RAY

1. Show your child the Letter on the index card or paper and repeat the letter sound several times: X /ks/
2. Take time with your child to be sure the /x/ sound is pronounced correctly as /ks/
3. Listen carefully as your child repeats the sound after you
4. Ask your child if different words have the /x/ sound and wait to see the response. Always repeat the word using the letter sound to be sure your child knows the sound
5. Continue to repeat other short sound I words such as MIX, FIX, WAX, SIX
6. It’s time for to you to play a game by asking your child to replace a letter in one of the words to make a different word:
   1. Ask what sound would FOX be if you replace the /o/ with an /a/? [FAX]
   2. What if you replace the /a/ with an /i/ instead? [FIX]
   3. How will MAX sound if you replace the /a/ with an /i/? [MIX]
   4. What sound will you make if you take away the /ks/ in MAX and use a /t/? [MAT]
7. Finalize the lesson by asking your child what sound the X /ks/ makes

A High Quality Reading Program Will Help You Teach Your Child To Read

It can be a scary prospect leaving it to your child’s first school to teach them how to read. Don’t take a chance with this, and teach them to read while they are still at home. You do not have to be a teacher; you just need the correct instructions and the teaching materials to make a great job of this. A high quality reading program will provide this for you.

Be very careful when choosing a reading program. Some are overpriced and others are just not very good. Look for real proof that the program works. A very reasonably priced reading program, that has thousands of testimonials from satisfied parents, is Jim Yang’s Children Learning Reading. This program will provide all that you need to teach your child to read in less than 15 minutes per day. Find out more about the excellent Children Learning Reading program here.

Please proceed to the next section by clicking here to discover an easy way to teach the letter Y to your child