Marcus Said:

help for keeping the learning fun?

We Answered:

I'm old fashioned, I like hands on learning with Mom. Leapster and V-cast are great for if you want them entertained with something somewhat educational- but I still think hands on is the most fun.
It's important to follow his lead. Forcing the early literacy can have a dreadful outcome. I loved to play the following games when my son was about where your son is now.
Foam letters in the tub. I would have him hand me 2 letters, I would take 1-2 more and make a 3-4 letter word. I would ask him if that was a real word or not. (Don't always spell real words, this will improve his word attack and decoding abilities) Of course he has to read the word to know if it's real or not- so he's reading even though he doesn't realize it. I would have him try, too. I would hand him two letters and let him find another letter to make a word. By 5, he may be able to do more than spell phonetically, I'm not sure. My son was 3, so phonetic spelling was just fine with me! So at age 3 cow was spelled cw. I would add the O and then we'd sound it out. This was a game, the instant he lost interest we moved on to play with bubbles or toys.
Another fun game is iSpy when you're out and about. I spied WORDS.. "Exit" "Do" "Pizza"... I would try to find words that he would either recognize easily- (very young children know that there is a P and a Z in pizza so can usually find that word on a sign), or words that he already knows. On his turn, he would HAVE to read a word in order to tell me what word he had spied. Sneaky, huh?
Another fun thing to do is to go on a treasure hunt while you're at the mall. Let him pick a letter of the day. Find all of the words and items that start with that word! So if the word of the day is F, he can point to a fur coat, or the F in the word Fruit. Get it? Now he's incorporating phonics as well as basic rote reading.
I bought one of those word buckets and would make up goofy sentences. So whatever he thinks is funny, even if it's potty words- get him cracking up with silly sentences and have him make up some of his own. Start small. Please Don't Pet The Poop. Oh yeah, you toss that down and he'll LOVE this game. LOLOL The Dinosaur Ate My Lunch! Stuff like that.
When you read to him at night (and I hope that you still do- so many kids pretend they cannot read or resist literacy because they think their parents will STOP reading to them. I still read to my son and he's 9 now. My 2 year old is started to learn phonics and of course my son and I both read to her!) anyway- when your read to him at night, mess up a word here and there, or scrunch up your eyes and ask if he can see that word. Let him help YOU while you read.
Hand him the grocery list while shopping- he can read what you need. Aid him with pictures for words that he does not know yet so he can feel helpful and successful.
Encourage him to write stories and draw pictures to go with it. One of my son's favorite things to read were the stories that he wrote himself! Send notes in with his lunch for him to read or have read to him.
Most important of ALL- make SURE he sees YOU enjoying your reading time, too. If I'm not playing with my children or taking care of the house, there is a book in front of my nose. LOL.
Please don't push it. Many children aren't reading when they start Kindergarten, he will not be considered to be behind at all! Some schools may feel his pre-reading skills put him ahead of the game, even. Depends on the school of course.
He sounds like he's doing fine. If he backs off from reading, follow his lead. He may be doing that because he needs his energies to catch up with motor skills. Many children stagger their development like that. Never push it.
I love that you're asking for ideas to make it fun, not asking for ideas to "force him"... you sound like a loving, nurturing mother. He's one lucky kid!!

Tiffany Said:

Keep the learning fun?

We Answered:

Follow the child. That's my best advice. Follow the child. Never forget why they created Kindergartens in the first place. It wasn't to learn sight words and blend sounds represented by letters to build words, and be interested in something we call math. It was much more profound.
From what you've written, I sense a need to balance pacing with your child with leading him where you'd like him to be. If you keep his body and mind active, you can't go wrong. You've tuned in to a lot of his needs, and the preschool probably has some insights as well.
You're doing fine, your kid sounds like he's doing fine, so relax, pace a little bit with what interests motivate your child, and keep him socially and physically active so that his body, heart and mind are tuned up for the challenges of school life, many of which are social, not academic.
Two things are required for learning how to read: the access to interesting material that makes sense to the individual learner, and an understanding and more experienced reader as a guide. That's it.
You might have to get out of your child's way! :-)