How do you actually learn to read?

A - B - C the cat ran in the snow ... we all remember this song from our childhood. And then, as now, it was part of the standard repertoire between the ages of four and six. This is when most children begin to familiarize themselves with the letters. The “writing” of your own name and of mom, dad, grandma and grandpa, however, is more reminiscent of painting at the beginning. Because there is still a long way to go from knowing the letters to actually reading and writing.

Breaking words down into sounds and turning them around again - a brilliant achievement of our brain

In theory, a child can read as soon as they are able to correctly associate the letters with a sound. In everyday life, however, a few steps to fluent reading comprehension are still missing.

First of all, we should be aware that reading and writing is a highly abstract performance for our brain. Because for this very different brain areas have to work together. In our language center, a word is linked to a meaning. In order to read, however, we have to resolve the sounds of a word, combine them with the corresponding image of a letter, string them together and then retrieve the appropriate meaning. And in addition, we have to analyze the context, because there are identical letter combinations with different meanings. A complicated path that demands a lot from us.

In practice, there are two ways to learn to read. With the analytical method, the children learn to combine whole syllables with sounds and meanings, with the synthetic method, it proceeds letter by letter and usually with the help of a sound table. From a neurological point of view, both methods are equally successful and a kind of mixed form is now taught in many schools.

At the beginning there are always the letters

If you want to support your child, then you are well advised with our Natureich alphabet blocks. Your child can playfully combine letters and put their first words. It's all about reading comprehension. The hurdle of fine motor skills, which also opens up when writing, is bypassed with this system.