Reading Sticks Make Reading More Fun!

In my recent research into Montessori preschool practices, I have come across some incredibly amazing blogs filled with ideas that are so simple but so wonderful!  One of those little nuggets of gold is these reading sticks.

I was reading a post over at My Montessori Journey, and saw a picture with what she called "eyeball" sticks to help the kids read the words of a poem they were working on.  I thought they were so adorable, and immediately I had to make our own!  It was as simple as gluing a googly eye on to the end of a craft stick!  It took all of 10 seconds to make, plus a minute or two to dry.

We've been going over a lot of pre-reader books recently.  My son has been learning quite a few sight words, and I try to point out those words and teach him a few others each time we read.  These little sticks have added a lot of fun to that practice.  I made a few of the sticks, and he likes having the option of picking which color to use when we choose a book.

Most of the books we are reading come from the library, so I can't add the little dots under the words on those.  But I do plan on picking up several readers for our personal library and adding in the dots on them to make it easier to spot each word.