The school run can be stressful at the best of times, from traffic jams to back seat spats. However, parents may be missing a trick to fit in a little literacy learning and calm, according to ABC Reading Eggs literacy specialist and mum, Sara Leman.
“Every parent has snuck veggies into their kids’ favourite meals. Well, the same approach works for education, and trips to and from school are perfect as kids are looking for entertainment,” she says.
Here, Sara shares five simple ways to turn traffic into a teaching opportunity for kindy kids:
Sign Spotters
Turn the car ride into a letter-hunting adventure. Create a grid on a piece of paper with focus letters (e.g., /s/, /m/, /a/, /t/) in each section. Stick this to the back of the seat in front of your child and give them colourful sticky notes. As you drive, challenge them to spot road signs or objects outside that match the letters on their grid. For example, when they spot an “S” on a sign, they’ll shout out the letter name and sound (“sss”), then stick a sticky note on that letter in the grid. The goal is to fill up the grid by matching letters to what they see outside.
Why it works: This activity connects written letters with their sounds, for a teaching method called phonics, which is essential to early reading. It builds letter recognition and decoding skills, helping your child become a stronger reader.
Clap and Count
Look for objects or landmarks out the window and say them out loud. Have your child repeat the word and clap the syllables. For example, if you see a “car,” they clap once. If it’s a “bus stop,” they clap twice.
Why It’s Great: Syllable clapping boosts phonological awareness, which is the ability to recognise that words are made up of smaller sounds, such as syllables. The game does this by helping kids break words into smaller parts. It teaches them the rhythm of language and supports early reading and spelling, while also introducing new vocabulary.
Plate Palooza!
Spotting licence plates is a fun, versatile phonics game that helps kids connect letters to their sounds. To start, simply ask your kid to look for letters on licence plates. For example, if you spot a “B,” your child says “B” and the sound “b,” then thinks of a word that starts with that sound, like “baby.” You can extend this to every letter on the plate and even make up a fun phrase. For example, BTB could turn into “bath the baby.”
Why It’s Great: This game builds phonemic awareness, which is the ability to identify and manipulate the individual sounds, or phonemes, in spoken words. It does this by getting kids to practise matching letters with their sounds. It also encourages them to expand their vocabulary by thinking of words that start with each letter.
Chop it Up
Give your child a simple CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) word, like “man.” Have them break it down by sounding it out and doing a “karate chop” motion with their hands after each sound: /m/ *chop /a/ *chop /n/ *chop.
Why It’s Great: This activity helps with phonemic awareness and spelling. The physical chop action makes it easier for kids to focus on individual sounds, improving their ability to segment and blend sounds—a crucial skill for reading and spelling.
Revving Rhymes
Spot a letter on a road sign or in your surroundings (e.g., “M”). Have your child say the letter name (“M”), then its sound (“mmm”), and then a word that starts with that sound, like “mouse.” Next, challenge them to think of a word that rhymes, such as “house.” See how many words they can come up with!
Why It’s Great: Rhyming also helps kids develop phonemic awareness by identifying sound patterns, that is, the way that sounds are regularly used in language. It’s an essential early literacy skill, allowing children to play with sounds, expand their vocabulary, and deepen their understanding of language.
BONUS: For when you need to concentrate
Even the best drivers sometimes need peace and quiet to safely navigate traffic. That’s when self-directed educational programs are invaluable. Simply pass them a tablet and let them get lost in an educational app like ABC Reading Eggs, which uses evidence based literacy principles and a colourful world filled with fun critters to make learning to read fun.
It’s the perfect habit to get into, as kids can build their reading ability in just 15 minutes a day. What’s more, 91% of parents see an improvement in just a few short weeks of regular usage.
However far your school run is, there’s a fun and affordable way to keep kids entertained and amp up their education before the school bell, or following the afternoon pick up.
For more information about ABC Reading Eggs, literacy learning strategies and guilt free screen time, please visit their website.
About Sara Leman
Before becoming a writer, Sara Leman worked for over 16 years as a primary school teacher in England and Australia. She is passionate about helping children become great readers, which is why she loves her work writing lessons for ABC Reading Eggs. She’s also authored a variety of fiction and non-fiction books for children and enjoys writing scripts for animation.