Here are some ideas for promoting literacy development at home with young children:
- Read at least one book together daily.
- Look for, point out, and read street signs.
- Look for familiar logos.
- Have conversations with your child during family routines: meals, bath time, dressing, shopping, eating out, special events. Be sure to comment, add details or ask questions on a variety of topics.
- Play word games like “I spy something red,” or “I’m thinking of something round,” or “I’m thinking of an animal that lives in the forest.”
- Write letters together to a friend. Put in special pictures your child has drawn.
- Save familiar logs from boxes, napkins, magazines and create a collage.
- Come together as a family and have individual reading time
- Sing songs and recite poems together.
- Use print during the day to communicate to your child by leaving simple handwritten notes.
- Emphasize how you use print through your day. For example, if you write a note to remind yourself to perform a task, say in front of your child, “I need to write a note so I won’t forget to go and get the dry cleaning today.”
Reorganize books on shelf, group by size or color – to spark interest. - Model and point out the reading you do in everyday activities, newspapers, recipes, notes.
- Try group story telling, have a person start the story and then “throw” it to another person to continue the story, keep passing it on.
- Retell familiar stories and change the ending or add on to the problem in the story.