Activities on the Early Literacy of Children

Speaking and Listening Skills

• Developing a child̵7;s speaking and listening skills is the first step toward early literacy. By engaging children in conversation, you are introducing them to new vocabulary and encouraging them to think and express their thoughts. Talk to children about what they are doing and explain to them what you are doing. Listening activities help children to recognize individual sounds. Ask the children to imitate sounds they have heard, and ask them what makes those sounds. Move from identifying the sounds all around them to the sounds of words to help with phonological awareness.

Phonological Awareness

• Phonological awareness is the ability to identify the different sounds in words and connect those sounds with written words. This ability is important in a child̵7;s early literacy and can be developed at home with games and activities. Beginning with small words, encourage your child to play with words and the letters that comprise them. Cover your refrigerator with magnetic letters and show your child the word "cat." Ask the child what the word would be if you took away the "c." Ask what sounds the child hears in the word "cat" and how many other words have those sounds.

  Another activity for developing phonological awareness is playing I Spy, guessing the object, saying its name slowly and dividing the name of the object by its sounds.

Story Time

• Establishing a time to read stories with your child every day lays the foundation for your child̵7;s future reading and literacy success. Allow your child to choose which book to read each story time. Ask your child to sound out the letters and sounds of words and explain any new words. You can make story time fun by using funny voices for the characters and discussing the story with your child. Reading will become an enjoyable hobby, and celebrating small reading successes will motivate your child to continue in reading development.

Early Literacy Book Activity Cards

• Early literacy book activity cards have been developed to accompany many well-known children̵7;s books. The cards provide extended literacy activities you can share with your child. Activity cards are available for almost 60 titles, including "Goodnight Moon," "Where the Wild Things Are" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." See the Resources below to download the activity cards.

Online Activities

• Early literacy also can be developed through online games and literacy. Spending time at the computer with your child makes it a sociable and engaging experience. Explore the alphabet with Starfall ABCs (see Resources), or expand vocabulary with The Magic Key̵7;s Code Calling Game (see Resources). Choose games and activities online that are simple for you and your child to navigate, and ensure that they are age appropriate. Spending time playing the games yourself before introducing them to your child will give you both an enjoyable session for developing your child̵7;s literacy.