Early Literacy

The single best thing you can do to motivate your child to read is to read with them often and to have fun doing it! 

Short reading times, even just a few minutes at a time, are perfect. Let you child explore books in ways that are of interest to them.

• Let your child turn the pages and remember, it’s OK to skip pages.
• Try doing a “picture walk” through the book and just tell the story by what the pictures tell you. When your child is old enough, ask them to read the pictures to you.
• Run your finger along the words as you read them from left to right.
• Create voices for the story characters, and use your body to tell the story.
• Make it personal. Talk about your own family, pets, or community when you are reading about others in a story.
• Ask questions about what is happening in the story or what the characters are feeling or doing.
• Make reading and books a part of your daily routine.

Building the muscles and motor skills in a child’s hands are valuable to prepare them to hold a pencil and learn in school. Encouraging your child’s creativity through art is a wonderful way to build those skills and muscles.

• Make art a regular part of playtime. Offer chunky, easy-to-grip crayons, thick pencils, and washable markers.
• No need for instructions. Let your child experiment and explore!
• Notice the process, not just the product.
• Experiment with a variety of art materials as your child nears 3. Let children paint with cotton balls, q-tips, sponges, string—you name it.
• Encourage your child’s attempts to write.
• Display your child’s art and writing to show how proud you are of their work.

Long before infants begin to babble, they listen to what their parents say to them. Hearing you speak helps their brains form neural pathways so that speech will come easier later. 

• Couple talking with gestures and other physical cues to aid in word meanings. Showing an object or a picture along with talking will speed up a children’s rate of learning new words.
• Use rich language that includes a variety of verbs, adjectives, and adverbs (For example, "see how fast this fish is swimming", "a baby elephant is coming", "The monkey is climbing the tree").
• Talking can happen everywhere. Driving in the car, talk about what you and your child can see outside the window. At the store, talk about the items you see on the shelves.
• Stop and listen after you ask a question or have spoken to them. Wait up to 8 seconds to see if they respond by babbling, cooing, or even using gestures like reaching out. This helps your baby learn how conversation flows with taking turns.

Like all the best learning experiences in early childhood, music activities promote development in multiple domains. For example, singing a lullaby while rocking a baby stimulates early language development, promotes attachment, and supports an infant’s growing spatial awareness.

• Play music during difficult transitions such as getting ready for bedtime/nap time or saying goodbye.
• Build body awareness by choosing songs like, “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and touch each part on your child’s body.
• Use songs to stretch vocabulary. Rhymes help toddlers learn how to put words and phrases together. Pause and let your child fill in the word blanks when singing a well-known song. (“The Itsy Bitsy... spider!")
• Use movement and hand gestures to connect concepts. Songs such as, “The Wheels on the Bus,” allow children to learn while moving naturally.
• Provide instruments for children to practice keeping the beat or adding to the song in their own way. Check out shakers, rhythm sticks, and more from the library or give children a pot and spoon and let them bang away! 

Playing has been proven to improve a child’s intelligence later in life as well as increase a child’s creativity, emotion regulation, communication, vocabulary, problem solving and empathy.

• Follow your child’s lead. Provide an object, toy, or activity for your child, and see what they do with it.
• Repetition is mastery. Children want to do things over and over again to practice and master a challenge. And when they can do it “All by myself!” they are rewarded with a powerful sense of their own competency.
• How does your child react to different textures, smells, and tastes? Encourage your child to explore textures through toys and safe objects around the house like soft fabrics, hard wooden blocks, bumpy rubber balls, etc.
• Look for opportunities for your child to play with other children, such as at the park or during a library story hour. Having fun with peers is an important way to learn social skills like sharing, conflict resolution, and empathy—and prepare children for a school setting later on.