Encouraging Early Literacy

Here are my top tips to encourage a love of reading and early phonics skills in your toddler or preschooler:

-Make reading a part of the routine. Bedtime is always a great time to read. In addition, my son has become obsessed with Highlights magazines. He started with Hello and now loves their High Five magazine. We frequently read a Highlights coming home from school or at the breakfast table as well! These little additions really add up the amount of time your child is spending being read to.

-Have a regular library outing! Now that my oldest is 3, it is easier for him to run through the aisles of the library and pick out his favorites, which are usually Star Wars related. I always encourage whatever his interest is, even if it’s not something I would have picked out for him (like books about ghosts, snakes…. you know, boy stuff!).

-Play games with them relating to phonological awareness, which is a person’s awareness of spoken sounds. There are elements of phonological awareness that range from simple to more complex. Lovevery has a great new Reading Skill Set that includes some amazing simple games that incorporate pre-reading skills like compound words, syllable awareness, and rhyming. I am starting to do these games with my new 3K little guy and he is loving them!

- Ask them questions relating to books you have read together, or even movies or shows you watch! This increases their comprehension and ability to verbalize a narrative, which is an important skill in writing and reading! My favorite questions to ask my son are “what was your favorite part”, “why did the character do____”, and “how is this (show/movie/book) different from (other show/movie/book)?”.

Notice none of these tips include drilling flashcards of the alphabet! I think it’s great for kids to learn to recognize letters and sounds when they are ready, but there are so many more skills that go into literacy that aren’t as apparent. So much more on this later!

-Brittany