The importance of early literacy is critical to prepare our young children for school. Strong literacy skills are so important for everyday life so by helping kids develop them early is essential. Good reading is the basis for all school subjects and more, so identifying any children who have problems at an early stage is critical. It is easy to tell the difference between kids who have been used to reading books and being read to. Here’s some tips from the Kidsoft team on how to easily get your children on the road to great literacy.
- The next time you write a shopping list, fill in your diary, write a note or read the newspaper or TV listings, get them involved. New words everyday will help build up their vocabulary in no time.
- When you are out shopping it is easy to find products that have the same letters as your child’s name. Start reading traffic signs out loud and get them to copy you. When you are doing household chores tell them what you are doing. Always have a word of the day. and build it up to words of the week.
- Re-read books your child enjoys. If they like animals help them learn the names. Anything from flowers through to vehicles will interest boys and girls you just need to find the topics they are most interested in.
- Nursery rhymes are fun and lively and really capture young children’s attention. Show them pictures that are associated with each rhyme and they will soon be able to identify them.
- Get out and about with your child whether it is to the park or on a shopping trip. Point out all things along the way and get them to draw pictures of what you have told them and seen.
- Rhyming words are a great way to build their vocabulary and literacy. You could even try some simple gap fills with them.
- Start them off early on all the different jobs in the world from an astronaut through to a doctor. There’s lots of things to associate a job by its uniform, products or even by machinery i.e. farmer.