Literacy tips for parents
You can help your child develop literacy skills by engaging them in activities that are part of your day. You can show your children that reading and writing are a fun part of everyday life by involving them in some of these atcivities:
| Talk to your child and name objects, people, and events in their everyday environment. |
| Repeat your toddler's strings of sounds (e.g., "dadadada, bababa") and add to them. |
| Talk to your child during daily routine activities such as bath or mealtime and respond to their questions. |
| Draw your child's attention to print in everyday settings such as traffic signs, store logos and food containers. |
| Build your child's vocabulary by introducing new words during holidays and special activities such as outings to the farm, the park and so on. |
| Engage your child in singing, rhyming games and nursery rhymes. |
| Read picture and story books that focus on sounds, rhymes, and alliteration (words that start with the same sound, as found in Dr Seuss books). |
| Reread your child's favourite book(s). |
| Focus your child's attention on books by pointing to words and pictures as you read. |
| Provide a variety of materials to encourage drawing and scribbling e.g. crayons, paper, markers or finger paints. |
| Encourage your child to describe or tell a story about his/her drawing and write down the words. |
| Encourage your toddler to ask for what they want, such as 'water please'. |
