Focus

• Literacy development begins early.
• Literacy skills are the foundation for reading, writing, speaking and socializing.
• Early literacy involves learning sounds, words, and language.
• You can support early literacy development through talking, reading, singing, poetry and writing.
• Children learn best through everyday activities, such as singing, talking and playing games. Literacy: What is it and why is it important? Literacy is the ability to read, write, listen, speak, and create texts that allow us to communicate effectively with others.

Literacy is the foundation for doing well in school, interacting with others, solving problems, making decisions, developing independence, managing money, and working.

Developing literacy skills is important for a child’s overall development.

Early literacy development
Before children can learn to read and write, they need to develop the skills of literacy—the skills of speaking, listening, understanding, seeing, and writing. As children get older, they need to understand the relationship between the letters on the page and the words they have heard.

To do this, children need to have a lot of experience with:

Pictures and objects – how to use words to talk about them

Letters and words – their shapes and sounds, and their names

Sounds – how words sound, start and end with the same letters, are broken down into parts such as words, are made by blending different sounds, etc.

You can help your child at all stages of their early literacy development by:

• Reading together
• Playing with your child with rhymes and other sounds.
• The good news is that you can do this in a way that is comfortable for both of you.

What to do

• Talk to your children—the more, the better. You can talk about everyday activities that you see together. For example, “Let’s wash up now,” “Look at that red bird,” “Well, we had a good lunch.”
• Talk about feelings and say if your child is happy or sad. Use words to describe your child’s feelings. It can also help your child understand the feelings of others. Emphasize sounds, words, and facial expressions when speaking, especially if your child is very young. You may find that your child responds by trying to imitate you. Speaking and responding in this way encourages conversation.
• Emphasize the parts of words and different letters to help your child understand that words can be divided into parts. For example, you could say “pooro” and emphasize the “b” sound or “ba-na-na” and emphasize each word. Listen to your children. Follow your child’s lead and talk about what they want to say. If your child asks a question, give them a chance to answer before you interrupt.
• Repeat the mispronounced word with the correct pronunciation. For example, if your child says “pasghetti,” you could say, “Yes, we’re having pasta for dinner.” Write stories with your children. You can share funny stories, interesting stories from your childhood, or tell your children about your family’s past. You can take turns creating stories together.
• Sing with your child. Get song ideas from Baby Karaoke or share songs and melodies from your family’s traditions.