Activities to Enhance Literacy Skills

Do you often find yourself wondering what you can do for fun with your child today?

There are many simple activities you can do, which will also help your child’s emerging Literacy skills.

Literacy includes development in the areas of Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening.

Here are some activities which you can start today:

• Read the cereal box together – this may be looking at the picture, asking the child if they can guess which words say: ‘Rice Bubbles’ and asking them if they can see any letters which are in their own name.
• Draw pictures (both of you) of your favourite foods – ask the child to describe hers, and whether she’d like you to write the words under her picture (showing her that spoken words can be put down on paper).
• Go into the backyard or for a walk and collect leaves or rocks. Sort them into size groupings and using language to describe them eg small, big, biggest. Or sort them according to color eg grey, white, brown, dark brown. Or sort them according to weight etc. Count them – ‘How many do you have – do you know how to write the number 8?’

• Have a shopping list for you and the child. As you start writing yours, ask your child if they can think of something we need to buy this week – don’t be surprised if it’s chocolate! Ask them if they can write apples on their list. Depending on their level of writing, they may draw a picture of apples, they may scribble random ‘writing’ shapes, may draw any letter they know, or may even write the letter ‘A’.
• Ask if they’d like you to tell a story about when you were a little girl… and tell them something from your childhood – a favourite dress, or an outing etc. This requires listening to new information – maybe you could draw a picture of that dress, and ask them to draw a picture of their favourite clothes.
• Using photos of family members, ask your child to identify the person, and one thing they like about them – eg Aunty Jenny makes me laugh. Grandpa has a tickly moustache. Write what they say on small strips of paper. Insert the photos and the text into those single page, plastic photo albums (the ones you sometimes see as Grandmas Brag Book, or My Holiday). Have the child ‘read’ the story back to you… they will probably remember it well enough, as it’s their ideas!
• Walk to the shops and let your child choose 2or 3 postcards, to send to special people. When you get home get them to ‘write’ to Grandma, or Uncle Harry – which may be drawing a picture and you adding their words, or they scribbling some letter shapes themselves. When you go to the PO to post them, ask the child how many stamps will they need if they have 3 postcards. Show them where the stamp goes, and let them apply it. Make sure to pre-ask Grandma/ Aunty Jenny to promptly reply with another postcard or card – Children love to get mail!
• Go on a colour hunt around your lounge room… ‘Lets look for how many blue things we can see today’. You might even have a blue day – wearing blue clothes and shoes, and eating blueberries etc.
• Write your child’s name carefully in large writing. This should always be done like this ‘James’ rather than JAMES, as this is how we adults write. If you can get a copy of the font used by the school in your State it is even better. It will help your child to learn the style of writing they will use in school. You can usually ask for a copy at your local school. Have the child trace over their name using textas, several times. They may be then interested in having a go themselves.
• Get them to read the Family photo album they made, to Dad or to the neighbor.

There are many opportunities everyday to positively engage with your child, as well as teaching them many skills!

Happy Playing Together!