Literacy is being able to read, write, listen, speak and create texts in ways that allow us to communicate well with others.
Literacy is the foundation for doing well at school, socialising with others, problem-solving, making decisions, developing independence, managing money and working.
Literacy development is vital to overall development for children.
Before children can learn to read and write, they need to develop the building blocks for literacy – the ability to speak, listen, understand, watch and draw.
And as children get older, they need to learn about the connection between letters on a page and spoken sounds.
For this to happen, children need plenty of experience with:
- pictures and objects – how you can use words to talk about them
- letters and words – how they look and sound, and what they’re called
- sounds – how words can rhyme, begin and end with the same letters, be broken up into parts like syllables, be formed by blending different sounds and so on.
You can help with all these areas of your child’s early literacy development by:
- talking and communicating with your child
- reading books together
- playing with rhyme and other sounds with your child.
And the great news is that you can do this in ways that are fun for both of you.
Learn more here: https://raisingchildren.net.au/preschoolers/play-learning/literacy-reading-stories/developing-literacy
