Family Literacy Day

We tell parents to read to their children. Every day, we say, 20 minutes every day. 4 books a day. Which is a wonderful thing and linked to all sorts of wonderful studies about the benefits and so on – but what about the rest of the time? Does literacy go out the window with other activities, just because we are not reading or asking them to read? Absolutely not.

Did you know that lots of fun stuff you might do as a family already has literacy benefits? Consider these:

Board Games: you’re reading instructions, squares on the board, cards to tell you your next move… but it doesn’t feel like academics, it feels like play. Try a few classics or something new.

Singing together: Singing is great for what we call “phonological awareness,” or hearing the sounds of words. Songs break up to syllables of words over notes. Songs rhyme – you can make your own new rhymes, and it’s even better. And, of course, songs can be as lovely or as silly as you want, and pass on your family’s traditions and heritage. What’s not to love?

Telling stories: not just fairy tales and familiar stories, but stories about your family, stories about your day. You’re passing on your oral history, and you are teaching your child about narrative structure, and how to weave a good tale.

Silly car games: you know the ones: find the license plate, eye spy, the one where you name an animal and the next person names another one that starts with the last letter of your animal? how about, “My name is Anne, I like in Alaska, and I like to eat apples.” Chock full of letter-loving goodness – and great for a good giggle, to boot.