Literacy activities for children

About literacy activities

Talking, singing, playing sound and word games, reading, writing and drawing with your child are great ways to set up a good literacy foundation.

The great news is that everyday activities, at home and--when possible--in local shops or library, all offer lots of fun opportunities for literacy development.

And you don’t need lots of time for literacy activities – five minutes a few times a day is often enough. The key is to use different times and opportunities to help your child learn. It can be as simple as writing a shopping list, playing a rhyming game or reading a story before bed.

It’s never too early to start getting your child involved with literacy activities – even babies enjoy listening to stories and being part of conversations.  Here are activities for different ages.  If you have several young children of different ages, you can combine or adapt activities to fit their interests and skills.

Babies, toddlers and preschoolers: literacy activities

Talking and singing activities
Talking and singing with young children helps them to develop listening and speaking skills. Here are some ideas to get you started:

• Use rhyme whenever you can. Use phrases like ‘snug as a bug in a rug’ or make up nonsense rhymes about things you’re doing – for example, ‘putting fish in the cat’s dish’.
• Sing traditional nursery rhymes with your child. Nursery rhymes teach your child language, rhyme, repetition and rhythm.  Think about what you heard as a child--in the majority language or your heritage language. 
• For babies, repeat sounds your child makes, or make up sounds and see whether your child can copy them. For example, ‘Cows say moo. Can you say moo?’
• At mealtimes, talk about the food you’re preparing, what you’re doing to it, how it tastes and what it looks like. 
• Talk about objects outside the house – for example, the rustling of leaves, or the sounds of the birds or traffic. Ask your child if she can make the sounds for wind, rain, water, airplanes, trains and cars.
• Play games like ‘I spy’ using colours. This can be lots of fun, especially for preschoolers. For example, ‘I spy with my little eye, something that’s green. What’s something green I might be looking at?’.

Reading and book-based activities
Even with babies, reading aloud develops their vocabulary, ability to listen and understand, and the beginning of an ability to connect sound and words. Your child might like these activities:

• Try books with rhyme, rhythm and repetition.
• With preschoolers, encourage your child to turn the pages and talk about what he sees. Sometimes use your finger to guide your child’s eyes from left to right across the page as you read, and point out certain words or phrases--make sure it is fun.
• Especially for toddlers, choose lift-the-flap books or touch-and-feel books to appeal to their need to feel and explore. You could even make your own book with objects your child likes to look at and touch.
• Use "interactive story reading."  Ask conversation-starting questions like "What do you think will happen next?" or "Do you remember when we rode on the bus?" 
• Link books with real life. For example, if you’ve read a book about playing under a tree, you might take your child to sit under a tree in your yard and point out leaves, branches, etc. like the ones in the book.
• Encourage your child to act out the story that you’re reading. For example, you can ask your child to hop like the kangaroo in the book.

Drawing and writing literacy activities

Scribbling and drawing help young children develop skills they'll need later in childhood for writing with pencils and pens. Here are some activities to try with toddlers and preschoolers:

• Encourage your child to draw and write using pens, pencils, crayons and markers. She’ll probably be excited to add a scribble or drawing on birthday cards or letters in a big swirl of colour.
• Encourage your child to try some letters or write his name on all the artwork he creates. You can write out letters in one colour and ask your child to trace them in another colour.
• Help your child use playdough to make the letters of the alphabet or numbers.
• Give your child opportunities to use letters of the alphabet in different forms – on blocks, magnetic letters that stick on the fridge, and puzzle pieces.
• Cut out or draw pictures of basic household items – chair, table, TV, wall, door and so on – then write the items’ names on separate pieces of paper. Ask your child to match the name of the item to the picture.
• Encourage your child to tell you about her drawings and help your child write down the words she uses to describe them.

Older preschool children: Additional literacy activities

Besides the activities just listed, as your child gets closer to school age, and when she's interested, you could try some of these activities also:

Talking activities

• Play word games that encourage your child to learn sounds. For example, ‘I spy with my little eye something beginning with f-f-f. What do you think I’m looking at that starts with that sound?’.
• Ask your child about words that rhyme. For example, ‘What other words sound like car?’
• Ask your child to make a sound or sound combination, then think of words with that sound. For example, ‘What’s a funny sound? Mo? What sounds can you make with mo? Moan, mope, moat … ’.
• Talk about the past. Ask your child to tell you something he enjoyed doing at child care or preschool that week.  Sometimes you could write it down.
• Talk about the future. Tell your child what you’re going to do on the next day or on the weekend, or ask her to tell you what she needs to do before she goes to bed.

Reading and book-based activities

• Read stories and then talk about them. Ask, ‘What was that story about?’ or ‘Did you like that character? Why?’
• Older children love alphabet books – ask your child to tell you words that start with the same sound as the letter you’re looking at.
• Ask your child to make a storybook with his own pictures. With your help, he can do this on a computer or with pens and paper. If he's interested, help him write at least some of the letters in the story.
• If you are out walking, ask your child to pick out or sound out letters or words on billboards, shop fronts, street signs or items at the supermarket.  You can do the same thing at home with catalogs and advertising flyers.
• If you are able to visit your library with your child, encourage her to choose books to take home.  Many libraries also have story sessions and book clubs for children.

Drawing and writing literacy activities

• Encourage your child to write his name and the names of other family members in greeting cards or on pictures. Once your child can use all the letters well, he’ll be ready for upper case and lower case (capitals and small letters).
• Encourage your child to write pretend shopping lists or restaurant menus for pretend play. 
• Ask your child to make you a book, with a word on one side of the page, and a picture of that word on the other side.  With all of these, help as needed and make these enjoyable activities.