Support Your Child’s Language and Literacy Development at Home with These Fun and Easy Everyday Suggestions
Research suggests that babies begin absorbing sounds from their parents while in the womb. And while they are not able to speak when they are born, they immediately begin learning the language spoken in their home and environment as it is a natural process. But they can’t hone this skill alone. It all starts with a responsive parent and care team.
Parents and guardians can support these critical skills in their very young children in a variety of meaningful ways but first need to understand how language and literacy differ as well as their similarities. It’s also good to know that language, both receptive (comprehension) and expressive (being able to communicate), is the foundation of all other learning, including the other major domains in child development: physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development. Language mastery enables children to create bonds with family and caregivers, helps them understand and manage emotions, and to become critical thinkers and decision makers.
What is the difference in language and literacy?
Language and literacy are connected areas and have similarities but refer to different things. For instance, language development involves the development of the skills used to communicate with others, primarily thought of as being able to speak and understand a home language, while literacy development involves the ability to read and write.
Emergent literacy, also known as early literacy, refers to what children know about reading and writing before they actually learn to read and write, and is heavily affected by children’s language ability.
What can parents do to nurture their children’s language and literacy development?
Parents can help build strong language and literacy skills in their children by being responsive caregivers, such as responding to the sounds (oohs, cries, laughs) their child makes, and creating a language-rich environment at home.
Suggestions to try at home include:
Saying rhymes, singing, reciting fingerplays, clapping the syllables to chanted words, and sharing books that focus on sounds, rhyming, and alliteration all help children develop a sense of sound structure while being entertained.
Intentional learning opportunities can be done anywhere anytime. For example, try singing, rhyming, and chanting during the in-between moments like when you are helping your child get dressed or walking to the car.
Children learn to process what they hear and read. Ask your child questions about everything – how their food tastes, why Oscar the Grouch is grouchy, what they did at school, etc. -- and have frequent extended conversations to aid in comprehension of oral language.
Make reading a daily habit from the day your child is born. Not only does it promote parent-child bonding, but it also improves vocabulary and comprehension as they grow. As you read, point out colors and interesting visuals in the book, ask your child probing and high-quality questions after finishing a sentence or page, and emphasize vocabulary words as you read them. Be sure to comment on the characters’, thinking, feelings and actions while reading too.
Your child will have favorite books. Retell those stories through creative/dramatic play, puppets, fingerplay, drawing pictures or oration.
Expose your child to the alphabet and help them learn their letters without it being forced. For instance, use your child’s name as a starting point and draw attention to those letters first. Provide alphabet materials that children can manipulate such as magnetic letters, letter tiles, and lacing letters and intentionally call attention to their features, forms and letter sounds when your child is playing with them. Use letter games and activities such as making letters with sticks or in sand, using paints or chalks to help make more fun activities that encourage letter recognition.
Support emergent writing, which begins with drawing, by providing access to a variety of materials like papers, markers, crayons, colored pencils, and paints, in natural spaces.
Point out letters and words on walks, at the playground, running errands, cooking and while reading.
Find more useful information and tips to aid you in supporting your child’s language and literacy development at these websites:
VeryWell Family: How Do Children Learn Language?
Sandra Dunagan Deal Center for Early Language and Literacy
Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards
Scholastic: Language and Literacy Development in 0- 2 – Year Olds
