Early Literacy

Nursery rhymes are perfect little songs for encouraging language development. Although they aren’t always sung, nursery rhymes do have a rhythmic lilt, encouraging that sing-song cadence that helps ingrain things into little brains. They are short, sweet, and easy to remember, and, as their name suggests, the words usually rhyme. 

Many of us native English speakers don’t think twice about the language we use with our children – but if your native language is anything other than English, use it! Encourage grandparents, caregivers, or anyone else Baby interacts with on a regular basis to use the language with which they are most fluent. Contrary to some concerns, this does not confuse babies or delay their speech; it simply gives them more words to express themselves when they are ready to talk. 

Writing…the most difficult to understand of the pre-literacy skills. How can I work on writing when my baby can’t even hold her own bottle? Writing definitely comes later when preschoolers have refined their motor skills and strengthened their muscles – but pre-writing skills are anything that can build those fine motor skills and muscles.

Lazy days of summer are perfect for spreading out a blanket in the shade and sharing some books with your baby. Picture books – even those written for very young children – are perfect for building your little one’s vocabulary, which in turn expands their entire world view. You might not use the word gigantic in everyday speech – but it’s in that story you just read about a dragon! Your little ones are hearing words from books that they won’t hear anyplace else at this age.

Talk, talk, talk… once your child starts talking, you start wishing they would stop! But since talking is such a foundational part of human communication – including literacy (reading) – the best thing you can do is… well, talk it up! We’ve written about how to talk with your baby or toddler, but what do you talk about? Easy… any and everything!

Here’s the great thing about babies, toddlers, and preschoolers, and playing - it’s what they do! There’s no learning curve involved on “how” to play; give a baby a toy, and they will feel it, turn it, maybe even taste it. They’re like little scientists in the making!

It can be hard to see how you might introduce your baby or toddler to writing. The fine motor skills required are well beyond their grasp (pun intended)! However, the underlying knowledge behind writing is about knowing shapes. Letters are made of mountains, bumps, and lines. So are shapes!

 Repeated exposure to new material will reinforce any concept. Some easy activities that will put your baby on the path to writing might include:

Hopefully you’ve all been following along with our virtual storytimes lately! Although we aren’t reading books right now, you & your little one can enjoy the fun routines, songs, & rhymes of your favorite storytime group, and then check out ebook copies of titles we’ve recommended. One thing we’ve emphasized a lot in storytime lately are wordless books.

Make a joyous noise! You’ll be doing your baby’s brain good. Of course, singing is also fun! Songs make language accessible and memorable for young children. (See our last SINGING post about using new words in old tunes, particularly when trying to get children to do a task.)

If you’ve somehow missed it, here’s your reminder to check out our virtual storytimes! It’s been hard not being able to see our favorite smiling faces every week, but we’re trying to keep your kiddos engaged with some online entertainment instead. If you’re a storytime regular, you’ll find a lot of familiar content along with familiar faces. If you haven’t been to storytime before, welcome! Now’s the time to check it out! There is a version of each regularly scheduled storytime updated every week.