On Tuesday, it was Family Literacy Day in Canada. I took my daughter to an Early Years Centre to participate in a Family Literacy Day program where they read and acted out a number of stories, rhymes and songs. We both had a great time. So did my 4 month old baby!

We were sent home inspired to read every day (something I have always done anyhow) to our children and to engage them in as many literacy related activities as possible.

Later that day, out came the chart paper, newspaper flyers, scissors, glue and markers. We taped the chart paper to the floor, chose a letter of the alphabet to focus on (my daughter chose the letter B) and we brainstormed different words that started with “B”. After we wrote down the words, we also hunted through the flyers for objects that started with “B”. I encouraged her to look for words that started with “B”, but she wasn’t interested in doing that.

As per usual, the activity turned into a child led activity, which was fine by me as it still focused on literacy which was the purpose of the activity in the first place, oh and of course to have fun!

Some other literacy focused activity ideas are:

Letters and words are all around us. Reading is not simply opening a book and reading the words. For children, reading involves exposure to letters and words, looking at pictures and describing what they see and drawing pictures and explaining what they drew.

Try to read with your child each and every day. Every book counts!