Early Learning Tips for Parents

Research shows one-on-one interaction between parent and child is critical for early learning. You can help your child develop important literacy and pre-reading skills. Five simple practices that help your child get ready to read are: Playing, Reading, Singing, Talking, and Writing. Attending a Storytime at GLADL can help children develop imagination, comprehension, and attention skills.

Playing:

• Play helps children think symbolically.
• By playing, children begin to explore and make sense of the world around them.
• Children learn to tell stories while they play.

Reading:

• Reading aloud with an adult is the most important step in preparing a child to read.
• A child who enjoys being read to is more likely to want to learn to read by themselves.
• Reading encourages the development of a child’s vocabulary.
• By being read to, children learn how stories work and begin working on literacy comprehension skills.

Singing:

• Singing encourages vocabulary growth.
• Singing slows down language which allows children to hear the different sounds in words and learn about syllables.
• Breaking words into smaller sounds, as is done in singing, will later help children when they try to sound out words into smaller parts while learning to read independently.
• Singing teaches children about rhythm and rhyme.

Talking:

• Children learn language by hearing people talk. Young children need to hear their native language in order to learn speak it.
• Talking to and with your child about many different ideas, topics, and stories allows the child to learn new vocabulary and develop an understanding of the world around them.

Writing:

• Drawing, scribbling, and pretend writing improves fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
• They learn that marks on a paper can represent something. The pictures, scribbles, and rudimentary writing a child makes means something to them.