Power of Play in Enhancing Literacy Development.

Many families are in the midst of gift-giving season, our days are shorter with more time spent indoors, and some children will soon find themselves perhaps with a couple of weeks of fairly unstructured playtime. This is a great time to think about capitalizing on the power of play to enhance your child’s literacy development.
Children are often naturally drawn to activities that allow them to explore and play with literacy. My own children would play restaurant or create comic strips and I found that if I had materials such as notepads, pens, props, etc. available to them, they would engage in unprompted imaginative and literacy-rich play. It is clear that when children are offered experiences with literacy-related resources, they act in literate ways. Consider gifting these games and materials to support play encompassing listening, speaking, reading, and writing:
Different types of paper
Magnadoodle
Letter stamps
Magnetic letters
Collapsible desk for car rides
Dress up clothes
Sidewalk chalk
Bathtub crayons
Pencil/marker sets
Easel
High quality picture books
Scrabble
Boggle
Apples to Apples
Balderdash
Bananagrams
Heads Up
Scattergories
And don’t forget all the literacy learning opportunities and activities to engage in with your children. For times when your children do need a little more direction and parent support...
Make a shopping list
Make a cozy reading fort
Shop for books as gifts for others
Write poems or stories to give as gifts
Take books along on road when traveling
Visit the library
Listen to audiobooks as a family during travel
Read and cook recipes together
Write thank you notes
Start a book club with friends and plan a party to discuss what you read
Sing, draw & tell stories
Email or send letters to friends and family
Keep up your nightly reading routines