Think your child is ready to pick up on words? The early understanding of language is known as early literacy. Literacy is the ability to understand and speak a language, which is something we expose our children to even before they are born without realising it!
Literacy is interwoven in our society; how we write, read, and talk shapes the culture into which we are born and the community in which we live. So, if you are a parent looking for fun literacy activities to prepare your little one for preschool in Johor Bahru, keep reading.
The Importance of Early Literacy
Literacy serves as the foundation for all other forms of learning. Early language and literacy development start in the first three years of a child's life, well before formal schooling.
The foundations for language, reading, and writing development can be found in early literacy practices like immersing oneself in books and using pencils and paper. All of these activities can happen during play and daily life in a child's early years.
Literacy is the basis for succeeding academically, interacting socially, solving problems, making decisions, and developing independence. The good news is that simple tasks like going to the grocery store, taking a bath, or eating with family may all be enjoyable opportunities for literacy growth.
A child's ability to communicate with their family, peers, and the larger community is achieved through early literacy, starting at home. As a result of their inability to express their needs and interests, kids who are not provided with the means and opportunities to do so could get irritated and "act out." Besides gaining the essential skills through early literacy activities, it is also a great way to bond with your child as they develop the skills when you are doing the activities with them.
Early Literacy Activities for Preschoolers
The secret to inspiring a love of learning in young children is to disguise it with plenty of fun! To ensure that you always have a fun and instructive activity, save this list for a rainy day.
Reading with your child
Your child's vocabulary, listening and comprehension skills, and capacity to link sound and words are all improved by you reading to them. Additionally, it helps your child to learn better about their surroundings.
To make reading interesting, you can switch things up by adopting the Children's Book in a Bottle, which is also known as Literacy Discovery Bottles, which Deborah J. Stewart created.
The idea is to simply search around for a few tiny objects that symbolise an idea, character, or object from a book that you will be reading to your child. Before placing the little items into a plastic container, fill it with water, baby oil, a drop of dish soap, and/or food colouring.
The bottles should serve as an open invitation for the kids to explore them whenever they like, as a reminder of the books you have read, or as an inspiration for the kids to discuss or even retell the stories.
Storytelling
Encourage your child to narrate tales about unrelated images to you. Using a family photo or a magazine advertisement both work just as well. Just ask your child to describe the characters to you, along with what they are doing and why.
Reassure them that there is no correct response because you are creating a story from their imagination. You can also support them by sharing your own story.
Picture Books
Purchase a cheap second copy of your child's favourite picture book and remove the pages from the binding. Ask your child to retell the narrative from memory by arranging the pages in the correct order. Even cutting the text from the illustrations is an option if you believe they are up to the task.
Assess his ability to match the text to the images after that. While they might not be able to understand the words, if you have read the book together frequently enough, they might be able to know how the words appear on each page.
Labeling Common Objects
Print the names of common household items on index cards, labels, or pieces of poster board. Two sets should be created; one set should be attached to the objects, and the other should be given to your child for play.
The goal is to familiarise your child with the appearance of the words for common goods so that they can eventually make the link on their own. Don't pressure your child to match the two sets. Soon enough, your child will show you that they are familiar with their words from hearing them around the house.
Alphabet Rocks
Spend some time outdoors with your child collecting 52 rocks for this uppercase and lowercase literacy activity. After washing them, write an uppercase letter on one side of the rocks and a similar lowercase letter on the other. After that, challenge the youngsters to recreate the words or images from the index cards.
Recite Nursery Rhymes
An excellent approach to encourage young children to use their words is through nursery rhymes, which are also a great early reading practice. Your little one may learn quickly because nursery rhymes are brief and can be repeated often.
Children's auditory skills are developed through rhymes as they learn to distinguish between sounds while listening. Repetition can help toddlers distinguish phonemes inside words and understand syllable patterns.
Triple Tracing Name
As they practise writing their names, your child will have three times as much fun doing this. On a piece of paper, begin by writing their name in big letters using a highlighter.
Have them use a pencil to trace the highlighted letters as a starting point. After that, have them trace the letters using glue and yarn. Your child will learn their name letters thanks to this triple tracing name activity, and they will get wonderful artwork at the end.
Feather Tip Salt Tray Writing
The purpose of this activity is suggested in the title. Let your child use a feather tip to write in their salt tray!
This sensory writing experience is great for the development of motor skills and will pass as playtime while they practise writing. Allow your children some time to investigate the salt tray before they begin their work to avoid confusion.
Match-slap Number Game
Any wall may be turned into a correspondence and number recognition system with a deck of cards and some duct tape. This is a preschool exercise in which kids "slap" a pre-taped card to its matching card on the wall.
With cards glued to surfaces throughout your home, this activity could even become a scavenger hunt around your house.
ABC Go Fish
Your kids will be learning letters while playing this variation of Go Fish, which is another well-known game.
Make two of each letter by cutting paper into card-sized squares and writing a letter on each one. It's better to utilise groups of letters so you can concentrate on a few at once. Follow the game's regular rules to create as many matching letter pairs as you can after splitting the cards among the participants.
Preparing Your Little One For Preschool Should be Enjoyable
Early literacy and the concept of literacy, in general, can appear like complex topics that are better left to the "experts". But, don't be afraid because you are the expert! Being the very first instructor in your child's life, teaching them early literacy will come naturally to you.
We are all aware of how much children enjoy playing. So why not make the most of that playtime by learning? This selection of preschool fun literacy activities is a fantastic place to begin teaching your children to letters and laying the foundation for lifetime learning!
Have more questions about online preschools in Malaysia for your little one? Kiddy123 is Malaysia’s No. 1 Early Childhood Directory where we help parents to find preschools, enrichment programs, and more! Contact us today or call us at +603-74981203.
