7 Fun Ways to Get Your Child Excited about Literacy
Eager to get your child more confident with reading? If we want our kids to grow up excited about reading, it’s so important we help make literacy fun! Here are 7 simple, fun ways to get them engaged with letters, sounds and reading:
Use words in role play
Ultimately, literacy helps our children navigate everyday life – understanding the world around them and how to communicate effectively in it. There are opportunities to read and sound out letters and words all around us, so one of the easiest ways to help our children notice this is to bring it into the games they already love – like role play. How can you bring literacy into their games, naturally?
Perhaps they love playing family life, so you can introduce magazines or shopping lists for them to read. Or maybe they like playing cafes, and you can label food and create menus!
Browse our printable Role Play display packs here.
Songs & Rhymes
For your youngest children, start by re-visiting some of their favourite songs and rhymes! Listening, and being able to recognise sounds, is a huge part of literacy, so it doesn’t matter if your child can’t read yet. Sing nursery rhymes together, make up silly songs of your own and talk through what they can hear. Can they notice what rhymes? Can they guess what comes next? As your child gets older you can look through the words together, picking out sounds and noticing how rhyming words look similar.
At Print Play Learn, we have some lovely nursery rhyme printables like this ‘I Hear Thunder’ poster.
Phonics Pancake flip
Hands-on literacy is another way to get your children engaged and this pancake flip game is one of our favourites! Print off or create your own phonic pancakes (a pancake shape with a phonics sound written on it) and ask your children to say the sound as they flip the pancake over!
Set up invitations to read
Nurture a love of books by inviting your children to investigate books on their own accord, with an enticing reading corner or cosy den. Start by asking your child what would make a good reading space to them? Then make sure it’s comfy enough for you to snuggle in next to them too! You want to create an exciting, comfortable space you’re both happy to sit together and share stories. Think lots of cushions, a blanket and their favourite cuddlies.
Read my experiences of setting up reading corners at home and at school.
Try a sound dig
Another fab hands-on game to encourage beginner reading, a sound dig! Hide letters and phonics sounds in sand or amongst toys and have your children dig to find a sound then read it out.
Our phase 3 jewels are ready to print out and start hiding. You could also pop these jewels in a box as a treasure chest and involve in pirate themed roleplay.
Create a scavenger hunt
If your child is starting to get more confident with blending words and putting simple sentences together, try a reading scavenger hunt. Set up simple written clues around the house and have your child read them in order to work out where to find the next clue!
Follow their interests
The easiest ways to get our children excited to learn? Follow their interests! For example, if your child is currently obsessed with puppies, think about how you can incorporate listening and reading into your everyday life together. Read puppy stories, write a list of things you’d need to buy to look after a dog, make your own dog name tags and create a puppy-inspired phonics obstacle course for your child to bound over, reading out words as they jump through hoops or cross pillows!
Be imaginative, helping your child get excited about literacy doesn’t always mean having them sit down to read to you. Have fun.
Enjoyed this? Then you might like to discover 40 fun phonics games and activities to try at home, take a look at our downloadable Phonics Play Pack now.
