The foundation for reading begins at infancy. You can stimulate your child’s brain growth when talking about a favorite book or role-playing the characters. Early language and literacy development helps them express themselves, understand others, and build essential skills for future learning.
You can find valuable information to support your child’s language and literacy development at the Florida Early Learning and Developmental Standards website. Look for age-appropriate resources and activities you can use every day, model good language,e and be patient and supportive as your child grows and learns about their surroundings and interests. By incorporating these practices into daily routines, you can create a language-rich environment that encourages your child’s communication skills and overall development. Explore these helpful tips from Just Read, Florida! to prepare your child for reading:
- Describe and point out objects: As you play and go about daily activities, point to objects and describe them.
- Use sounds, songs and rhymes: Incorporate sounds, songs and rhyming words to help your child learn about language and its various uses.
- Highlight printed words: Point out printed words in your home and other places you visit, like the grocery store.
- Read daily: Start reading to your baby every day. This is one of the best ways to introduce vocabulary and nurture early literacy skills.
- Model reading: Show your child that reading is important by setting a good example.
