For common people, literacy denotes the mere reading habit. However, the in-depth concept of literacy is more than just developing reading skills. For children, literacy activities start from the moment they are born. Even before a child is born, they start hearing voices and languages of the outside world. Hence, the journey towards literacy begins even before birth.
However, the earlier you start teaching your kids, the better its impact on their academic achievements. Early literacy is related to the complete development of every aspect of a child’s life. Thus, the stronger a child learns the language, the more successful they will get at reading. Keeping these factors in mind, literacy activities for preschoolers in Scotland are now being initiated.
To promote early literacy in a child, the motor and auditory skills of the child have to be developed. However, remember that brain development is an ongoing process. Hence, it’s not advisable to rush things. Rather, wait for some time and let the child grab the literary activities independently.
4 tips to teach literacy activities daily to preschoolers
Practise talking to children
Talking to a child helps them to develop their literacy skills quickly. This is a scientifically proven fact. From an early age, schools and parents must communicate continuously with the children to make them acquainted with the language, words, and expressions. As a part of the literacy activity for the preschoolers, the teachers must engage in communicative classes with the children. Ask them questions, tell them jokes, narrate their stories – the aim is to make them speak out the words and languages.
Initiate daily reading activities
Teachers in the preschools must focus on developing daily reading habits for the kids. This is a smart and successful way to introduce early literacy activity in toddlers. Sometimes the mere reading of books might seem to be a boring activity for the kids. Thus, for the hyperactive ones, reading together is the best option. Start early and read with the child even before they verbalise the words and the phrases. This will help retain their attention on the language and foster rapid brain development.
Encourage activities supporting motor development.
Preschools are nowadays focused on encouraging kids to spend most of their time on outdoor activities. Continuous engagement with activities like climbing, running, skipping, and other activities improves children’s motor skills. You can also include indoor activities like stacking, counting, organising, dressing and lacing if the children cannot play outdoors.
Help children develop listening skills
Developing effective listening skills is a vital part of the literacy activity. Like reading, start inculcating the habit of hearing in children from an early age. The development of good listening skills helps a child to learn new words quickly. Try playing tunes, sounds and audio stories to children and see their reactions. This skill helps in the fast development of literacy activities.
ReadGroofy is one such organisation where we follow the aforementioned ways to start early literacy activities in preschoolers in Scotland. We provide literacy, innovation and creativity services to children residing in Edinburgh, Scotland and the United Kingdom. Our goal is to encourage creativity in kids and educate them about their cultural heritage as well. Check our website for further details.