September 5, 2024

Building Early Literacy Skills for Preschoolers

Early literacy is important for preschoolers. Literacy is a key skill needed for the next step in education as it sets the foundation for good writing, reading, and speaking skills in the future.

Fortunately for parents, they can do things to develop this for their children. Phonemic awareness, vocabulary, comprehension – all of these can be introduced to a child. 

The goal is to build a child’s recognition of words as well as his/her comprehension of them. To do that, we’ll provide some early childhood literacy tips for you below. These are the same methods we use at our own preschool in Singapore to build children’s language skills.

1. Read aloud

Reading aloud to children is one of the best early literacy practices parents can take. It engages your child in storytelling, gets him/her to participate through active listening, and more.

At My Little Campus, we even take it to the next level. This is by getting children to participate through encouraging them to ask questions. 

Our teachers also bring the books to life through interactive story-telling. We choose age-appropriate books depending on children’s ages and turn each one into an experience.

This gets children started on learning words and the way they come together for meaning. It’s also one of the best ways to show a child that language can be interesting and exciting.

2. Create a literacy-rich environment

A big part of supporting early childhood literacy is just to make it more accessible. Go over your home to ensure that children can easily grab books and other reading materials.

Check bookshelves’ heights and place books for kids in areas where they can get them. Put age-appropriate books on your child’s nightstand and in his/her play areas. 

You can even create a reading area or home library to encourage reading. The goal is to make sure your child never lacks opportunities to read and discover the magic of books.

3. Incorporate literacy in interactive play

Show your child that literacy doesn’t need to be restricted to moments of quiet or study. It can also be exciting, unlocking doors to new realms of play.

Try doing things like puppet shows based on your child’s favourite books. For younger children, you can even get magnetic letter blocks that spell out words. 

Alternatively, find alphabet or word puzzles that your child can get into. You can even try introducing your little one to Scrabble!

4. Encourage writing

Writing is one of the early literacy practices no parent should skip! As soon as your child can hold a pen or pencil with some control, you want him/her to start practising this. It teaches your child spelling, word recognition, and the basics of diction.

It helps if you give him/her as many opportunities for scribbling and even drawing. You can easily incorporate literacy training into drawing projects. 

For instance, ask your child to make greeting cards for friends and family. He’ll get some doodling down while also practising words!

You can also try doing what we do at My Little Campus. We guide children from the playgroup age through simple writing activities. These include tracing, writing letters of appreciation for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, etc. 

Let us help you build your child’s literacy

Ultimately, literacy is one of the very first skills your child should acquire for growth. It ties into so many things they have to do later, from formal schooling to everyday communication.

The sooner you get your child started on building this skill, the better. And you don’t have to do it alone! You can also put your child in a preschool that focuses on skills like these. 

At My Little Campus, for example, we prepare children for primary school learning ASAP. One of the ways we do this is through the development of academic and literacy skills early on. 

If you want to learn more about our programmes, enquire with us today. You may just find what your child needs!