Connecting Play to Literacy Development

Julia Butler, M.Ed.

Kelly Larkin, M.A

Sarah Woodworth, M.Ed.

The big ideas….

• Parents are the children’s first teachers. The home is where children first encounter language and literacy.

• Play is a mental process that builds upon and integrates many other processes in the developing child’s mind.

• Play provides opportunities for expanded language and meaning.

Children’s Literacy

Early literacy does not mean early reading!

Formal instruction that pushes infants and toddlers to achieve adult models of literacy are not

developmentally appropriate.

Language and Literacy

• Language, reading and writing skills develop at the same time and are intimately linked.

Activities that promote language development

Although reading and writing abilities continue to develop through out the lifespan, the early childhood years—from birth to age 8—are the most important period of literacy development. • Learning to Read and Write:

Developmentally Appropriate Practices for Young Children.

Play promotes success!

Children are:

• Imagining

• Pretending

• Planning

• Wondering

• Doubting

• Remembering,

• Guessing

• Hoping

• Experimenting

• Redoing and working through

Children do better when parents believe:• That sharing books with children is fun.

• That reading with their children is a special time to share.

• That reading with their children is a time to feel warm and close

Pretend Play

• Helps connects early literacy and thinking abstractly.

• Helps child look at another’s perspective.

Arizona’s Infant and Toddler Developmental Guidelines

• Listening and Understanding

• Communicating and Speaking

Infants and toddlers learn language to communicate from their families, cultures and communities through everyday experiences.