What does play have to do with literacy? As one of the five practices of early literacy (read, write, sing, talk, play), play builds skills that will lay a strong foundation for reading and writing. Let’s take a look at a few of the benefits of play:
- Play builds your child’s vocabulary. When parents and children play together, there is usually quite a lot of talking involved! These back-and-forth conversations are an opportunity to introduce new words and concepts to your child. Robust vocabularies are helpful when your child is learning to read. When sounding out a word, it helps if it is a familiar word!
- Play encourages symbolic thinking. As The Hanen Centre points out, dramatic play, or “pretend play,” where props or toys are used to symbolize something else, requires a child to think abstractly. (For example, a building block could be used as a phone during play by holding it to the ear and speaking into it.) This same type of thinking is required for reading and writing. When a child recognizes that the little squiggles (words) on the page are placeholders for actual concepts and ideas, they have grasped the early literacy skill of print awareness.
- Play is an informal way to learn about sequencing and story structure. Play can involve telling or acting out a story with a beginning, middle and end. Developing narrative skills is great practice for reading and writing stories in school and for recognizing story structure.
So give it a try! Find opportunities for play in the Enchanted Forest at the library, or join us this fall for our new program series, Literacy at Play.
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