Bringing literacy to life at home!
Did you know there are 4 ways to support your child’s literacy at home? These are looking at and exploring:
- Books
- Early writing
- Oral language
- Environmental print
The Making it REAL (Raising Early Achievement in Literacy) approach is all about recognising that literacy begins long before school and that families play the most important role.
Whether you’re reading a bedtime story, drawing a simple map, acting out an adventure or spotting signs on a walk, you are helping your child build the foundations they need to read and write.
Here are 4 simple, playful ways to bring literacy to life at home and out in the community, using the storybook The Gingerbread Man!
Sharing Books: Building a Love of Stories
There is something truly special about sharing your child’s favourite book together. These moments of snuggling up, turning pages and chatting about the pictures are extremely beneficial for your child by giving them an understanding how books work and build the first strand of literacy.
You can support this by:
- Talking about the characters, settings and illustrations
- Talking about what way round the book opens and turning the pages
- Introducing simple book language such as author, illustrator, title, blurb and page number
- Predicting what might happen next, talking about how the story is structured (what happens at the beginning, middle and end)
- Acting out parts of the story together
These small conversations help your child understand that books hold meaning, ideas and emotions.
Further support on reading with your child can be found here: Exploring Books – TLC
Early Writing Through Story Mapping
After enjoying your child’s favourite book, why not bring the story to life by creating a story map? This is a playful way to explore the second literacy strand of early writing.
A story map will help your child to think about:
- Where the story begins (‘once upon a time…’)
- Who we meet along the way
- What problems or adventures happen
- How the story ends (‘the end, they all lived happily ever after….’)
Your child can draw pictures, make marks, use stickers or even create a simple trail of objects to represent the journey. This builds early writing confidence and helps children understand how stories are structured.
‘Martha Maps It Out’ by Leigh Hodgkinson is a brilliant book to introduce the idea of mapping and is available to borrow from your local Essex Library. You can find more story‑mapping ideas here: A Halloween Journey – TLC
Storytelling With Props
Once your story map is complete, try bringing the story to life using props – this supports the third literacy strand of oral language.
You don’t need anything fancy, and household items are perfect for this! For example:
- A teddy becomes the main character
- A wooden spoon becomes a brave explorer
- A blanket becomes a forest or a mountain
- A cardboard box becomes a boat, cave or castle
Acting out stories will help your child to:
- Build their own imagination
- Develop confidence in sharing their own ideas
- Practice new vocabulary
- Learn how stories are sequenced
You can also invent brand‑new stories together – children love seeing their ideas come alive! More guidance on supporting storytelling is available here: Getting children to tell stories – BBC Tiny Happy People
Connecting Stories to the Real World: Environmental Print
Now you’ve shared books, mapped stories and acted them out, it’s time to explore the fourth strand of literacy which is environmental print. This means we look at the words, signs and symbols children see all around them.
While you’re out and about, consider spotting and talking about:
- Spot signs, labels, logos and numbers
- Ask questions such as “What do you think that sign means?”
- Compare what you see to your favourite stories, do you see anything familiar?
- Talk about places, people or experiences that link to the books you’ve read
Back at home, your child can draw or make marks inspired by what they noticed and they might even create their own signs or labels. These activities support both early writing and children’s Understanding the World, one of the seven areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage.
You can find more ideas for supporting language while out and about here: Developing Language in Nature – TLC