Label Items in the Home to Improve Print Reading Skills

As caregivers, we want to have our children read early and well. Research conclusively shows that strong early reading skills predict later successful academic outcomes for children. We know that reading daily with children is important.

There is an easy, free method of increasing your children’s reading skills right in your own home! This can be done in any language, starting when children are as young as 3 years old.

You can print words on index cards and tape them to objects in the home. When your child is near the object, just point out the word card and say something like “Look! This word says lamp!’” If you want to extend it and your child is interested, say something like “The first sound in lamp is /l/. The last sound in lamp is /p/.”

You can also add rhyming, an excellent early pre-literacy skill. “See this word? It says chair. I am thinking of a word that rhymes with chair–it is on our heads. That’s right! Hair! Also, something you do with your friends is share. Chair rhymes with share!”

Simple, free activities like this, done daily, can add to your child’s awareness of the written word and help their literacy skills skyrocket. Keep it light and fun, and watch those literacy skills grow!