10 Ways To Celebrate Family Literacy Every Day

Family Literacy Day is almost here. It’s a fun annual reminder on January 27th that reading is an important part of a child’s development. One of the most important keys to success is to engage your child with fun and memorable activities each and every day.

Here are 10 literacy activities to grow your child’s literacy learning while keeping the whole family entertained:

1. Aim to read with your child 20 minutes a day if possible. Engage them by reading different kinds of texts that you both enjoy. We suggest trying comics, joke books, magazines or ebooks.

2. Create your own flash cards to help your child learn sight words. To help them gain automaticity use the cards to make simple sentences or play games like ‘Go Fish’ or ‘Memory’.

3. Label items around the house and practice reading them with your child

4. Reading apps can help engage your child and leverage technology.

5. Cook together! Recipes are a fun and practical way to experience the power of reading in real life.

6. Begin to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday by reading books by Canadian authors. Ask your local librarian to help you and your child find books.

7. Mix up your family bookshelf with a visit to the bookstore to encourage everyone to always be reading. We’ve been enjoying these books about wellness and these books to battle bullying.

8. Gather family and friends together for a book swap. It’s a budget friendly way to grow your home library while enjoying great conversation about books with adults and children alike.

9. Play games! A family game night with board or card games help reinforce skills such as drawing, counting and reading.

10. Storytelling is a wonderful way to build your child’s oral literacy. Get cozy and sit around making up silly stories or retell old favourites!