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With summer wrapping up, you might find yourself and your children needing to make a few adjustments to get ready for the school year. We want to make this transition a smooth one, so we are inviting you to join a live Twitter discussion on back to school readiness! Day: Wednesday August 15, 2012 Time: […]

Kids love pretending to be grown-ups with jobs. Jobs such as doctor, teacher, librarian, firefighter, scientist, vet, cook, artist or mail carrier. Encourage and enrich their pretend play and you’ll give your children beneficial literacy learning opportunities. As you know, pretend play benefits children in so many ways – with social skills, vocabulary, imagination, self-control, […]

Discover Ways To Avoid Summer Drain Checklist: How to Avoid Summer Learning Loss Anywhere from one to three months of grade-level learning is often lost during summer vacation. Here’s how to avoid the brain drain — with a little help from technology. By Laura St. John, Discovery Kids Puterbugs and TLC Parentables In today’s fast-paced […]

How To Keep Your Child Excited About Learning Great news: you play a critical role in your child’s emerging literacy starting in infant through school-age years! You do this by: Reading with your child Creating opportunities for verbal interactions by playing patty cake together or encouraging a deep conversation about why a character in a […]

  Playdough, that squishy childhood staple, gets kids’ hands pounding, poking, rolling, and shaping while their brains find the play a valuable learning opportunity which builds literacy skills. Whether store-bought or homemade, playdough is a great way to engage children in hands-on learning. Try one of these engaging playdough activities and your child will be […]

Parents, if you’re like me, you’re always searching for free activities to share with your kids. Let me tell you, the library is the best free choice I’ve found. So great in fact, I counted six reasons to love the library. Story time From babies to preschoolers, the library offers story times with songs, crafts […]

Children are born storytellers and authors. Did you know that even the scribbles and drawings of a child count as writing? Yes! In fact, you’re seeing a writer grow before your very eyes because these are important pre-writing skills. A Scribble a Day Make scribbling and drawing part of every day. In an easily accessible […]

Let’s look at different age groups to see how oral language, reading, and writing all add up to create a literate child: Infants: Oral Language: Have conversations with your baby! After you say something, pause and give your baby time to respond. Reading: Read to your infant. Even if babies do not sit and listen […]

I love babies. Babies do a lot of adorable things – cooing, smiling, laughing, and snuggling. But there’s something babies can’t do – read. But you’d never know it. We’re surrounded by messages that make us think babies are supposed to be doing “academic” work younger and younger. And that worries us. Are our babies […]

The Best Ways to Promote Your Child’s Literacy Is Literacy More Than Just Reading to My Child? YES! Let’s look at different age groups to see how oral language, reading and writing all add up to create a “literate” home: Infants: Oral Language: Have conversations with your baby! After you say something, pause and give […]

How to Help Your Children Learn Strategies for Successful Learning This is the third and final installment in a three-part series that looks at the learning process. Previous features included “Part One: Create a Safe and Nurturing Environment” and “Part Two: Enable Children to Lead Lessons.” Part Three: Monitoring Your Child’s Progress During each stage […]

Kids Are Speaking a New Language. Do You Know What It Is? The new language isn’t Spanish, or Chinese. Here’s a hint: 010111000011110001111. The new language is digital. Kids today are born into a digital world — my 1-year-old can’t speak English yet, but he’s absorbing every move I make as I interact with my […]