Toddler Literacy

Toddler Literacy Skills: Doing More Than Just Reading Aloud

March 9, 2020 Leave a comment

I’ve read aloud to Miss Molly since I was pregnant. During her first year I always had books with us in restaurants, family parties, etc. I was beyond excited when she first started singing the ABCs and asking me to read to her.

We are now in the toddler literacy phase, which is very different from baby literacy. The Reading Specialist in me is on high alert with how Molly is progressing learning her letters, sounds, rhyming, etc. I am beyond grateful that her school has a truly amazing curriculum (they even use Project Read).

However, she doesn’t let me finish reading a book to her anymore. When I do get her to read with me, I do a lot of interacting with her. I’ll ask for her to point to a letter, answer questions about pictures, etc. But sometimes I do worry that I’m not doing enough, and realized that I need to do more than just read aloud.

Puzzles

Molly has a few puzzles that she really enjoys playing with, but I wanted her to practice recognizing letters and order of the alphabet, so I purchased this letter puzzle from Six Corners Educational Toys. Not only do I love the pop of colors, the puzzle is super lightweight and the pieces fit in very snuggly (no lose pieces!).

But, my favorite aspect of this puzzle are the easy drawing instructions for each letter. There are numbers and lines for kids to trace with their fingers while they put pieces in the correct slots.

I was really surprised with this feature and showed Molly how to do it. She immediately proceeded to sing and attempted to trace letters.

Magnet Drawing Board

Last year my best friend’s mom gave Molly the Vtech Write & Learn Creative Center. She has loved this toy from the beginning, and has started to interact with it differently as she’s gotten older. She started with the magnets, then began drawing shapes, and now writing letters on the magnetic drawing board. This weekend she even told me she was going to practice writing her sight words and did for several minutes.

There are a bunch of different activities for kids to do with the buttons, but Molly prefers just to draw and erase her work so she can be independent. I do plan on exploring the buttons when Molly is a little older to really see what this center can do.

Magnetic Letters

As soon as Molly was able to walk, my mom bought her magnetic letters for the fridge. Molly has always loved playing with the magnets when she visits my parents and seems to make a game out of it every time.

A few weeks ago, Molly went to a children’s play place where they had a pretend school room. She made a beeline for the magnet letters and actually had to be pulled away from the easel at one point.

I recently purchased this really awesome magnetic letter set from Amazon (click here). It comes with a great magnetic board and an incredibly organized case of letters. Molly found the box and emptied it before I was ready to introduce the new “toy” to her, so I unfortunately did not get a chance to take any pictures.

I’m always on the hunt for new ways to support Molly’s early literacy skills at home. Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are amazing resources to see what other parents and early childhood educators do to help toddlers with these skills.

What’s in Molly’s Home Library?

August 7, 2019August 7, 2019 2 Comments

Last weekend I was watching Molly play with her Disney princess dolls and her dollhouse. She’s at the age where she is starting to create stories with her toys, which is amazing to watch. She’s even becoming more independent with her reading skills. She still asks for me to read to her, but she is starting to “read” to herself more often.

I realized that it’s been quite a while since I’ve shared what’s in Molly’s home library. When I first started this blog, I wrote posts on Literacy in the First Year and Toddler Literacy, where I shared some fabulous Usborne Books.

Today I want to take you on a little tour of Molly’s home library.

I wanted to get a head start on her home library from the very beginning, so I had guests at my baby shower give me a book instead of a card. I am so incredibly grateful for all of the amazing texts that I got because it really created a great foundation.

As Molly has gotten older, family and friends continue to give her books, allowing us to expand her library. She also has mini libraries at both of her grandparents’ homes, and I’m pretty sure she has one in the car as well.

It’s crazy to think that Miss Molly is going to be three very soon. She has been in daycare for about two years, and I try to reinforce the skills she learns at school at home with specific books.

Right now, we’re working on her vocabulary with opposites, colors, and shapes. Here are some of the books we’re using at home. Molly enjoys lifting the flaps and looking at the pictures. She will also point to all of the objects she knows on pages, and will guess at ones she isn’t sure of. I am a little bias and prefer Usborne books for teaching early learning skills.

Molly is also a fan of singing. She loves the ABCs, “Bumble Bee” and “Row Row Row

Your Boat”. While we watch Frozen and Beauty and the Beast, she will sing along with the movies. We continue to use nursery rhymes at home using a few different books. All of these books were given to me at my baby shower.

Miss Molly has always loved listening to music, and when we first introduced her to noisy books she was excited.

As she has gotten older, we have branched out to incorporate more books based on her interests (or current favorite TV show/movie). She has a habit of playing her favorite sounds over and over, that don’t align to the story.

As a teacher, I like to read Molly certain books to reflect the time of year, especially holidays. I like to give Molly a book for every

holiday, as do family members. We tend to read the same stories over and over again from this pile. Hug Day, is the biggest hit because Molly has an obsession with trolls. She also likes Pooh’s Halloween Pumpkin because she can carry it around by the string.

Regardless of how many new books she gets, there are always a few that will always be here favorite. Some of them are really obvious based on the teeth marks (Belly Button Book has been #1 since the beginning). Molly loves Pookie because

she likes to say the name, and has even named one of her stuffed animals Pookie. Sandra Boynton is one of the most popular authors in our house. Potty Fairy Princess has always been one of her favorites, but now it’s even more popular because she’s starting to use the potty.

Just like Molly has her favorite books, Mommy also has her favorites. I Wish You More was the first book I bought Molly at the Scholastic book fair at my school when I was pregnant. I wanted the first book I bought her to be meaningful and special and this was was absolutely perfect. As a kid, I LOVED Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans (I have the whole TV show on DVD for Molly when she’s ready) so of course this one will always have a special place on her bookshelf. This one was given to me at my baby shower from my mom, which makes it even more precious. Llama Llama Red Pajama by Anna Dewdney is my absolute favorite book to read aloud because I like saying Llama Llama. It’s a bonus that Molly also loves these books, especially the illustrations. I Love You Forever by Robert Munsch made me cry the first time I read it to Molly the night before I started working again. This one has more sentimental value to me.

I am no longer a consultant with Usborne Books & More, but you can order the fabulous titles in this post from my amazing book friend here.

February 23, 2017 2 Comments

Last week I discussed literacy in the first year, so today I want to share some information for toddler literacy. In preparing for this class, a lot of my research for toddlers overlapped my baby research information. Many of the same materials we use with babies can also be used with toddlers.

This post is for parents and early childhood educators on literacy in toddler years (from my Facebook class). It includes toddler development information, stages of learning and book suggestions.

Young Toddlers (12-24 months)

Books with children doing familiar things
Books about daily routines/customs

Toddlers (2-3 years old)

Simple rhyming books that can be memorized
- Kids this age can say 150-300 words so they can recognize those used in rhymes
- It helps them learn sentence structure and expressing a complete thought
Books about counting, shapes, colors, and size
- Kids this age can distinguish the difference between sizes and colors
- Foundational skills are developing at this age (numbers and letters)

Motor Skills

Gross Motor Skills– larger movements
- Crawling, running, etc.
Fine Motor Skills– small movements
- Using fingers, toes, lips, and tongue
- These are skills that can be practiced with books

Potty Training

Many parents say this is the most stressful part about having a toddler. It’s important to talk to talk to your toddler about going to the bathroom and use books to help him or her get familiar with going potty.

New Siblings

Some children have a rough adjustment to welcoming a new sibling. You can help ease the transition by including your toddler in discussing the new baby and by reading books about family.

Special Interests

By two years old many children have a special interest. This can be animals, trains, trucks, ballet, etc. Make sure to have plenty of texts to reflect your child’s interests.

Strategies

Talk or sing about pictures. This helps with comprehension skills. Some examples include:
- Who or what is in the picture?
- What are it/they doing?
- What color are they? Etc.
Show children the words.
- Point while reading
- Books with labels
- Feel free to spell the words out as well
Ask Questions.
- While reading ask comprehension questions that include why, how, and what. Focus on feelings and actions from the story.
- Encourage your child to ask questions while reading.
Let child tell the story.
- By around 2 ½ or 3, children can memorize a text. Use this to their advantage by letting them “read” stories they memorized so they can embellish and make it their own.
  - This helps with creativity and processing skills.

For more information on toddler books, feel free to follow my Facebook page or check out Usborne Books and More.

Little Reading Coach

Reading Specialist and Virtual Teacher/Tutor

Tag: Toddler Literacy