Infant & Toddler Training Modules on Literacy

Parents and caregivers lay the foundation for literacy in the first few years of a child's life. Leaders of infant/toddler literacy programs must provide a sensitive, responsive relationship with children and foster positive experiences with books.

Emergent Literacy

• Encourage positive literacy experiences with babies and toddlers. Allow babies to hold and flip through picture books. Young babies will put books in their mouths, and older babies may stack them. Keep the books in sight. Use waterproof, bath books during tub time. Point to pictures in the books, and share their reactions. Use a soft, engaging, soothing voice when reading to young children.

Encouraging Literacy

• Read books with infants and toddlers. Point out the pictures as you read the words aloud. Ask questions about the books you are reading or about anything else of interest to the child. Encourage verbal skills through singing songs to them and with them, listening to them when they speak and repeating back the baby's sounds.

Family Literacy

• Children are more likely to enjoy reading when they are read to as young children. reading with mum image by Renata Osinska from Fotolia.com
  

  Establish a reading routine with the infants and toddlers in your home. Nap and bedtime work well for some. Literacy will become as much a part of your child's life as getting dressed or brushing her teeth. Attend local story hours at your library or bookstore; this activity also strengthens the parent-child bond. Take a weekly visit to your local library. Take your time with your child and browse the children's section before making your selection. Designate a shelf or two at home to start a home library for your child.