Easy ways to Promote Literacy in your Home!

Hey guys! Sara here and today I want to share with you some ways you can promote literacy in your home!

These are activities or tasks that I do and I hope you will start doing as well! They are simple and easy and won't add extra stress to your life!

Check out this awesome list below!

1. Have an at home library: I would suggest having a library in your kids room that way they feel like the library is more for them! You can also have more then one library in your house so keep that in mind also!

2. Take trips to your local library: I love going to the library and do not do it as often as I should, but most local libraries have a story time each week that is available for children! All you have to do is contact your local library to see if this service is available. If you are a stay at home mom this would be such a fun little trip to do every week, and after story time you could even let your little ones check out some books to bring home! I  am going to start doing this with Liam and I can not wait! 

3. Make sure your kids see you read: If your kids see that you love reading and think it is fun they are more likely to want to be read to or read a book on their own! We love reading so this is really easy for us! I am currently right in the middle of a great book that I pick up and read as soon as I have a chance!

4. Buy books that obtain to their interests: Now this one is pretty obvious! Obviously you don't like to read books that you aren't interested in so neither will your kids! They are more likely to pick up a book if it is about something they like!

5. Point out words in your home and other places: This one can be really fun for you and your kids! You can even make little games with this, such as "I spy a word"! This is also a way to make those errands you have to run a little more fun and go by a little quicker!

6.Put baskets of books all over your house: This is an easy one! Put a basket of books in the living room, dinning room, laundry room, bathroom, basically anywhere you can think of! This gives your kids the option of reading or looking at books where ever they are in the house without having to go all the way to your personal at home library to get one! If they do not have to put in a lot of extra effort to find a book to read or look at, they are more likely to do so. The bathroom idea is one of our favorites especially if you have a potty trainer on your hands! Have them sit on the potty and hand them a book or two to look at! This is a good way to distract them from what can be a very stressful and painful task for the little one and of course you!

7. Create a quiet place for your child to read and look at books: We personally love this one! There is nothing better then knowing you have a nice comfy and quiet place to sit down and dig into a book! Us as adults even like this! I did something super easy in Liam's room that I call his reading corner! This is where his library is with a rug and some cute pillows that he can lounge on whenever he is old enough to sit down and look at books on his own! Also in this corner I have a couple of cute little banners hanging up that have the alphabet and numbers on them so he can see those every time he is in his reading corner!

8. Use sounds, songs, gestures, and words that rhyme to help your kids learn about language: This is another really easy one to do! It could be as simple as singing nursery rhymes in the car or making up a little dance about getting ready in the morning! If your kids are anything like mine they love learning from songs and doing fun little dances!

9. Tell stories: This could also be a really fun one! You can make up your own stories, tell family stories about your childhood, or even combine the two! If you have a child who is old enough to talk you could even have them tell you a story! You won't believe what  type of story your two year old can come up with! If you have a child who is bit older and can write on their own you could have them write their own story and then have them read it to you!

10: Play with words: This one sounds a little confusing but trust me it is not! Children especially young children learn by playing. All this means is playing with toys that help with learning! A great example of a toy that can be used for this is ABC blocks, along with so many more but it would take me days to make a list of all those toys! I will tell you one of my favorite ones that I have for Liam and that is Scout the dog! This cute little toy sing songs, talks about different animals and the noises they make, and even uses Liam's name, favorite food, favorite animal, and favorite color in his interactions and this is just a few of the wonderful things he can do! 

11. Celebrate Successes: This means celebrate with your child when they finish a book or maybe write a story! One thing me and my fiancé do with Liam is every time we get done reading him a story we cheer and tell him how good he was during the story! We have been doing this with Liam since he was 6 months old and he still loves this! When we start to clap our hands and get excited he in return gets excited! So you can start doing this at a very young age!

12. Be involved in homework: If you have a school aged child this is a big one! If they know that they can get help from you because you are interested in them doing well in school that will in return make them want to do well in school! Or if they know that you are interested and want to help them with their homework, they will be more willing to complete their homework and other fun school projects that you can do together!

13: Asks questions: If your child is old enough to read ask them questions about the book they are reading or the story they are writing! Your kids will find it really cool if you are the one asking them questions instead of them asking you questions!

14. Take books on trips: This doesn't just mean on vacation but on trips to the grocery store or to grandmas house as well! Every time I leave the house I always have a book in Liam's toy bag! When we are waiting in a long line at Walmart (which we all know way to well) I will pull that book out of Liam's bag and we will look at the pictures or sometimes I will actually read to him!

15: Encourage writing/drawing pictures: If your child is old enough to write encourage them to do so by writing stories, writing out your grocery list, or even writing out your daily task on your calendar for you! If your child is not old enough to write yet encourage them to draw pictures such as your trip to the grocery store (apparently I go to the grocery store a lot because I have mentioned it in almost all of these tips!) or what they would like to have on the grocery list!

That's it! How easy are these tips! You probably already do some of these anyway! But incase you don't and want to make sure you do, I am

offering a free printable to you that has a list of these tips on it! You can print it out and put it on your wall or keep it in a folder to refer back to later!

In order to get your free printable go to my contact page put your name, email, and in the message box put "I want my free printable!" Shortly after you submit it my free printable will be sent to you! How cool this that!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope your enjoyed this post! I hope you stop by again soon!

-Sara