Early Literacy Tips – Talk to Your Child About Summer

What children need to know about reading and writing before they can read or write is called early literacy.  As your child’s caregiver, you are their first teacher.  The greatest amount of brain growth occurs between birth and age five, a time your child spends with you.  By age three, 85% of the brain’s core structure is formed.  As a child ages, the brain gets rid of weaker synaptic connections in favor of stronger ones.  We can improve the strength of synaptic connections with experiences that reinforce learning that has already occurred.  

In our Building Blocks to Early Literacy series, we will share early literacy tips for you to do at home to help your child get ready to learn to read.  

Today’s Early Literacy Tip is: Talk to your child about Summer (Seasons changing)

Some of you may have noticed that the calendar has turned and the weather has gotten warmer.  To those of you new to the Texas heat in Summer, welcome! For those of you who have been around awhile, you know that Summer brings its own challenges for keeping your child engaged and learning during this time. 

Despite the heat and the challenges, however, there are some really great opportunities for you to TALK to your child during this time of year. Seasons changing brings a host of new experiences for children. Each different season brings its own sights and sounds and even animals for you to talk and learn about. Especially during the summer. 

When summer rolls around, your child may be old enough to swim, you can talk to them about water safety and how to swim and play with others at the pool. Summer is also a popular time for vacations; maybe you go to the beach or ocean or maybe you go someplace where the temperature is a little cooler, either way, this is an opportunity to bring up and talk about all the new things associated with travel and going to new places. 

Talking about all these new experiences helps expand your child’s knowledge of the world around them and gives them a whole new vocabulary to express themselves. 

So don’t let the heat scare you off from doing things that will put your child on the right track to explore new things and further their early learning.