Sometimes the best thing you can do for your child’s early literacy development is just to let him play. Turn off the TV and anything that runs on batteries, then let your child pick up her toys, build blocks or duplos, or manipulate puzzles or game pieces. Not only are you giving your child the gift of childhood, something we often don’t do in today’s fast-paced, achievement-oriented world, but you’re also helping your child develop skills that are key to learning to read and write.
Hand-eye coordination is a necessary skill for written language, and the best way to help your child develop this skill is to let him play with toys and activities that involve looking at, using, and discriminating a range of items. Puzzles are obviously a great activity for this purpose, as are manipulative toys like blocks, duplos, and magnetix.
My son just spent over an hour tonight playing dominoes with his father. Okay, they weren’t playing so much as creating complex patterns and then tearing them down, but I didn’t tell them they were participating in a pre-literacy activity. . They were just having fun together.
Studies have shown that spending time on hand-eye coordination activities improves children’s ability to learn to read and decreases the difficulty they face in the process. In fact, engaging in a variety of craft activities, which most children love, can be very beneficial, so add modeling clay, stickers, and glue sticks to your list of educational supplies.
Research shows that early practice of hand-eye coordination activities reduces the risk of reading difficulties.
ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE
Puzzles help develop hand-eye coordination because learning to control the hands and fingers based on information received from sight is a coordination skill that helps children in their first attempts at reading and writing. Determining which piece goes where, working to fit the pieces into place by making adjustments, and watching a sequence unfold into an organized pattern can be a great and satisfying learning experience for children.
Puzzles, matching games, and the like are also important in helping children learn visual discrimination. Visual discrimination is the brain’s ability to quickly differentiate between visually similar letters, like “p,” “b,” and “q,” or between words like “was” and “saw.” Students with difficulty making these distinctions often have difficulty learning to read, write, and spell. Playing games, participating in activities, or using toys that help children discriminate between similar objects can be fun for the child and help them master an important pre-literacy skill. My son loves helping her dad sort the change before rolling it up for deposit in the bank. Sure we could use an electronic sorter, but our son loves participating in the activity and it’s a valuable learning experience for him.
Visual discrimination can often be learned with your child’s existing toys. Matchbox cars, dolls and action figures offer the opportunity for your child to learn visual discrimination.
Encourage children to work their wrist and finger muscles, as well as work on their coordination and small motor skills to help prepare them for future handwriting practice. Activities to help with these goals include legos and other construction sets, playdough, puzzles, pegboards, beads, and other tabletop toys. These fun and natural activities help children improve their cognitive and fine motor skills without frustration or boredom.
My son participates in many activities every day that build hand-eye coordination and visual discrimination. I do not suggest the activities. I make the toys and manipulatives available to him and he chooses them on his own. The activities vary, he may spend a whole week building and rebuilding his wooden train set every day and then the following week his magnetix game dominates his playtime. Some days he plays with both of them together and brings out his duplos and wooden blocks for added fun. I don’t care what activity he chooses because I know he is having fun, challenging his imagination and learning.