VTech is an award winning electronic learning toys company

How can I support my child’s literacy development? This is an important question I hear often. Developing and reinforcing children’s language and literacy skills must begin early in life. The National Reading Panel supports the importance of repeated exposure to letters, high frequency vocabulary words, vibrant language and great children’s literature. These early literacy experiences lay an important foundation for language, reading and writing development and eventual school success.

Current educational research shows that early interactions with language, letters, vocabulary and reading are the basic building blocks of literacy and language development. In addition, reading research supports that children benefit from immersion in print rich environments where meaningful literacy activities take place daily. What is a print rich environment? It is a place where children are surrounded and bombarded with letters, words, stories and conversations. It is a place where children have access and time to enjoy great books and are read to often. Children participate in conversations with adults and other children. Magnetic letters, alphabet blocks, toys and games that support letter and vocabulary knowledge along with materials to draw and write are available for daily use.

Meaningful literacy experiences and activities promote, strengthen and enrich letter knowledge, vocabulary development, language acquisition and a child’s concept of story. They take shape through sincere interactions, candid conversations, daily reading and developmentally appropriate play. What do meaningful literacy experiences entail? They include talking to and having conversations with your child to develop their language skills. Playing with magnetic letters and building with alphabet blocks to develop children’s knowledge of the letters of the alphabet and the sounds that they make. Reading a great book to increase vocabularies, develop children’s concept of story and cultivating lifelong readers. Singing songs to reinforce language skills And engaging in imaginative play to further develop vocabularies.

Ultimately, immersing children in a print rich environment where they read books daily and have repeated interaction with letters, words, stories and the spoken word help develop fundamental literacy skills. VTech toys provide hours of fun and offer a variety of toys that expose children to letters, words and stories. VTech’s Go Go Smart Animals® Friends® and Wheels® are perfect for toddlers and encourage imaginative play while exposing kids to colors, letters and numbers. Also, the InnoTV™, and Innotab Max™, offer a variety of learning activities and feature characters like Dora, Mickey, Spiderman, Sponge Bob, Buzz and Nemo. Each cartridge includes great stories and learning games focusing on colors, shapes, numbers, letters, vocabulary words and other important early learning concepts. Strong early literacy experiences impact a child’s overall school success in positive ways. Take some time to play with your child today and help their literacy skills grow.