ABC Life Literacy Canada

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Family Literacy Day is all about learning in fun and different ways! There are so many activities you can do to practice your literacy skills, such as following a recipe, reading a road map or playing a board game. Playing is a great literacy activity for families because it creates a strong family bond, promotes language comprehension and improves reading skills.

Literacy-enriched play settings can result in at least short-term gains in young children’s knowledge about the functions of writing, ability to recognize play-related print, and use of comprehension strategies such as self-checking and self-correction. (Play’s Potential in Early Literacy Development, 2009)

Play with objects allows children to try out new combinations of actions, free of external constraint, and may help develop problem solving skills. (Learning Through Play, 2008)

In a study that probed the benefits of thematic fantasy play (story re-enactment) on reading comprehension, researchers found that children who engaged in more meta-play talk (out-of-role comments used to manage the play, “I’ll be the mom, and why don’t you be the baby?”) during play comprehended the stories better than those less so engaged. (Play’s Potential in Early Literacy Development, 2009)

Research suggests that story reading, providing materials for scribbling and “writing” in pretend play, and participating in extended conversations are among the activities that promote emergent literacy skills. (Learners, Language, and Technology: Making Connections That Support Literacy, 2002)

Compared to circular board games where you have to travel around a board, linear board games (e.g., Chutes and Ladders) lead to greater learning in knowledge of magnitude, counting, number identification, and arithmetic. (Developing Numeracy: Promoting a Rich Learning Environment for Young Children, 2009)

One study found that kids who played numerical board games developed superior math skills compared to a control group of kids that didn't play numerical board games. (Playing linear numerical board games promotes low-income children’s numerical development, 2008)