Family Literacy Day
Family Literacy Day takes place every January 27th to raise awareness about the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family.
Since 1999, schools, libraries, literacy organizations and other community groups across the country have taken part in the initiative. ABC creates free learning and promotional resources for anyone that wants to get involved.
Taking time every day to read or do a learning activity with children is crucial to a child’s development, improving a child’s literacy skills dramatically, and can help a parent improve their skills as well.
Family Literacy Day 2027 Theme: Craft together, learn forever
Discover your inner artist and learn together. Crafting helps families build skills through reading, storytelling, and creativity, making learning natural and fun.
Download Free Family Literacy Day Resources
Coming in November.
To learn more about Family Literacy Day, please contact communications@abclifeliteracy.ca.
To learn more about Family Literacy Day, please contact communications@abclifeliteracy.ca.
Celebrate Family Literacy Day Virtually With Honorary Chair, Barbara Reid
Award-winning Canadian author and illustrator, Barbara Reid, is the Family Literacy Day Honorary Chair!
Watch our recorded virtual event with Barbara to hear a story and see a demonstration on how to use clay to create a picture.
This video is ideal for families with children in grades 1 to 6.
Testimonials
Facts & Statistics
Children whose parents are involved with them in family literacy activities score 10 points higher on standardized reading tests.
The Effect of Family Literacy Interventions On Children’s Acquisition of Reading: From Kindergarten to Grade 3 – Conducted by Monique Sénéchal for the National Center for Family Literacy, 2006
One year of parental education has a bigger positive impact on whether a son or daughter will attend a postsecondary institution than an extra $50,000 in parental income.
A mother’s reading skill is the greatest factor affecting her children’s future academic success, outweighing other factors, like neighborhood and family income.
Parents’ reading habits play a large role in determining how often kids read: 57% of kids who are frequent readers have parents who read books 5–7 days per week, compared to only 15% of kids who are infrequent readers.
Kids and Family Reading Report – Scholastic, 2017
Children of low-literate parents are exposed to 30,000,000 fewer words and enter kindergarten with a much larger skills gap than their peers.
The Case for Investment in Adult Basic Education – Kevin Morgan, Dr. Peter Waite, Michele Diecuch, 2017
The positive impacts of family literacy programming are greater than interventions including giving homework to children or reducing class size. Moreover, children from disadvantaged backgrounds can benefit from family literacy programming at least to the same extent as children from other backgrounds. Further, family literacy programming enhances children’s social and emotional development and parents’ confidence as parents.
Impact and Implementation of Family Literacy Programmes: Review and Recommendations – National Adult Literacy Agency (Ireland), 2018
