Thursday, Jan. 27, is family literacy day in Canada. According to ABC Life Literacy Canada, this year’s focus is on learning through play.

There are two reasons that play is such a powerful learning tool. Children are meant to learn through play. Think about all the important life lessons that your children have learned through play. In addition, play is a great way to take the pressure off and make something dry (or boring) entertaining, if you don’t believe me – put on some great tunes and dance your way through doing the dishes tonight, we suspect you’ll notice quite a difference.

Here are 10 really simple and fun reading and writing games to play at home with your children:

1. For children who are learning the alphabet, making letters out of play dough is a fun and tactile way to experience the alphabet.
2. In the car, simple games like “I-Spy” are great for practicing letter sounds and entertaining young minds while you are navigating rush hour.
3. Create a family play night. Have your children write a short play, give everyone a part, have fun dressing up and put on a performance in your own home.
4. Setting up a treasure hunt is a game that you can adjust to work with almost any age. Set it up yourself to practice reading or have your child set it up for you to have them practice writing the clues. At the simplest level, use one word like “oven” on the clues.
5. Children love to put on a performance, so next time, have them create an entire show to present to you. Writing out programs and creating tickets are just some of the sneaky ways that writing works itself into this idea.
6. When reading stories to young pre-readers, have them guess what they think will happen next before turning the page. This simple game engages children in the story and helps build their imagination and curiosity, which are vital in building the desire to learn to read in children.
7. Involve your child in the weekly grocery shop. Make a list for you and give your child items for him to write on his list too. When you are at the store let him be in charge of finding the items on his list.
8. Another fun letter game to entertain children in the car is to make funny phrases out of the letters on car license plates that you pass. For example “ALA 168” could be “Angry Little Aardvarks.”
9. A really fun writing activity (which can also tie into the next activity) is to have your children run a restaurant for the night or for lunch. They are the servers and they set and write the menus. They can help prepare the food and even provide entertainment. This is a really great rainy day activity.
10. Without a doubt, our favourite reading activity is cooking. Find simple recipes for early readers to follow. Casseroles with lots of ingredients are great for more advanced readers. Cooking also sneaks in some math skills and at the end of the day you have a child who can cook for you! For young ones, putting raisins on gingerbread men help with fine motor movement and finger dexterity.

This type of story book can be really great if you are trying to work on a routine. For example, if you are trying to instigate a bedtime routine to help your child go to bed more easily/quickly, take pictures of your child going through the parts of the routine. Enlisting your child to help put the photos in the right order helps embed the process as well as “reading” the story regularly. Just beware, once you do this, you won’t get away with making any variances from the routine!

Another fun thing to do with these picture stories is practice sequencing – a good thing to practice before your child starts kindergarten. Going through first, then, next and last with your child both using pictures and physically around the house will help your child understand typical instructions she will get from her Kindergarten teacher. For example: First hang up your coat, then wash your hands, and lastly sit at the table.

Photo books have a huge range of applications and are great because they are easy to make and kids love having a book written all about them. If you have any other uses for them feel free to add a comment.

• Take a digital camera with you on a day out with your kids. The next day print off the photos and help your child make a book telling the story of the day out. This book can be read by your child when ever he/she wants to read it.
• A fun variation on this is for your and your child to spend the day photographing a favourite toy in various places and poses around your neighbourhood, you can build this into quite an adventure story!
• Check out your local library for events. There is bound to be lots of kid friendly activities on over the summer, while you are there spend some time together in the kids section and help your child pick out some books to take home and read. Don’t worry too much about trying to find books that are challenging. Kids learn a lot about the enjoyment of reading from books that they can pick up and read fluently by them selves.
• Cook together – and get your child to read the recipe.  Even better – turn your baking into a pretend cafe and have your child make up some menu’s and signs.
• Any time you are in a restaurant together this summer, let your child read the menu and pick their own meal.
• Planning a road trip? Make a bingo board out of road signs and place names that you think you will see on the way. When your child sees the sign then they cross off the matching words on the bingo board.
• More on that road trip – give your child a map before hand and let him/her plan the route.
• Do you have parents that live out of town? Have them email your child and let your child return the emails.