Children’s early literacy experiences should be holistic and engage them on multiple levels for them to be memorable and meaningful. For the last couple months my preschoolers have really enjoyed singing ‘Mary had a little lamb’ and tapping instruments and clapping along to the beat. To extend this interest, I introduced them to Mile Kelly’s My Rhyme Time book titled Three Little Kittens which has a lovely illustrated double page spread on “Mary had a little lamb”. My preschoolers really enjoyed looking at Barbara Bakos lovely illustrations while all standing around singing this rhyme and using their instruments.
They loved passing the book around and looking at each little detail of the illustration as they knew the chorus and were so eager to learn the whole rhyme/story in song.
They loved looking at the little lamb and together we decided that we would all like to make our own little lambs. We used a couple art mediums; some cotton wool, paper, googly eyes, tiny sticks, and some crayons. The children each made their own little lamb which we put up all on our wall around where we enjoy singing and reading. We added some lamb costumes to our dress up area that have become a regular favourite.
I think that helping very young children develop a love for literacy and reading is very much about introducing them to pre-literacy based activities they can meaningfully engage with that have captured their interest. It’s important for parents and early years educators allow young children that unhurried time to remain with engaged with a particular story, rhyme, or even couple of pages in a story book that has captured their interest and offer them a variety of ways to engage, explore and extend their interests.