Playing with Literacy

08/16/2022

Literacy is a bridge from misery to hope. It is a tool for daily life in modern society. It is a bulwark against poverty, and a building block of development...
Kofi Annan

"One noted and significant benefit of play is its contribution to children’s acquisition of language. Aspects of play that contribute to language development include the inherent social interaction, the volume of language production, high levels of engagement, and opportunities to practice forming symbolic relationships," writes Rebecca McMahon Giles, PhD, in A Young Writer’s World: Creating Early Childhood Classrooms Where Authors Abound.

Giles shares these three aspects of the relationship between play and literacy:

Play, as a fundamental cognitive activity, is preparation for more complex cognitive activities, such as reading and writing.
Representational abilities acquired when pretending ("this stands for that") transfer to written language.
When children engage in play experiences with print-related materials, their actions include literacy skills.

Giles suggests a number of ways to offer a rich environment and materials for supporting literacy through child-directed, open-ended play across a range of activity areas.

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