Clap and count, chop it up: how to boost your child's literacy in playful ways

The Guardian

20-03-2025

Every few weeks, when she really doesn't want to go to daycare, my four-year-old daughter asks me when she'll join her older siblings at 'big school'. Every few weeks I say soon, even though I'm yet to enrol her.
While I know there is plenty of time for her to learn her alphabet, there's a part of me that's worried because, unlike her siblings at her age, she's just not interested in any method I've used to teach it to her. No alphabet books, no flashcards, no ABC-puzzles.
I have to get creative about it – and in the world of literacy education, that's actually a good thing.
Dr Jen Scott Curwood, associate Prof of English education and media studies at the University of Sydney, says children have a deep curiosity about the world around them, and developing their print-based literacy means cultivating 'their playful engagement with language and with the world around them'.
'Most [children] will disengage or outright resist activities that are tedious or exhausting, so it's important for parents to keep language and literacy as playful and immersive as possible,' she says. 'As a literacy researcher and a mum of a three-year-old, I see how he uses language to ask questions, make connections, and develop a growing sense of independence.'
Curwood says the learning she does with her son is 'impromptu and fun', with any time they spend together an opportunity for out-of-the-box learning.
'I try to build literacy into our routines, including through weekly library visits and daily bedtime reading time, but also through songs, games, and imaginative play,' she says. 'If we're grocery shopping, I might draw attention to the initial sound of the word (like 'p' for papayas) and ask him to see if he can find more food that starts with the same sound. He's a very inquisitive child but I make sure to ask him questions too, which prompts him to think more creatively and more critically about his world.'
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 44% of Australian adults don't have the functional literacy skills they need to cope with the demands of everyday life and work, while 30% of Australians have literacy skills low enough to make them vulnerable to unemployment and social exclusion. Though these figures around literacy skills are somewhat higher in adulthood (23% of children start school with vulnerabilities in developmental areas of communication), they illustrate the importance of building on your child's literacy skills in a variety of ways, and as early as possible.
Sara Leman, a former teacher who now writes learning materials for Mathseeds and ABC Reading Eggs, says that busy parents can boost their child's literacy with 'self-directed' learning apps to improve their reading ability with consistent use of 15 minutes per day.
But she also encourages busy parents to get creative and employ literacy-building techniques with their children using the most ordinary experiences, like driving around in the family car.
'Every parent has snuck veggies into their kids' favourite meals,' she says. 'Well, the same approach works for education.'
Need a little inspiration? Here are Leman's top games to play with kids.
'Turn the car ride into a letter-hunting adventure,' she says. 'Create a grid on a piece of paper with focus letters in each section. Stick this to the back of the seat in front of your child and give them colourful sticky notes. As you drive, challenge them to spot road signs or objects outside that match the letters on their grid. For example, when they spot an 'S' on a sign, they'll shout out the letter name and sound, then stick a sticky note on that letter in the grid. The goal is to fill up the grid by matching letters to what they see outside.'
Leman says this activity helps build your child's reading skills by helping connect letters to the sounds they make.
'Look for objects or landmarks out the window and say them out loud. Have your child repeat the word and clap the syllables. For example, if you see a 'car', they clap once. If it's a 'bus stop,' they clap twice,' she says.
Leman says that syllable clapping helps kids recognise that words are made up of smaller sounds and supports early reading and spelling.
'Give your child a simple consonant-vowel-consonant word, like 'man' [and] have them break it down by sounding it out and doing a 'karate chop' motion with their hands after each sound,' Leman says. For example, man would be 'm-chop-a-chop-n-chop'. She says the physical chop action makes it easier for kids to focus on individual sounds, improving their ability to segment and blend sounds, which is crucial for reading and spelling.
Sarah Ayoub is a journalist, academic and author of books for young adults and children