Sometimes the best thing you can do for your child’s early literacy development is simply to let him play. Turn off the TV and anything else that runs on batteries, then let your child pick up the toys from it, build blocks or pairs, or manipulate puzzles or game pieces. Not only are you giving your child the gift of childhood, something we often don’t do in today’s hectic, achievement-oriented world, but you’re also helping them develop skills that are key to learning to read and write.

Hand-eye coordination is a necessary skill for written language, and the best way to help your child develop this skill is to let him play with toys and activities that involve looking at, using, and discriminating between a variety of items. Puzzles are obviously a great activity for this purpose, as are manipulative toys like blocks, duplos, and magnetix.

My son just spent over an hour tonight playing dominoes with his father. Okay, they weren’t playing so much as creating complex patterns and then knocking them down, but I didn’t tell them that they were participating in a pre-literacy activity. . They were just having fun together.

Studies have shown that spending time on hand-eye coordination activities improves children’s ability to learn to read and lessens the difficulty they face in the process. In fact, engaging in a variety of craft activities that most children love can be very beneficial, so add playdough, stickers, and glue sticks to your list of educational supplies.

Research shows that early practice of hand-eye coordination activities reduces the risk of reading difficulties.

ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE

Puzzles help develop hand-eye coordination because learning to control hands and fingers based on input from sight is a coordination skill that helps children in their first attempts at reading and writing. Determining which piece goes where, working to fit the pieces into place by making adjustments, and watching a sequence unfold in an organized pattern can be a great and very satisfying learning experience for children.

Puzzles, matching games and the like are also important in helping children learn visual discrimination. Visual discrimination is the brain’s ability to quickly differentiate between visually similar letters, such as “p”, “b” and “q”, or between words such as “was” and “saw”. Students with difficulty making these distinctions often have difficulty learning to read, write, and spell. Playing games, participating in activities, or using toys that help children discriminate between similar objects can be fun for the child and help them master an important pre-literacy skill. My son loves helping her dad sort change before rolling it up for deposit in the bank. Sure we could use an electronic filer, but our son loves participating in the activity and it is a valuable learning experience for him.

Visual discrimination can often be learned with your child’s existing toys. Matchbox cars, dolls and action figures offer the opportunity for your child to learn visual discrimination.

Encourage children to work their wrist and finger muscles, as well as work on their coordination and small motor skills to help prepare them for future handwriting practice. Activities to help with these goals include Legos and other construction sets, playdough, puzzles, pegboards, beads, and other tabletop toys. These fun and natural activities help children improve their cognitive and fine motor skills without frustration or boredom.

My son participates in many activities every day that promote hand-eye coordination and visual discrimination. I do not suggest the activities. I put the toys and manipulatives at his disposal and he chooses them on his own. The activities vary, he may spend a whole week building and rebuilding his wooden train set every day and then the following week his magnetix set dominates his playtime. Some days he plays with both of them together and brings out his duplos and wooden blocks for added fun. I don’t care what activity he chooses because I know he is having fun, challenging his imagination and learning.