Age guide: 3 to 8 years. Pick one that fits the day.
Children are surrounded by writing: shop signs, bus numbers, cereal boxes. They often recognise a favourite logo long before they read a book. These three ideas make the most of that, and they turn the ordinary into a reason to look closely at words.
1. A print walk
Time: 20 to 30 minutes. You need: a phone or camera and a safe route.
Go for a walk around your street, the market or the park. Ask your child to tell you when they see a sign, a number or a name that interests them, and photograph what they point to. A shop sign, a bus number, a warning on a gate. Aim for signs and not people. Back home, look at the photos together and ask: what do you think it says? What is it for? Print a few and make them into a little book with captions, or stick them on a wall. Invite your child to make their own signs for a door or toy shelf.
2. A word treasure hunt
Time: 20 minutes. You need: old flyers, magazines or newspapers, scissors, glue and a big sheet of paper.
Tell your child they are word collectors. They look for words they haven’t seen before, cut them out and glue them to a poster. Add clues: “Find a word that starts with L.” “Find a word with six letters.” “Find a word you have seen before.” Look at the poster every day and use a new word or two in conversation: “That was a brilliant idea.” Hearing and seeing a word more than once helps it stick. Supervise scissors.
3. A book of food labels
Time: a few days. You need: food packaging, scissors, glue and paper.
Show a familiar box, like a favourite cereal, and point to the name. Ask whether your child can read it. Over a few days, collect more labels from packets and menus. Together, make a book where each page says “We can read the word…” and has one label glued below. Read it aloud and let them join in.
You can aim for one label for each letter of the alphabet, or focus on foods your child loves.
What to notice
Your child is learning that print carries meaning, before they can read every word. Respond with interest, not tests: “Oh, that says stop. Good spotting.” For ideas about reading together, see questions to pause on while you read.
