I am a kindergarten teacher. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a teacher and kindergarten is truly my passion! I love how many of my students come to me knowing only an handful of letters and leave at the end of the year as readers! It is truly amazing and so rewarding!!
As a teacher, I know what I need to do to help my own children to be ready for school and life. The biggest and most important thing is to read, read, read!! We have been reading to our daughter every day since shortly after her birth. She has countless books in every room of our house. We have piles everywhere! We started a bedtime routine that included books and have never looked back!

Promoting Early Literacy

We have letter games, letter puzzles, and letter bath toys. That isn’t all we do to promote early literacy though and our daily life isn’t a “lesson.” Of course we read and play games but we also talk to our kids constantly. We play games, do puzzles, watch TV and do arts and crafts. We go on trips and outings. We sing songs and act silly. We really just have lots of fun!
Here’s the thing…I’m lazy. Well not really but I don’t have time to make more things. I already print, cut, and laminate countless activities for school. Remember, I work all day with kindergarteners!  When I find something that I can use to “teach” early literacy in my home, I jump on it. We don’t have time for Pinterest crafts or projects- at least not a ton of time!

Super Easy Early Literacy Idea

I recently (a few months ago) bought a cheap inexpensive place mat for my daughter. It was less than $2 at the time. She loves it! It is a great way to encourage her to look at letters. She started by asking us “what is this? What is this? What is this?” She would point to each letter and we patiently told her what they were over and over. The teacher in me was thrilled! After awhile she was not satisfied with us just telling her the letter. Then she began to ask “What letter? What does it start with?” We used family members for many of the letters. For example, m is for mommy, d is for daddy, S is for Sandy (our dog). It is amazing how quickly she started associating the letter with the name we told her! All from a cheap and easy dinner time activity!
So tell me, what have you done to promote early literacy in your home? Bonus points for inexpensive and easy…