WiseJourney
SuperHonestlyContact Us
Back to WiseTips
Language Development & Communication
Promoting Emergent Literacy
WiseTip: LD-LIT-M0818-G01A

Identify and talk about familiar pictures or symbols on toys and household objects.

1, 2, 3

  1. New Jersey Birth to Three Early Learning Standards. (2013). New Jersey Council for Young Children.

  2. Bobys, A. R. (2000). What does emerging literacy look like? Young Children, 55(4), 16–20.

  3. Lawhon T. (2000). Creating language and print awareness environments for young children. Contemporary Education.;71(3):5.

8-18 months
Caregiving
WHY IT MATTERS

It is beneficial to have a

print-rich environment

Print-Rich Environment - A print-rich environment with labels, signs, logos, and visual displays helps children construct knowledge about print. When the children understand that print has meaning, they learn about how the meanings of written language, and it will motivate them to read.

from infancy, with ongoing access to books and reading as this helps to develop the child’s language ability.
1
  1. Lawhon T. (2000). Creating language and print awareness environments for young children. Contemporary Education.;71(3):5.

Children’s concrete sources of first print are symbols, object names and words on cereal boxes, clothing labels and toy packages. From this, children learn about symbols, letters and words that they can then transfer to the abstract. Adults teach children important concepts about print, including left to right and top to bottom directionality,

2
  1. Bobys, A. (2000). What does emerging literacy look like? Young Child. 55: 16–22.
that spaces appear between words and that a single letter can be a word.
1
  1. Lawhon T. (2000). Creating language and print awareness environments for young children. Contemporary Education.;71(3):5.

Babies may have a favourite story that they request all the time. Starting at about 12 months old, ask babies simple questions about a book's pictures such as, “Where is the moon?” and watch to see if they point or gesture. Repeating stories helps babies remember the words and build vocabulary.