
Listen & Talk Together
Incorporate simple songs into your everyday activities to help your child learn language.
- Watch the video. Later, at bedtime, cuddle up and say, “Now let’s tell a story about your day.”
- Talk about each thing that happened during the day in order, starting with waking up (for instance, “Leo was really tired in the morning, but he stretched and put on his red pants. Then he ate a waffle. Then…”). As you tell the story, you might ask, “What was the most fun thing you did on your play date?” or, “What did you wear today?” (Younger kids may not be able to answer, so give them choices: “Which did you like more, playing with clay or eating pizza?”)
- At the end of the story, ask kids what their favorite part of the day was, and end with that (for instance, “Leo had a long busy day, and his very favorite part was sliding down the slide with his friend Milo.”).

Terry Crews Is an Artist
Terry Crews, Count, and Abby talk about the word “artist.”

Alphabet Art
Alphabet art is a fun, hands-on way to help kids recognize the shapes of letters. It can also provide an opportunity to layer in learning across subjects. Watch this video and think of ways you might incorporate letter crafts into your work with kids and families.

Abby’s Letter Garden
Prepare children for school success by exposing them to uppercase letters, helping them recognize them, and write them themselves.

Building and Rebuilding Language Skills—and Community!
An article about building children’s language skills by enriching your interactions.

I Know My Letters
A printable alphabet coloring page.

Creating Alphabet-Rich Environments
Alphabet recognition involves learning the names, shapes, and sounds of the letters in the alphabet, and it helps get kids ready for phonics learning. There are so many ways to introduce the alphabet to young children. Adding a little alphabet magic to your environment can be a great place to start.

Building a Reader
An interactive course that explores key literacy goals, strategies, and activities to support learning around language and literacy in children ages 2-5.