V is for Vacation!
Print Awareness on the Road
August/September 2009
Print Awareness is one of the Six Early Literacy Skills that help children become successful readers. Family trips offer a wealth of opportunities to work with your little ones to recognize print both in books and in the world around them. Helping them recognize the environmental print they see (such as stop signs on the road or packaging in the grocery store) reinforces the idea that print is all around! Read on for some fun ways to incorporate Print Awareness into your next vacation.
Preparing for the trip – Find books you can read together about the place you are going or the things you will be doing. Good examples include The Train of States by Peter Sis or Go Go America by Dan Yaccarino. Look through the books and find the state you will be visiting. Read together about the state capitol or the state flower. Point out the name of the state on maps and signs as you travel. Other fun books: Discovering Nature's Alphabet by Krystina Castella, Look Once, Look Twice by Janet Marshall and S is for S’mores: A Camping Alphabet by Helen Foster James.
Car trip games – If you’re car tripping through an area that has lots of signage, play an alphabet game! Take turns going through the alphabet and finding signs that begin with each letter of the alphabet—watch out for ‘x’, it’s a tough one! Another variation if you are traveling through areas with no signs is to identify things that begin with each letter – your child's own name is a freebie!
Visiting the museum – If you will be visiting any museums on your trip, read the signs at each exhibit together. Have your child point out letters in the sign. For example, you’re looking at a Grizzly bear together—what letter does Grizzly begin with? Point to the letter ‘z.’
National park fun – National parks offer excellent opportunities for environmental print awareness. As you are entering the park, there is always a sign telling you where you are (and giving you a great photo op as well!) One great example is taking a visit to Yellowstone National Park—point out the sign, take a picture of your child with the sign. Is it yellow? Find things together on your trip that are yellow like Yellowstone.
When you return from your trip, have your child draw pictures of what they saw and tell you a story about each one while you write what they say. Connect their pictures with your words and create a memory book with all of their adventures that you can read together again and again. Don’t forget to visit your local library and let your child share their book and their fun trip with their librarian.
Learn more about Print Awareness and the other Six Early Literacy Skills at your local library, as well as on Denver Public Library’s Babble, Scribble, Read web site.
By Kristen Monroe, Senior Librarian, Athmar Park Branch, The Denver Public Library
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