Literacy Activities for Kids

32 literacy activities for toddlers and preschoolers.

• Alphabet Remix

  Your child sings the alphabet song in funny voices — whisper, robot, opera, animal sounds.

  ~5 min

• Clap It Out

  Your child claps once for each syllable in a word — wa-ter-mel-on gets four big claps.

  ~5 min

• Emoji Feelings

  Look at emoji faces together and name what feeling each one shows.

  ~5 min

• First, Then, Last

  Your child puts three pictures or steps in order — what happened first, then, and last.

  ~7 min

• Funny Phrases

  Learn a silly saying like 'it's raining cats and dogs' and talk about what it really means.

  ~5 min

• Goodbye & Hello

  Practice different ways to say hello and goodbye — waving, handshakes, fist bumps.

  ~5 min

• Hello World

  Learn to say 'hello' in three different languages and practice with high fives

  ~5 min

• Homework Helper

  Practice sitting at a table and doing a simple worksheet or coloring page together.

  ~10 min

• Magical Creatures

  Talk about dragons, unicorns, and other creatures from stories and draw your favorite.

  ~10 min

• Name It, Write It

  Your child practices writing their own name, one letter at a time, in big bold strokes.

  ~8 min

• One and Many

  Practice turning words from one thing into many things — cat becomes cats!

  ~5 min

• Opposite Flip

  Your child acts out a word, then flips to its opposite — big to small, fast to slow, happy to sad.

  ~6 min

• Opposites Game

  Say a word and let your little one say the opposite — hot/cold, big/small, up/down.

  ~5 min

• Opposites Walk

  Go for a walk and spot opposites everywhere — tall trees and short flowers, big trucks and small cars.

  ~8 min

• Pencil Skills

  Practice sharpening a pencil and writing your name in big letters.

  ~10 min

• Question Words

  Learn four question words — where, what, why, how — and practice using each one.

  ~10 min

• Read and Wonder

  Your child picks any book, and you stop on each page to ask 'what do you think happens next?'

  ~10 min

• Recess & Play

  Talk about what recess is and practice playing some classic recess games.

  ~10 min

• Rhyme Time Walk

  Your child spots things on a walk or around the house and finds words that rhyme with them.

  ~8 min

• School Days

  Talk about what happens on the first day of school and the last day of school.

  ~5 min

• School People

  Learn who works at a school — teacher, principal, nurse, janitor — and what they do.

  ~5 min

• Smash Words

  Your child smashes two small words together to make one big word — sun plus flower equals sunflower!

  ~7 min

• Sound Safari

  Your child hunts around the house saying the sound each letter makes, not its name.

  ~8 min

• Sound Spy

  Your child listens to a sound you make — /b/ — and races to find something nearby that starts with it.

  ~7 min

• Stop and Go

  Play a stop-and-go game — move when you hear GO and freeze when you hear STOP.

  ~7 min

• Story Builders

  Your child picks three random objects, and together you make up a wild story about them.

  ~10 min

• Summer Fun

  Talk about what happens in summer — long days, no school, playing outside.

  ~5 min

• Trace and Race

  Your child traces big letters with their finger, then with a crayon, racing to finish before a silly countdown.

  ~8 min

• Wizard School

  Pretend to be wizards — make a wand, cast silly spells, and mix a potion.

  ~10 min

• Word Collector

  Your child picks a topic they love — trucks, animals, food — and learns three brand new words about it.

  ~8 min

• Word Family House

  Your child swaps the first letter of a word to build a whole 'family' — cat, bat, hat, mat, sat.

  ~7 min

• Word Spotters

  Your child learns to recognize small common words — the, is, a, my — in books and signs.

  ~7 min