Tracy Sullivan, principal and creative director of Design School Kids, founded her company in the hopes of using letter writing as both an art and skill to recapture for children in the modern age. Children can use the company’s Printing Note Cards to help young children learn printing and etiquette through the joy of old fashioned letter writing.

It’s Family Literacy Day on January 27, and this year’s theme is “Sing for Literacy.” That’s right: raising a good reader has more to it than reading books to your child. There are many different activities that help literacy: word games, writing, and singing. Singing helps your child practice literacy skills because it encourages vocabulary and helps kids with sounding out aloud when they start reading.

While hearing your child read words from pages of their favourite books often doesn’t come until they’ve started school, the journey to becoming a lifelong reader actually begins at birth. “Studies indicate that reading to your child while still in the womb has a significant impact,” says Ashley Tilley, Communications Coordinator at ABC Canada Literacy Foundation.

Helping your child develop literacy skills is not just about sitting down with a good book each evening before bed. Anyone who has a young child knows that getting your child to read is not always easy. However, there are a number of ways that you can encourage young readers with fun activities that will keep them interested and entertained.