Learning in the Car

In early childhood, every moment counts! Providing opportunities for children to be exposed to oral language, especially in the forms of high quality songs, stories, and fingerplays will help them in their future reading and writing success. Since young children spend so much time in the car, consider investing in CDs that emphasize these language strategies.

-play rhyming, quality children's music (e.g., Raffi) that use rhyme, play on words, and rhythm in songs

-expose children to nursery rhymes by playing them in the car (knowledge of nursery rhymes has been proven to be an indicator of reading success later on in life)

-encourage children to learn the names of letters and their corresponding sounds by playing CDs that emphasize these

-simple recorded stories can be borrowed from the library and played. By not seeing a corresponding picture, children are free to use their imaginations to illustrate the text

-play sound games with children. Stretch out words by emphasizing their individual sounds and encourage children to guess what the word it (e.g., c-a-t is cat)

-play I spy but use sounds (e.g., I spy something that begins with an 'a' sound)

-engage your children in conversation in the car. Encourage them to describe their day by prompting them with higher-level questioning such as who, what, why, where, when, and how questions. Avoid yes/no responses that limit children's explanation