The U.S. Department of Education has reported that children are much more likely to drop out of school in later years if they have not developed some basic reading skills by the time they enter school. That’s why one important focus for WHRO Public Media is early literacy. Our WHRO Education team helps students throughout Eastern Virginia develop reading skills through our Literacy Van program, summer reading camps, and by providing books to students in low-income communities where books are not easily accessible.

But parents and grandparents can also help children develop these skills at home! Monday, March 2 is Read Across America Day (and the birthday of Dr. Seuss). Help your children practice reading and embrace a love of books with these apps, printables, crafts and games. 

Apps

Super Why! ABC Adventures
Five interactive literacy games that help build strategies and skills to master the alphabet

PBS Parents Play and Learn
This app provides more than a dozen games you can play with kids, each themed around a familiar location like the garden or kitchen. The games build on kids’ natural curiosity and are designed to teach math or literacy skills.

Martha Speaks Story Maker
As with the Martha Speaks television show and website, the Martha Speaks Story Maker app is designed to increase oral vocabulary. Children can write and save their own stories and hear Martha read them.

Martha Speaks Word Spinner
Help your child build storytelling and oral vocabulary skills while playing six interactive mini-games with the whole family.

Printables

Princess Presto’s World Find
Help your little superhero find Princess Presto’s five words.

WordGirl’s Word Scramble
Unscramble the letters in this puzzle to reveal some of WordGirl’s favorite words.

Cryptogram Puzzle
Practice critical thinking and literacy skills with this cryptogram puzzle from WordGirl.

Crafts

Bake Gingerbread Letters
Make gingerbread cookies in the shape of the alphabet with this simply delicious activity.

Play a Storytelling Game
Roll homemade dice and use your imagination to tell a unique story.

My Favorite Toys Book 
For this craft, your child will draw pictures of their favorite toys, label them with the names of the toys and write a sentence describing each toy and why he or she likes playing with it. Then you help assemble the pages into a book.

Videos

How to Use the Correct Capitalization | No Nonsense Grammar
Capitalizing is extremely important. Not only is it proper writing, but it also makes writing look polished and finished. Learn what should be capitalized and what shouldn't! Want more grammar fun? Use this printable worksheet to practice what you just learned with example sentences. 

Tips from the Playground: OE 
Reggie explains the different sounds made by the "oe" letter combination and offers a tip to help students distinguish between the two sounds while reading.

Tips from the Playground: Y 
Reggie explains the unique ability of the letter "y" to act as both a consonant and a vowel.

Shock Word Carnival: IE
At the Word Carnival, Shock plays a game similar to whack-a-mole to create correctly-spelled words which use "ie."

Find more fun crafts in our Crafts for Kids videos, and search for fun activities and videos on eMediaVA.org.

More on Early Literacy:

Seven Tips for Early Literacy Learning: From Knowing Your ABCs to Learning to Read

What To Do When Your Child Hates Reading