December 8, 2013 | Read Time: 1 minute
By the age of 4, children from high-income families have been exposed to 35 million more words than kids from low-income families. Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit behind the popular children’s television show “Sesame Street,” wants to help bridge the gap.
The charity has created a new bilingual website that provides tips, games, and other activities parents and caregivers can use to help young children get ready to read and write.
Short, engaging videos encourage parents to do things like read signs when they’re walking or driving with their children, write grocery lists together, and make labels for items around the house, such as windows and tables. A guide on the site offers examples of how to start rich conversations by asking questions during everyday activities. For example, when putting mail in a postbox, a parent could ask, “How do you think this letter will travel to Grandma?”
To get there: Go to sesamestreet.org/literacy.
