Young children's literacy‐related play

Abstract

Studies indicate that young children’s literacy learning can be promoted in a play setting. Literacy interactions, strategies, and activities in the children’s play environment can facilitate their acquisition of literacy. In literacy‐related play experiences, children select and utilize their abilities that are essential for literacy learning in a social context. Social contexts become pressing venues for introducing children to literacy knowledge and practices, where children develop their language and literacy through their everyday social activities. Children use play as an important resource to explore their developing conceptions of the purposes and characteristics of print in the preschool years. During play young children use language in literate ways, while they use literacy as they see it practiced. A play and literacy relationship emerges when play assists young children to explore and comprehend the interactions between these two realms. The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze current studies that examine the interaction between play and literacy.