Early Literacy Resources for Parents and Educators
Canadian Pediatric Society: Early Literacy Information and Resources
Children’s early experiences with books and reading help prepare them for school and set them up for success later in life. Exposing babies to books and reading increases vocabulary and makes it easier for them to learn to read later on. Just as important, sharing books provides babies and children with warm and nurturing interactions with the adults they care about. Early exposure to language—whether through books, words, or songs—can help prevent problems and promote health.
Decoda: LEAP BC™
A set of resources that promotes healthy child development and integrates Literacy, Education, Activity and Play, and is designed for families, caregivers and early learning practitioners who engage with young children.
Early literacy activity cards (activities for children ages 1-5)
Reading Success at Home [pdf]
KidCareCanada: ABC's for New Parents
This book presents the science of social and emotional development along with practical tips. It is ideal for expecting and new parents, parents of toddlers, caregivers and health professionals and educators who work with families. It was written in collaboration with the Health Authority and many early childhood experts, including four Indigenous early childhood specialists. The format is appealing, it looks like a children’s story book! Babies like looking at the images of real parents and babies, and the hard copy of this ABCs can also be used to support early literacy.
ABC's for New Parents (available as e-book and hard copy)
Meta-analysis on Psychosocial Effects of Parent-Child Reading
A recent publication by the American Academy of Pediatrics on the benefits of reading with children on language, literacy, brain, and cognitive development.
Montreal Children's Hospital: Early Literacy Resources
A collection of literacy resources for parents with children of all ages. Some of these have been translated to languages including Tamil, Urdu, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian, Haitian Creole, and Russian.
Screen-based media use in children
A recent publication from Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) on screen-based media use in children.
Storypark: E-books
A clip featuring Susan Rvachew of McGill University on introducing e-books to preschoolers.
Talking is Teaching
Parents can help children building early literacy skills right from the start!
New resources for fun tips and ideas to make everyday moments opportunities to nurture growing readers and writers.
Vancouver Public Library
General Early Childhood Development
Anxiety in Children
Anxiety Canada™ provides practical tools and strategies to help manage anxiety your child may have.
B.C. Aboriginal Childcare Society (BCACCS)
Committed to ensuring every Aboriginal child in B.C. has access to spiritually enriching, culturally relevant, high quality early childhood development services.
Communication Milestones in the Early Years
A collection of handouts detailing expected communication milestones and read aloud tips developed through a collaboration between the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) and Read Aloud.
Communication Milestones (birth to age 5)
Encyclopedia on Early Childhood Development
Succinct summaries of the current science on different aspects of early childhood development up to age 5.
First Nations Health Authority
The FNHA is a health and wellness partner to over 200 diverse First Nations communities and citizens across BC. They have a vast collection of resources available for parents.
HELP Online Library
HELP has an extensive library collection of items related to child development and health. View peer reviewed journal articles, HELP-specific research briefs and
fact sheets, and a wide variety of reports that represent HELP’s cell to society approach to early child development research.
Children's Healthcare Canada SPARK
The Children’s Healthcare Canada SPARK knowledge mobilization platforms are focused on curating and showcasing knowledge and expertise, in an effort to spark conversations, ideas and action.
SPARK: Live webinars
Monthly SPARK: Conversations podcast series
The Psychology Foundation of Canada
Simple tools and strategies parents can use to help children handle stress effectively