7 Ways to Use Video As A Literacy Tool

ByChristie Burnett

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I have no less than 20 two or three minute videos of Immy on my iPhone from this past week. She is fascinated by the idea of performing for the camera and seeing herself played back on the screen. “Did you take the video?” and “Can I see now?” have become common requests.

Initially she was all about singing and dancing for the camera but then she started talking to the camera –  retelling her favourite stories, including her current movie obsession, Tangled (can I say how much I dislike that the movie starts, “This is the story of how I died!”), explaining ideas and recounting adventures. Video is turning out to be a very useful verbal literacy learning tool.

7 Ideas for using video as a literacy tool with children

1. Ask a series of simple interview questions about an event, excursion, or just their regular everyday to develop their ability to recall past events and to encourage them to talk about people, places, experiences, feelings and emotions.

2. Use questioning (where necessary) to support your child’s retelling of  a favourite story. Simple props like a felt/flannel board and felt board pieces may help to focus their attention.

3. Record a puppet show.

4. Record moments of the everyday, as they play or go about routine tasks. Watching will provide wonderful insight into how even very young children communicate.

5. Children in middle primary school and up can be involved in filming and editing their own videos. Set a project topic such as “our holiday” or “our year as a family” – which is also perfect as a Christmas gift for extended family.

6. Watch previously recorded videos together, your child is sure to be fascinated by, and talk and laugh their way through their own home movies, especially those from when they were much younger.

7. Be patient with toddlers and preschoolers. Initially they might want to see what you have recorded before you have filmed very much but as they get used to the idea, their ‘performances’ will generally increase in length.

Do you use video with your children?

What is Childhood 101′s Literacy Spot? It is a weekly reminder of the importance of young children learning playfully as each week I share one idea for playing around with literacy, taken from my many years working as an early childhood teacher. Visit the previous Literacy Spot posts for more fun ideas for playing with literacy.

Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.

8 Comments

  1. One of my kids’ (aged 2 and 3) favourite things to do at the moment is act out their favourite nursery rhymes. I think they have observed this on Playschool a bit recently.

    Their favourites are Jack and Jill (one is Jack and one Jill), Little Miss Muffet (one acts as the spider – they particularly like screaming at the end of this one) and The Owl and the Pussy cat (they only remember the first verse though).

    I am trying hard to capture this on video, but they don’t perform on command, and of course I never have the video there when they get started! I would love a record of this though. Thanks for your ideas.

    1. That would be such a precious activity to capture. Immy has recently turned a corner where she definitely does want to perform for the camera! Til now she too refused to perform on command.

  2. We use videos with our 2 yr old. He loves watching videos that we’ve captured of him playing. We started recording little clips to take along for our recent cross- country trip. Someone gave us a recommendation to bring along “home videos” to entertain our toddler. I appreciate reading this post about another focus with these videos.

  3. What great ideas! I love the idea of conducting an interview – I bet you’d get some fun answers.

  4. Great ideas. My son is in love with the camera. Every single video we take of his performances ends with the words, “Can I see myself on the camera?”

  5. SquiggleMum says:

    My 5 year old loves recording her own stories on the iphone. She also likes making her own documentaries in the backyard!

  6. Thanks for the linky love 🙂 I think we spent most nights that week watching old videos, they really are so popular in our house 🙂 Just wish the screen didn’t fall of my laptop continually :s

    Miss 4 has become quite the documentary maker since I “gave” her my point-and-shoot camera (yeah, I’m never getting it back!). She goes from room to room talking about what she finds and interviewing the things she finds there. Most of the videos turn out pretty much the same, but making and watching them keeps her entertained for hours 🙂

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