Literacy Spot #5: Photo Albums

Does your child have their own photo album?

Immy talking about a photo of her family

Sometimes parents forget that literacy is not just about reading and writing.  Literacy includes all of the ways people create and use language. Learning to competently and confidently command the oral aspects of their language is an essential part of early literacy and activities involving speaking and listening are very important for young children.

Providing your child with their own photo album and photographs encourages them to revisit and remember past events and encourages them to talk about places, people, events, feelings and emotions.

Your child’s photo album does not need to be fancy.  A simple pocket style from a discount store and photos of themselves and their family and friends which are just as effective when printed at home.  For babies and very young toddlers, why not try a simple flip book of all the people who are important to them.

What is Childhood 101′s Literacy Spot? It is a weekly reminder of the importace 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.

18 Comments

  1. Annie has a little silver photo album she has carried with her since starting 3 year old Kinder. Her kinder teacher who followed the Emilio Rugglia (?sp) suggested it. Mostly now days it just sits in the bottom of her school bag but there are still times when I see her flicking through the pictures.

    We also use a similar flip album to the one pictured in your blog to slip in little notes of positive reinforcement or pictures of Annie doing something that was special. Called the ‘Annie is special book’ and very helpful for our highly anxious, very negative thinking girl who does not remember verbal positive reinforcement very well.

  2. Mr7 had his own photo album from aged two. Thanks for reminding me that Mr4 should have one too!

    1. Now he is four, I am sure that Mr4 will have a great time helping you to choose some special photos for his album.

  3. I bought a gorgeous soft photo book – it is like a soft book for babies with some slip in pockets to add photos. I can’t wait to fill it up and share it with my baby boy who is five weeks old.
    My mum has also made little photo albums for her great grandchildren including a range of family photos – including those loved ones who have passed away so that the next generation will know a little bit about their great grandparents and great great grandparents! The little ones love their photo albums – so much so that one family is on their second album as the first one was loved to death!

    1. Your Mum’s albums sounds like precious gems, Jodie, how wonderful for the children in your family.

  4. Photo albums are a great idea. I also made a ‘My Family’ cork board with pictures of J’s (22months) family. I rotate these every time we get a new picture and also try to include pictures of J doing things with each person. The cork board is in his room on the wall at his eye level.

    But the thing that J really loves is the ‘My Family’ cards. They are just a whole bunch of little photos which I printed out and laminated. I put them in a little basket and put them on his shelf. I often hear him going through the photos saying, ‘nanny’ ‘mummy’ ‘daddy’. He carries them around the house. I think he likes to be able to hold and play with them. I’ve just started a little sorting activity with him. He sorts each of the photos into photos of mummy, daddy, granddad etc. It’s really cute.

  5. Thanks for the reminder! My MIL actually gave my little boy photo albums filled with family photos, but I think one with the names written might be good too… 🙂 Right now the boy takes down the album once in a while and flips through them, talking to himself and identifying each person. 🙂

  6. Rashimemetales says:

    That’s really a great idea to encourage kids to speak and share their feelings by showing photo album.

  7. Yes we’ve had a photo album since Charlotte was about 6 months. Seeing as we live away from our family, I’ve found it a great way to reinforce all the important people in her life. She was able to point everyone out from around 18 months and now looks at it most days.
    I love Kate’s idea of laminating photos – I might steal that! Miss C loves role play and I think that would be a hit.

    1. We too lived away from family when Immy was small, which is why we started out with photos of her immediate family members in the first instance.

  8. Fantastic!!!!
    My Mitchy has had a little photos album in his play space since he was 6 months as i found that it was a great opportunity for any visiting friends or grandparents to share and talk with him about the photos in it. Now 11 months he also explores the photos himself…a great opportunity for him to identify with familiar people in his life or objects he is interested in…such as balls (of late);)
    As an EC teacher myself i found that little albums of family photos too are a positive prop for children who are entering care for the first time, as they provide comfort and connect new carers with children and their families via conversation as children communicate about their world…their family!

    1. I agree about young children taking family photos to care, Brooke, it is also something I have suggested many times to parents starting out on the child care journey.

  9. Master 3 has had a photo album since his first birthday with a selection of family and friends in it. Also family members past who we want him to know about (my father) now at 3 we mention grandad and he knows exactly who we’re talking about.
    I also have a digital frame I update monthly with the shots from that month. I often find him standing watching the slide show, it’s great to remind him of things we’ve done and he tells me over again what he enjoyed. “oh mummy that was fun can we do that craft again”….”that was at the zoo with Luca. Csn we go again? I like the kangaroos”
    While re-orgainising we’ve also enjoyed looking at my old albums together, lots of talking and questions.

    1. Immy would love a digital frame, she is always badgering me to look at photos on my computer!

  10. Susan@improvamama says:

    We made special photo albums for preschool last year and this year with photos of special people, animals and places. I love having the one from last year to look at together! I’ve been slow to follow through on making our family photo albums (thousands of pictures on my computer tho) but we have made some special occasion books (some in photo flip books and some on old board books). I made her a photo flag banner for her room. It holds 5 photos and we rotate photos of recent events/visits.

    1. The photo banner sounds like a great idea, Susan. I wonder if I could make one for our playroom?

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