Birth to 8 Months

• Talk to infants about what is occurring during routines, such as diapering and feeding
• Respond to children’s babbling and cooing
• Take note of how infants respond to your voice, others voices, loud noises, and new sounds
• Take note of how infants indicate or communicate their needs
• Engage infants with books, name the objects in pictures and tell simple stories

• Provide interesting things for infants to look at and watch
• Include multiple times throughout the day for infants to reach and explore a variety of books, toys and materials
• Provide appropriate books designed for young infants, including plastic, board, and cloth ones
• Include a variety of books with bright pictures and simple print
• Provide opportunities for sharing books, pictures and songs
• Provide interesting things for infants to track with their eyes, grasp, and release

8 to 18 Months

• Provide multiple language experiences - read, sing, ask questions, repeat rhymes
• Notice infants’ cues to help them understand how to get their needs met, such as picking up a child when he or she stretches out their arms
• Take note of infants’ interest in language
• Provide commentary of your own actions, as well as those of the infant

• Make language experiences meaningful by including information from home
• Provide interesting objects and materials and plan many opportunities to talk about them
• Provide a variety of materials for scribbling and painting

18 to 24 Months

• Provide opportunities to share books one-on-one, in small groups, and in large groups throughout the day
• Establish eye contact when talking with young children, allowing them to see your face as you are speaking
• Talk with parents and families about early literacy development and encourage reading at home
• Incorporate children’s home language in conversations and activities, as much as possible
• Encourage toddlers to ask questions
• Provide multiple opportunities for pretend play
• Model writing and discuss what you are putting on paper

• Provide opportunities and materials to encourage dramatic play, both indoors and outdoors
• Provide comfortable and sufficient spaces within the environment for children to enjoy books
• Make sure books are within easy reach for toddlers
• Create books from photos of familiar objects and people
• Provide a wide-variety of books throughout the classroom
• Provide materials, space, and time for pretend play
• Provide materials and opportunities for drawing, painting, and scribbling, both inside and outside.

Two-Year-Olds

• Model good grammar, and gently correct grammar errors by simply repeating what children say correctly
• Read books with inflection
• Learn about children’s interests and provide books related to them
• Tell stories and encourage children to do the same
• Ask open-ended questions and provide time to children to respond
• Repeat and extend children’s responses and utterances
• Make reading time special
• Ask children to tell you about their drawings and writing
• Engage in pretend play with children

• Plan and provide comfortable spaces that encourage conversations both indoors and outdoors
• Provide a variety of books, such as storybooks, picture books, books about nature, books about the way things work, etc.
• Label objects in the environment with both pictures and print
• Rotate materials and props to encourage dramatic play throughout the year
• Provide a variety of types of paper and writing tools