National Park College’s (NPC) Child Care Aware of West Central Arkansas (CCAWCA) resource and referral program recently published a book, “Playing with Language.” The book was funded with a $10,000 grant by the Hot Springs Area Community Foundation (HSACF).
“Playing with Language” explores four areas of phonological awareness which is simply playing with the sounds of language supporting early childhood language development. The content encourages interactions between parents and their children in order to develop early childhood literacy from birth to five years. The book is full of fun, quick activities designed for family engagement. These activities help develop the participant’s language learning skills.
CCAWCA Program Coordinator Hope Mason said, “We’re hoping it will be a well-used resource for the parents and our providers to help with their children, to help with their skills going into kindergarten.”
“The book is developed based on the Arkansas Child Development Early Learning Standards (CDELS). The Arkansas CDELS presents the typical progression of development and learning in nine domains from age birth to 5 years. This project focuses on one component of language development. Early language experiences prepare children for future language and literacy learning,” said CCAWCA program director Terri Helms.
The advisory committee for the book included CCAWCA employees Terri Helms, Donny Caudill, Hope Mason, Jackie Riley, Kathryn Linch and Thomas Gage. Donna Smith from Lake Hamilton School District, and Sarah Richardson from the Literacy Council of Garland County also participated in the committee.
