What is Chat, Play, Read?

Chat, Play, Read is a campaign launched by the Department for Education to encourage learning at home in the early years of a child's development. The campaign states that it is never too early to help develop children’s communication, language and literacy skills. The campaign also provides practical advice on how to fit quality interactions into daily routines.

“Every seemingly small interaction between a parent and a child is a great opportunity to fill that child’s world with words: bath time can be a great time to sing a song together, bus journeys can provide opportunities to talk about what you see around you, and a trip to the library will enable you to choose a book to take home and share together. To make these small changes part of normal life, we must support the people, places and services that regularly come into contact with parents and children to promote positive messages around the three areas we know support a quality home learning environment: Chat, Play and Read.”

Jonathan Douglas, Director of the National Literacy Trust

Here are some resources to support you and your family in implementing this strategy at home.