Have a fun time promoting literacy at your child care program or school by having a "Storybook Character Parade". This is a fun opportunity to allow children to come to school in costume, and can be done at any time of the year.

Beforehand, talk to the children about some of their favorite books and characters. Ask them why a certain character is a favorite (what did the character DO in the story, did the character go through a hard time, who were some of the characters friends, etc.). Then, invite the children to come to school dressed up as their favorite storybook character AND have them bring the book to school for show and tell!

Allow each child to tell the class who they are dressed as and to show their book. Allow the child to tell a little bit about the book, like a short "book talk". This activity helps children in recalling stories, and it gives the other children an opportunity to hear about new books that might interest them. Then, it's time for the parade (what child doesn't love a parade, right?). Children can parade into other classrooms or through the hallways.

A variation of this activity is to read a pre-selected storybook in class and have dress-up clothes available for children to dress up as some of the characters in the story. They can have fun re-enacting the story for their teachers and classmates. For added fun, the children can reenact the story for another classroom while a teacher narrates the story.

This type of activity really brings stories to life for young children. Share with us some of your favorite literacy activities!