How do children learn from
talk, read and play?
It is important to talk, read and play with children from birth. After all, 90 percent of the brain is developed by age 5.
A child’s most important teachers come long before they enter the traditional classroom — parents, grandparents, siblings, and caregivers play a vital role by helping children develop skills they’ll need for success in school through everyday interactions. Talking to young children, even before they can talk back, helps build vocabularies. Reading to young children strengthens
the parent-child bond promotes early literacy and introduces concepts like turning pages. Play supports cognitive growth and helps children understand the world around them. Together, talking, reading and playing help children develop healthy brains. This is especially important in the first five years when 90 percent of brain growth occurs.
The History of Talk, Read, Play
The campaign centers around an idea developed by The Children’s Campus of Kansas City (CCKC) — a collaboration of organizations committed to promoting the health and wellbeing of 0 – 5-year-old children and their families. In 2011, Children’s Campus partners — The Family Conservancy, Project Eagle, and Juniper Gardens Children’s Project —
identified a gap in the services they were providing. Programming presented by providers was not being reinforced in the home. The Talk, Read, Play campaign was launched as a way to close that gap, equipping service providers with a simple, science-based, and memorable message to share with parents.