The Power of Play: Play-Based Books to Advance Early Literacy
Play is more than fun—it’s foundational to how children learn. June 11 is International Day of Play, a global event to raise awareness about the importance of play in a child’s development and well-being. To celebrate this year’s theme, “Choose Play – Everyday”, we’ve provided fun activities and books from BookSmart to incorporate play into daily family reading.
Children learn to explore, create, and connect with the world around them through play. As 64% of the world’s children face the global learning crisis, we need urgent solutions that are developmentally appropriate, engaging, and accessible for all children to fall in love with reading and learning at key developmental stages. Play-based learning is an effective solution that can spark curiosity, strengthen social-emotional skills, and critically accelerate early literacy development. According to research, play can be one of the most powerful tools for building literacy skills and developing good reading habits.
At Worldreader, we believe that combining reading with play through mobile technology like the free BookSmart app can help families create joyful daily reading routines that nurture their child’s learning journey. We’ve gathered our best tips and play-based stories below to help parents transform reading from a task into a daily adventure.
Playful Reading Tips: Turn Story Time into an Adventure
Make reading a playful experience with these activities:
- Reenact stories: Act out scenes from the book by having children become their favorite characters—this strengthens comprehension of and connection to the story
- Use props and puppets: Bring stories to life with puppets, toys, or household items that represent the characters
- Go on book-inspired scavenger hunts: Hide objects from the story around your home or yard, and have children look for them while reading
- Play word games: Make vocabulary fun with games like word bingo, rhyming challenges, or silly sentence creation
- Make art: Draw or craft scenes or characters from the book
- Use movement: Hop, stomp, or dance to actions in the story—perfect for kinesthetic learners
- Create reading nooks: Transform a corner of your home with pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals so reading becomes an adventure
- Make it interactive and social: Ask open-ended questions and encourage children to finish sentences to engage them in the story; read with friends or family, and then discuss favorite parts, characters, or make predictions.
Along with play, daily reading is also a crucial part of a child’s development and well-being. Check out our blog on creating your family’s reading routine to incorporate these activities!
Books That Bring Reading and Play Together
We’ve created a list of playful books from BookSmart that celebrate different ways to play, helping your child develop a lifelong love of reading. From hopscotch to friendship benches, these stories encourage movement, creativity, and fun.
Dive into these books, and remember: Every day is a chance to play, learn, and grow together!
*If a book link doesn’t work, simply open BookSmart on your device and search for the title.
I Like to Play (Exploring With Books)
Published by Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
Ages 0-5
Discover different ways to play inside and outside.
► Read about ways to play here
Playing at the Park (Exploring your Community)
Published by Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy
Ages 6-8
Learn more about things to do at a park.
► Read about playing at the park here
The Friendship Bench by Wendy Meddour
Published by Oxford University Press
Ages 0-5, 6-8
Tilly is worried about going to her new school, which she knows will be full of strangers. Following her teacher’s advice, she decides to try The Friendship Bench . . . but someone else is already on it!
► Read about playing with new friends here
Let’s Play: Feelings Aren’t Forever by Weslie Lechner
Published by Worldreader Originals
Ages 0-5, 6-8
Mina and Tommy start with a blank page, but with a bit of imagination, their world fills up with fun and surprises! As the story grows, so do their feelings—whether they’re mad, scared, or embarrassed, they learn that feelings aren’t forever. Get ready to play along as they create adventures and discover how to handle all kinds of emotions!
► Learn about emotions through play here
Hop, Hop, Hopscotch! by Marianne Mitchell
Published by Highlights
Ages 0-5, 6-8
Marco, Anna, and her dog, Rico, play hopscotch.
► Hop into this book here
Kids on Bikes by Magritte Brink and Hilary Atkinson
Published by Kidza Books
Ages 0-5
Sam and Princess are having fun on their bicycles with all their neighbourhood friends.
► Ride along here
A Day in the Park by Athalia Ndobe, Nyiko Ndobe, and Maaike Bakker
Published by Collaborate Community Projects (NPC)
Ages 0-5
A day at the park can be fun! What do you do at the park with your family? Wordless books encourage a children’s ability to build their own stories. It helps their imaginations and vocabularies grow. It’s also a lot of fun!
► Play at the park here
Playtime by David Waweru
Published by Booktalk Africa Limited
Ages 6-8
Meet the hippo family. They enjoy play time together.
► Read about the hippo family here
I Want to Be a… (Move and Play) Series by Oxford Children’s Books
Published by Oxford University Press
Ages 0-5
A series designed to get little ones moving and playing!
► Hop, nibble, leap like Bunny
► Roar, stomp, and run like Dinosaur
► Gallop, whinny, and trot like Pony
► Run, roar, and pounce like Lion
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