Paint the Town REaD is an early literacy community scheme that encourages the whole community to read, talk, sing and rhyme with children from birth, so that they will be ready for reading and writing at school.
Research shows that the early literacy skills developed before starting school are the foundation and therefore vital for attaining competency in reading and writing at school – and future success and happiness in life.
These early literacy skills include: attention, listening, language, awareness of sounds, symbols and alphabet, book-handling skills, drawing and shape copying.
First developed in the New South Wales town of Parkes in the 1990s, Paint the Town Read now takes its message, ‘Read, talk, sing and rhyme with your child from birth’ across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and beyond.
There are two key features of Paint the Town REaD:
1) an annual Community Reading Day engaging the whole community where young children are read to in their local shops by shop staff, celebrities, High School students and volunteers, and
2) year-round activities encouraging everyone to think smarter about how to include early literacy in all aspects of their life and work — from having a reading tent at the local markets to ‘Have you read with your child today?’ coasters in a local pub.