Getting children to engage with printed material is one more step on their road to becoming a reader, and junk mail can be repurposed for a fun learning experience. Here are a few ideas of how to use junk mail to enhance early literacy skills:

• Give older babies and toddlers an old catalogue to rip, tear, kick and crunch. This provides a wonderful sensory experience and develops their fine and gross motor skills, which are important for learning to write.
• Cut out pictures of grocery items your child chooses from flyers and make a collage. Ask questions about the items they picked. Even young toddlers will enjoy this activity, and older children can be challenged with tasks such as sorting the grocery items into groups.
• Go on a scavenger hunt through the pages to cut out colors and create a rainbow collage.
• Go on a letter hunt. Look for the letters that make up their name or simple words to cut out and paste together.