Playful Writing in Arabic at Home: Mothers’ and Older Siblings’ Interactions with Preschoolers

Interactions with young children provide an important context for early literacy development. Although many of these interactions occur within the family, little is known about older siblings’ literacy interactions with younger siblings or how they compare with mothers’ interactions with the younger sibling within the same family. Using a game-based literacy activity, this study compared mother–preschooler and older sibling–preschooler interactions in terms of literacy mediation, dyadic quality, and playfulness, and examined associations among these interaction characteristics. Participants were 80 Palestinian preschoolers (ages 5–6), their mothers, and older siblings (ages 7–9). Each dyad played a structured literacy-bowling game involving constructing words using lettered pins. Mothers showed higher levels of literacy mediation (Grapho-Phonemic and spelling mediation). Regarding the dyadic aspects of the interaction, mothers displayed greater positivity, and preschoolers showed higher levels of positive engagement and dyadic reciprocity during interactions with their mothers. During interactions with older siblings, preschoolers displayed higher levels of negativity and negative behavior. Finally, regarding playfulness, siblings showed higher levels of playfulness. Significant cross-dyad associations emerged for several interaction features. Within both interaction types, greater playfulness was associated with higher positivity, positive engagement, and reciprocity, and with lower negativity and child-negative behavior. These findings highlight mothers and older siblings as distinct yet interconnected literacy partners within the family. Together, the findings broaden the study of the home literacy environment beyond parent–child interactions and underscore the importance of considering older siblings as meaningful contributors to young children’s early literacy experiences.