Encouraging children to read and improve their literacy skills is a priority for the Welsh Government and on World Book Day - the Minister for Education and Welsh Language celebrated a new Welsh language digital reading platform.

By using Darllen Co, children can read Welsh books and listen to them at the same time.

A new website is also being developed, which will allow readers to click on specific words for definitions and pronunciation.

This will allow teachers and parents who are nor confident Welsh speakers to read Welsh with children, where it was not possible for them to do so with traditional books.

Darllen Co was rolled out to primary school children, teachers and parents through the Welsh Language Technology Hacathon, funded by the Welsh Government through M-Sparc.

More than 40,000 people and 70% of schools in Wales now use the resource.

The Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles, said: “I’m delighted to support this resource, which helps teachers and parents read Welsh with children.

“The Welsh language belongs to us all, and this resource gives more people access to contemporary Welsh language books and is a fun way of introducing Welsh literature to children.

“Enjoying books from a young age is vital to embedding habits and literacy skills that will enable children to succeed throughout their lives.”

One school that benefits from using the resource is Ysgol Penalltau in Hengoed, Caerphilly.

Gwen Malson, Literacy Lead at the school said: “Darllen Co is a contemporary and comprehensive resource that fills the void of good reading skills provision in Welsh medium schools.

“The resource gives pupils the opportunity to develop and reinforce a range of skills by reading modern and inclusive books on a user-friendly platform.”

Darllen Co was founded by former primary teacher Alex Knott, who said: “Thanks to the funding from the Welsh Government, we were able to bring our idea to life.

“The response and feedback from schools have been fantastic and it's great to see so many children and teachers getting daily use of the website.

“We are really looking forward to launching our new platform in September which will include many more innovative features and more support for parents at home, whether they speak Welsh or not.”

To learn more about Darllen Co, go to darllenco.wales