Preschoolers

Soon the time will come when your little one is off to school and learning to read.

To help make that easier for her, you can reinforce early literacy skills now so that she's ready to read in school. Here are some tips to use with your preschooler at home (watch the matching videos):

Letter Knowledge

• When reading together, ask your child to identify different letters on the page
• Become a letter detective! Encourage your child to find things around you that start with a specific letter
• You can use play-doh (or real dough!) to make shapes and letters

Narrative Skills

• When reading books together, ask questions like "what do you think will happen next?" This will help them imagine how the story will unfold
• Ask your child to talk about their day
• Encourage your child to make their own books. Staple some pages together and have your child illustrate a story! They can dictate the story to you and write the words they know, like the title or their own name.

Phonological Awareness

• Read books with silly words, rhymes, and alliteration
• See how many rhyming words you can think of! 'Cat' and 'stop' are good ones to start with
• Try singing the alphabet with sounds instead of letter names - it's trickier than you might think!

Print Awareness

• Read books in lots of different styles, including wordless books and books with speech bubbles
• Talk together about signs and labels – what they do and why people use them
• Encourage children to write their name on their artwork

Print Motivation

• Let your child see you reading for pleasure
• Encourage your child to help you select books when you're at the library
• Use a recipe to make cookies (or another fun treat) – it will demonstrate how words can be used to make something delicious!

Vocabulary

• Read lots of books together; books often include words that aren't commonly used in everyday conversation
• Ask questions that require more than a 'yes' or 'no' answer – it will mean that your child will use more words in their answer
• Encourage your child to ask about words that they don't know

Encouraging early literacy is easy – just read, talk and play! Read books together. Talk about what is around you. Play games and have fun! For more tips on how to develop early literacy skills at home, as well as recommended books, download a copy of EPL's 100 Books to Share Together.