• Grow a Reader
• Babies
• Toddlers
• Preschoolers
• Beginning Readers
• Fluent Readers
• Pre-Reading Skills
• Sharing Books
• Booklists
• Fingerplays
• Bibliography

Preschoolers love to pretend, building complex worlds in their imaginations. Pretending is as beneficial as it is fun—pretending to read is a critical step in the process of learning to read. It is also a step in the right direction for your child to recite a story from memory or make one up while looking at pictures. Very soon, the connection between what your preschooler is reciting and those funny symbols on the page will take hold, and "true" reading will begin. 

Children will often scribble and "write" letters before they can read. Many will "write" on their own and tell stories from these "writings." As you are developing your child's literacy by reading aloud, it is important to encourage writing as well. After all, literacy includes the ability to write just as much as the ability to read.

Put away the markers and crayons for a bit, and let your preschooler have a pencil. While markers and crayons encourage drawing, a pencil will convey the idea of writing.

Write a grocery list or phone message together.

Help your child make familiar words with magnetic letters. These work great with cookie sheets!

Have your child help with writing birthday and holiday cards, or write a letter to a relative or neighbor.

Write your child's stories in a "book," have your child illustrate it, then read it together.

Let your child cover the sidewalk or driveway with "child-size" words and pictures that will disappear with the rain.

For more ideas visit our early literacy activity page.

Studies show becoming a better reader helps a child do better in all subjects.

Picture Books for Preschoolers

Rhyming Books

Suggested Books for Parents