Are You Interested in Raising a Reader?

Every caregiver dreams of raising a confident reader. But when it comes to getting your preschooler on the path to reading, it can feel like a mystery. How do you turn their curiosity into a love for letters, sounds, and eventually, books?

In this post, I’ll share five simple, practical ways to nurture your child’s reading skills from an early age. These strategies are perfect for children aged 0-5 and focus on developing phonological awareness, letter recognition, and the joy of reading.

Early Reading Development Includes:

Understanding the stages of early reading development can help you guide your child effectively. Young children typically progress through several stages on their way to becoming readers:

  • Listening to Talking: The foundation of language.
  • Learning Letters: Recognizing and naming letters.
  • Rhyming: Developing phonological awareness.
  • Understanding Books: Knowing how books work and how to engage with them.
  • Reading: The ultimate goal, where all these skills come together.

I remember watching a video in graduate school of a professor’s young daughter “reading” in her crib. I assumed she was naturally gifted, but as I later discovered, every child has the potential to develop a love for books. Fast forward 15 years, I now have my own children, and I’ve seen firsthand how all of these ideas can ignite a passion for reading.

Parent and child reading a picture book together, fostering early literacy skills and a love for reading.

5 Simple Tips for Building Foundational Reading Skills & Raising a Reader in Preschool

1. Talk, Sing, and Play with Language

Your child learns about language from listening to you speak. Every conversation helps build their vocabulary, understanding of words, and awareness of sounds—key components of phonological awareness.

Goal: Surround your child with rich language experiences.

Ideas:

  • Make Up Stories Together: Encourage your child’s imagination by creating stories where they are the main character. This helps them understand narrative structure and relate language to their own experiences.
  • Use Audio Books: Perfect for quiet time or long car rides, audio books expose your child to new vocabulary and help them hear fluent reading.
  • Create Your Own Book: Take a story you’ve made up or an event you shared together and put it on paper. Illustrate it together or add real photographs. Nothing fancy needed. I like 4×6 cards and these photo albums.

Caregiver Tip: While talking is important, so is rest. Quiet Time (no electronics) allows children to process what they’re learning and gives their brains a break.

2. Phonological Awareness: Play with Rhymes and Sounds

Phonological awareness—the ability to hear and manipulate the sounds in words—is crucial for reading success. Rhyming activities make this fun and engaging for preschoolers.

Goal: Develop your child’s ability to recognize and play with sounds.

Ideas:

  • Fill in Rhymes: Use familiar rhymes like “Humpty Dumpty sat on a ___” and let your child fill in the blanks.
  • Read Poetry Together: Introduce classic nursery rhymes or simple poems to build familiarity with rhythmic language.
  • Sing and Chant with Names: Create fun chants that rhyme or focus on specific sounds.

3. Be a Book Buddy

Reading to your child is an essential part of supporting their reading development. Books build vocabulary, comprehension skills, and spark the imagination.

Goal: Read to your child every day for at least 20 minutes.

Ideas:

  • Model Reading: Let your child see you reading. Whether it’s a book, magazine, or newspaper, show them that reading is a valued activity.
  • Teach How Books Work: Sit side-by-side with your child and point out how to hold a book, turn pages, and follow text from left to right, top to bottom.
  • Visit the Library: Make library visits a regular part of your routine, and let your child choose books that interest them.
  • Buy Books: Studies show that children become better readers when there are books in their home. Find affordable books at thrift stores, consignment sales, and used bookstores.

Preschool child playing with magnetic letters to learn the alphabet and letter recognition.

4. Explore the Alphabet with Hands-On Activities

Helping your child understand how letters and sounds form words is a key step in early literacy.

Goal: Build letter recognition and phonological awareness.

Ideas:

  • Feel the Letters: Use magnetic letters*, puzzle pieces, or playdoh to help your child physically interact with letters.
  • Focus on the Child’s Name: Start with the most meaningful word to your child—their name. Create name art or sing songs like B-I-N-G-O to reinforce letter recognition.
  • Alphabet Fun: Engage in playful alphabet activities, like drawing letters in sand or singing alphabet songs. This magnetic set from Letter Factory is great.
  • I always love to recommend Letter Factory, I know you can get a Letter Factory DVD, but I think it’s on Youtube too.
  • *The magnetic letters listed above are all lowercase letters.

5. Incorporate Reading into Daily Life

Reading opportunities are everywhere! Help your child recognize that words and letters are all around them—from cereal boxes to street signs.

Goal: Encourage your child to notice and read words in their environment.

Ideas:

  • Create a Reading Zone at Home: Label household items with their names and have your child read them using a special pointer or toy.
  • Grocery Store Reading: Turn grocery shopping into a reading adventure by pointing out words on packaging and signs.
  • Read the STOP signs, the toy ads, the cereal boxes, the stores, the food… you get the idea.  Don’t stop reading! Learn how to create your own grocery store book.
  • Make a Family Name Book: This is great in the classroom or at home.  See our Family Name book here!
  • Make an “I Can Read” Poster: Celebrate your child’s growing reading skills by creating a poster with all the words they can read. You’ll definitely want to check out our Environmental Print post.

Young child pointing at words on a cereal box, demonstrating how to incorporate reading into daily life with environmental print.

What’s Next?

Would you like to learn more about the next steps in learning how to read? Click here. Learn how to get your child ready to read with beginning letters and sounds, click here.

Raising a reader starts with making language and reading a natural, enjoyable part of your child’s everyday life. With these tips, you’ll be well on your way to nurturing a lifelong love of reading in your preschooler.

 

Additional Ideas from Little Reading Room:

Other Recommended Reading Resources:

Kristen is an Elementary Reading Specialist, certified Kindergarten – 12th grade. Please use it as you see fit to help you teach your child to read.

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