Why is book making important in preschool?

Devel­op­ing lit­er­a­cy is a com­plex, mul­ti­step process requir­ing time, prac­tice, and resources. You might be won­der­ing, “why is lit­er­a­cy impor­tant in preschool?” 

What is lit­er­a­cy? Lit­er­a­cy is the abil­i­ty to read and write. As defined by the Nation­al Cen­ter for Edu­ca­tion Sta­tis­tics, lit­er­a­cy is the “abil­i­ty to use print­ed and writ­ten infor­ma­tion to func­tion in soci­ety, to achieve one’s goals, and to devel­op one’s knowl­edge and potential.”

Lit­er­a­cy is impor­tant in preschool because the atti­tude toward read­ing and writ­ing that chil­dren devel­op dur­ing their ear­ly years as they inter­act with lan­guage and books is a crit­i­cal aspect of emerg­ing lit­er­a­cy. 

Emerg­ing lit­er­a­cy skills form the foun­da­tion for children’s lat­er lit­er­a­cy devel­op­ment. Researchers have found that emerg­ing lit­er­a­cy skills pre­dict children’s future read­ing and writ­ing skills and pro­fi­cien­cy in using lan­guage to express thoughts and ideas. While explic­it read­ing and writ­ing instruc­tion typ­i­cal­ly begins in kinder­garten, children’s foun­da­tion­al lit­er­a­cy skills start to devel­op at birth. An infant’s efforts to grab for a book and bat at its pages to show inter­est, a toddler’s scrib­ble, or a 4‑year-old’s fas­ci­na­tion with sto­ry time are all foun­da­tion­al read­ing and writ­ing milestones. 

How do you teach literacy to preschoolers?

A well-equipped lit­er­a­cy learn­ing cen­ter is one of the most effec­tive ways to pro­mote and devel­op children’s emerg­ing lit­er­a­cy skills. An effec­tive lit­er­a­cy learn­ing cen­ter is well-stocked with var­i­ous books and lit­er­a­cy mate­ri­als that reflect children’s inter­ests, cul­tur­al back­grounds, and learn­ing preferences. 

It is impor­tant to intro­duce read­ing and writ­ing togeth­er. Young chil­dren need emerg­ing read­ing skills to help them learn about writ­ing, and they need emerg­ing writ­ing skills to learn about read­ing. A lit­er­a­cy cen­ter that con­nects the two areas of emerg­ing lit­er­a­cy devel­op­ment can effec­tive­ly sup­port and bol­ster children’s lit­er­a­cy skills.

Addi­tion­al­ly, it is ben­e­fi­cial to include lit­er­a­cy mate­ri­als and activ­i­ties in all of your learn­ing centers—the sci­ence cen­ter, art cen­ter, block cen­ter, pre­tend play cen­ter, and wood­work­ing cen­ter. Strate­gi­cal­ly plac­ing lit­er­a­cy mate­ri­als through­out children’s play areas will rein­force the role of lit­er­a­cy in all areas of learning.

Preschool Literacy Activities

Bookmaking

Book­mak­ing is a fun and reward­ing activ­i­ty that encour­ages children’s cre­ativ­i­ty and self-expression.

First, sta­ple sev­er­al pieces of blank paper togeth­er or punch holes in blank pages to place in a binder. A binder allows chil­dren to add pages lat­er on if they wish. Pro­vide pen­cils, crayons, and mark­ers in a loca­tion that is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble to the children.

Encour­age preschool­ers to fol­low their inter­ests when cre­at­ing their books. Some chil­dren will enjoy cre­at­ing fic­tion­al sto­ries. Oth­ers may wish to make an ABC book, an auto­bi­o­graph­i­cal sto­ry, or a how-to guide. If chil­dren have dif­fi­cul­ty select­ing a top­ic, ask them ques­tions to spark their imag­i­na­tion. You may want to ask child about a sto­ry they told you ear­li­er in the day or an activ­i­ty they engaged in recently. 

As the preschool­ers work on their books, encour­age them to use some of the foun­da­tion­al fea­tures of books, including

• title;
• author;
• page num­bers;
• set­ting;
• essen­tial plot ele­ments (begin­ning, mid­dle, end, conflict);
• char­ac­ters.

Chil­dren can decide whether or not their books will include print­ed words in addi­tion to their draw­ings, scrib­bles, and oth­er marks. Encour­age preschool­ers to make revi­sions and con­tin­u­ous­ly think about their sto­ries. Dis­play fin­ished books in the lit­er­a­cy cen­ter and invite chil­dren to read from their books dur­ing sto­ry time. 

Book­mak­ing can also be a group project. The group can work togeth­er to select a top­ic and then brain­storm ideas to include in their book. Each child can draw pic­tures or write a short sto­ry or thought relat­ed to the topic. 

Name Writing

A dai­ly sign-in rou­tine in the lit­er­a­cy cen­ter is a sim­ple writ­ing activ­i­ty that preschool­ers will enjoy. For many chil­dren, their first name is one of the first words they learn to write, and they often take a par­tic­u­lar inter­est in learn­ing and per­fect­ing this task. Suc­cess in writ­ing their name con­firms children’s grow­ing com­pe­ten­cies in alpha­bet knowl­edge and print aware­ness and lays the ground­work for more com­plex and struc­tured writ­ing composition.

When the chil­dren enter your pro­gram each morn­ing, ask them to sign in. They can write their names on a sheet of paper on a clip­board or a white­board. Some pro­grams use pages with children’s pho­tos print­ed in a col­umn and spaces for children’s sig­na­tures to the right.

As with oth­er activ­i­ties, the process is more impor­tant for chil­dren than the prod­uct. Some chil­dren will make a mark that may not resem­ble an actu­al let­ter or only write the first let­ter of their name. “Sig­na­tures” may look like scrib­bles. The goal is to give chil­dren an oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­ri­ence the pur­pose of writ­ing, not to per­fect their sig­na­tures. Avoid any remarks or oth­er reac­tions that com­pare chil­dren’s “sig­na­tures.”

Choosing Books for Children

Stock your lit­er­a­cy cen­ter with a col­lec­tion of high-qual­i­ty books. To broad­en children’s expo­sure to dif­fer­ent gen­res, include non­fic­tion and poet­ry books in addi­tion to fic­tion. Reg­u­lar­ly intro­duce new books, and rotate books to keep the children’s inter­est and atten­tion. Pro­vide books that cov­er the inter­ests, back­grounds, lan­guages, expe­ri­ences, and oth­er char­ac­ter­is­tics of the chil­dren in your program.

Look­ing to stock your lit­er­a­cy cen­ter with some new books? Check out sug­ges­tions from The Smith­son­ian and The New York Pub­lic Library.

Learn More!

Inter­est­ed in learn­ing more about ear­ly lit­er­a­cy? Check out our cours­es Many Ways to Learn for Tod­dlers and Preschool­ers and Mak­ing Learn­ing Fun. Look­ing for sug­ges­tions to improve your lit­er­a­cy cen­ter? Check out our course The Ear­ly Child­hood Envi­ron­ment: Learn­ing Cen­ters.

Look­ing for more fun activ­i­ties to try with the chil­dren in your care? Check out our blogs Cre­ative Art Activ­i­ties for Chil­dren and Cook­ing with Chil­dren: Overnight Oats.

Care Courses Contact

Please let us know how we can be of addi­tion­al assis­tance! Call us: 1–800-685‑7610, Mon­day through Fri­day, 9–5 ET, or email us days, evenings and week­ends: info@CareCourses.com. We’re here to help!

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Why reading with preschoolers is important

It’s good to read, talk about books, share stories, and sing every day. This helps your child’s development in many ways.

For example, through these activities your child learns new speech sounds and words. Your child also starts to understand how sounds go together to make words and what words mean. This builds your child’s language skills and literacy skills and helps your child go on to read successfully later in childhood.

Reading stories stimulates your child’s imagination and helps your child learn about the world. For example, reading books can help your child learn about and feel respect for other cultures. Reading also develops your child’s social skills and skills for managing emotions.

And reading is also a great time for you to bond with your child and share time together.

You can start reading to your child as early as you like – the earlier the better. Our article on reading and storytelling with children has more information to get you and your child started.

Tips for reading, sharing books and storytelling with preschoolers

Reading with your child is all about spending special time together and having fun by enjoying the words and pictures in books.

It’s best to follow your child’s lead with reading. Sometimes your child will want to talk about the words and pictures, and sometimes they’ll want to listen quietly while you read. And at other times, your child might enjoy ‘pretend reading’ – that is, turning the pages and telling the story themselves.

Here are tips that can help you and your child make the most of your reading time.

Looking at the book
Before you start, briefly ask your child some questions about the book:

• What do you think this story is about?
• Who might be in it?
• What do you think will happen?

Reading the story

• Vary the pace of your reading, as well as how loud you read. Changing your voice and expression for different characters and using gestures can also be fun.
• Let your child turn the pages of the book.
• Ask your child some questions about the story. For example, ‘What do you think happens next?’, ‘Why is the baby happy?’ or ‘Who has the ball?’
• Ask your child questions that help them relate to the story. For example, ‘How would you feel if this was you?’ or ‘What would you do if this happened to you?’
• Chant or sing repetitive phrases and words together. For example, ‘I’ll huff, and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in’.
• Add information when your child asks a question. For example, your child might point to a bear and ask, ‘What’s that?’ You could say, ‘That’s a bear. It’s sleeping in its cave. Bears sleep all winter long’.

Looking at letters and words
Older preschoolers might start to notice letters. For example, they might notice the letter that starts their name. Here are ways to build on this interest:

• Point out the differences between letters and words and the difference between a lower-case and capital letter. For example, ‘There is a capital M. Can you see how it’s bigger than this lower-case m?’
• When you see words printed in bold or large font, point these out and explain how this changes the way we say those words. For example, ‘Look at how big the word BOOHOO is. The baby must be crying very loudly’.
• Ask questions about the names and sounds of letters.
• Play ‘find the letters and words’ games, especially with the letters in your child’s name.
• Explain the meaning of any unusual words.

Other reading activities

• Help your child make up stories and drawings to go with them.
• Make a storybook together. Let your child choose the story or use your child’s own made-up stories and drawings.
• If your child can’t read words, encourage your child to tell you a story based on the pictures in a book.

General tips for budding readers

• Make a routine, and try to share at least one book every day. A special space where you and your child go to read – with a box of books and something comfortable to sit on – can help with establishing your routine.
• Turn off the TV or radio and put your phone on silent, so your child can focus.
• Hold your child close or on your knee while you read, so your child can see your face and the book.
• Make connections between the book and your child’s life. For example, ‘We saw a caterpillar like that yesterday, didn’t we?’
• Try out funny noises and sounds – play and have fun!
• Involve your child by encouraging talk about the pictures and repeating familiar words.
• Be guided by your child’s interest. There might be days when your child doesn’t want to spend a long time reading, and that’s OK.
• Let your child choose the books. Be prepared to read favourite books over and over again!

When your child sees you reading and writing, you’re creating a home environment that develops literacy skills. Your reading and writing can be as simple as reading magazines or newspapers and writing shopping lists or messages for your partner or children.

Types of books to read with preschoolers

In the preschool years, children enjoy reading many different types of books. Your child might especially enjoy:

• alphabet, shape, size and counting books
• books that tell simple stories, especially ones with rhyme, rhythm and repetition
• books about families, friends and going to school
• books with characters who are about the same age as your child and characters who have quirky traits
• books that use humour and have a sense of fun – for example, a character who uses a funny word, or who is silly or even ‘naughty’
• books relating to particular interests – for example, books about dinosaurs, fairies, sport, animals, stars, the ocean, inventions, food and travels around the world.

Ebooks can be handy, especially if you’re travelling or away from home. If your child wants to read ebooks, read them together and choose stories without distracting animations or games. It’s best if ebooks don’t replace paper books. And it’s important to balance screen time and digital technology use with other activities.

Book suggestions for preschoolers

Here are books for you and your child to explore. Many of these books have the rhymes, rhythms and repetition that preschoolers love.

Books about animals

• An Australian 1, 2, 3 of animals by Bronwyn Bancroft
• An Australian ABC of animals by Bronwyn Bancroft
• Bat vs Poss by Alexa Moses
• The Hairy Maclary collection by Lynley Dodd
• Koala Lou by Mem Fox
• Let’s get a pup by Bob Graham
• Owl babies by Martin Waddell
• Possum magic by Mem Fox
• Squish rabbit by Katherine Battersby
• The very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle

Books about children, families and everyday life

• Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day by Judith Viorst
• Aussie toddlers can by Magabala Books
• Maddy’s first day by Penny Matthews
• Me and my dad by Sally Morgan and Ezekiel Kwaymullina
• Za-Za’s baby brother by Lucy Cousins
• Our library by Donna Rawlins

Books with quirky characters

• Naughty agapanthus by Barbara Macfarlane
• Olivia by Ian Falconer and others in this series
• When Billy was a dog by Kirsty Murray

Books about the world

• A is for Australia by Frane Lessac
• Are we there yet? by Alison Lester
• Early learning big book of Australian nature by Steve Parish
• Heads and tails: insects by John Canty
• The rice bag hammock by Shaeeza Haniff
• The wheels on the bus by Penny Dann

Why not visit your local library? It’s free to join and borrow books. The staff will be able to recommend books for you and your child to enjoy. Many libraries also offer free story time sessions for children and their parents or carers.

Or if your child attends child care, kindergarten or preschool, you could talk to your child’s educators to get ideas. Some preschools allow children to borrow books each week or to bring a special book from home to share with the group.

For more story ideas, let storyteller Anne E. Stewart introduce you and your child to ‘Mook Mook the owl’, ‘The crocodile’ and ‘The old lady and the mosquito’.