Collection of books, activities, and more designed to help your child develop important pre-reading skills. These skills will help them not only in reading, but in lifelong learning! Brought to you by Lake County Public Library (Indiana).
Who Has Wiggle Waggle Toes? by Vicky Shiefman is perfect for little ones who like to
wiggle instead of sit still during a story.
Children learn and
move their body parts such as nose, knees, elbows and bottoms. The
repetition in the silly sentences invites participation, both
physical and vocal.
Extend the Book withMovement Cards
On a piece of
paper or recipe card, write simple dance movements, yoga poses or
directions such as hop, jump, sway, wiggle, point feet, etc. Have
your child pick a card and do the movement together. When you have
moved to all of the cards, put them all together to make your own
dance!
What’s Your Sound, Hound the Hound? by Mo Willems is the kind of book that makes
reading fun! The bright colors and high contrast of the pictures
hold kids’ attention, and the rather silly storyline is a delight.
When stories are fun, children will be more open to learning. This
motivation toward print is an important part of your child’s
background knowledge; your kids will know that books make
positive experiences.
This book tells the story of Cat the
Cat, who asks a variety of her animal friends what sounds they make.
As you read, talk to your child about the different
animals and their sounds. Have fun playing the animals and
mimicking their noises. This is a good way to build vocabulary
about the different animals’ sounds.
The large font size and clear block
letters add to your child’s letter knowledge. The lines are
clear and sharp, and the letters in this book are easy to recognize. The illustrations’ speech bubbles help build print awareness,
as they reinforce the practice of reading from left to right.
Extend the book with a kazoo!
This simple classic project will give
your child the chance to make all kinds of sounds!
You will need the following:
Cardboard tube
Waxed paper
Rubber band
Scissors
Cut a small square of waxed paper and
attach it to the tube with a rubber band. If you want to cut a notch
in the side of the tube, you can, but that’s optional. Then, just
hum into the open end of the tube to make the waxed paper buzz.
Does
your voice sound different? Try talking, singing, or even making
animal noises!
One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims by B.G. Hennessy is a sweet and lyrical picture book that not only includes lots of counting and singing fun, but also encourages historical awareness and accuracy. Children count along and take in the day to day lives of little pilgrim children, and then little Wampanoag children as they get ready for Thanksgiving.
When reading this book sing the words to the well known tune, helping your child with harder vocabulary. Talk about what your child sees on the pages. This can be done after a sing-through, or during.
Ask your child to describe what they see and also what they know about Thanksgiving. Ask them to compare this Thanksgiving to the ones they have experienced. Singing and rhyming slows down speech, which helps children understand what they are saying (phonological awareness). Talking helps with narrative skills, vocabulary, and background knowledge. The more you talk with your child, and the more they talk back to you, the more they learn!
Continue the Counting Fun with this Feed the Turkey Craft:
Supplies: -brown paper bag -red, brown, and orange construction paper -scissors -glue stick -googly eyes -beans or acorns (or any other “pretend” nuts you can find around your house) -dice -Feathers (if desired)
1. Trace your child’s hands on the brown paper a few times. Let them do it themselves if they can. 2. Help them cut out the hand tracings (set to the side) 3. Cut out a beak and the gobbler (the long red bit of flesh that hangs from its nose) 4. Attach googly eyes, beak and gobbler on the front of the bag using glue stick. Make sure the bag is the right way up with the open end facing up.
5. Using scissors, carefully cut an opening under the beak. 6. Stagger the hand prints on top of each other to create desired feathered look. Glue together and the glue to the back of the paper bag. Add feathers if desired. 7. Finally, play the game! Let your child roll the dice and feed the turkey the correct number of beans/nuts that you have provided. See if you can get them to sing the song with the game.
Taking a Picture Walk through a book before you actually read it together is a great way to add to your child’s background knowledge and vocabulary through Talking, one of the five early literacy practices that will help your child become ready to read.
The Minerva
Louise books by Janet Morgan Stoeke are especially appropriate for
this, because of the disparity between what Minerva Louise says is
happening and what the pictures show. That’s because she interprets
events around her through her own viewpoint as a farm chicken. She
associates spider web decorations with curtains, etc., and uses her
imagination to fill in the gaps of information she doesn’t know. This
book reminds us how children see the world. They see events and
people around them through their own lens, using their imaginations
to understand what’s going on.
Sharing books
together can add immensely to a child’s background knowledge,
since they learn about so much more than what they experience in
their day-to-day lives. This book, for example, can also be used as a
nice conversation tool to help younger children understand some of
the behaviors and activities they may observe as Halloween
approaches, whether or not your family observes the holiday.
Talking:
Take
a Picture Walk through Minerva Louise on Halloween:
Don’t read the text (other than the title and author) when you’re taking a Picture Walk: just focus on Talking about the pictures together.
Ask Who, What, When, Where, Why questions:
What do you see on this page?
What do you think is happening, and why do you think that?
Take turns talking, and give your child the time they need to respond with their own ideas.
Add to what your child has said: introduce them to new words and information as needed.
Here’s an
example of how your conversation might go:
Adult: Who do
you see on this page?
Child:
I see children playing. They’re dressed up.
Adult: What are
they wearing?
Child:
Costumes. She’s a bee.
Adult: What
makes you think that?
Child:
Her shirt has yellow and black stripes, and she’s got a
headband on with thingies at the end.
Adult: Yes,
those are called antennae. Antennae help bees smell where honey is.
Why do you think they’re all dressed in costumes?
Child:
Maybe they’re having a party? They’re playing together.
Adult: Yes!
They’re celebrating Halloween. Halloween is … Etc.
After your
Picture Walk, go back to the beginning and read the story together.
This is a great opportunity to Talk with your child
about what they saw in the pictures versus what Minerva Louise thinks
is happening. Have a conversation with your child after each
page. This will reinforce any new background knowledge they gained
through your Picture Walk.
Minerva
Louise’s other books are also great for doing Picture Walks!
Listen Up! Train Song uses bold text and bright colored photos to highlight different types of trains and the sounds they make.
ALT
Onomatopoeia is used on each page, encouraging readers to make the sounds themselves. Children reading can explore new vocabulary associated with trains and sounds while pointing out what they see on each page.
Back matter includes early literacy tips on how playing with sounds, rhymes, and song can help get your child ready for reading and school.
When reading this book, do the sounds for your child and encourage them to repeat you. Make it a rhyme or chant if you can. When children play with rhythm it helps them learn about the sounds that make up words, increasing their phonological awareness.
On each page you can also point out the bolded letters that represent the sounds. Ask them if they recognize the letters and what sounds they may make, then make the sound together.
If your child loves trains, ask them to talk about this passion. What kinds of trains to do they see in the book, what color are they, what kinds have they seen in real life? Talking with your child helps them learn background knowledge, improves vocabulary, and builds a better understanding of how conversation works.
All of these skills lead to better reading comprehension when your child begins to read on their own.
Extend the Book with a Paper Train Craft
ALT
Supplies:
construction paper squares (variety of colors if possible)
construction paper circles (black)
Train engine template
markers or crayons for coloring and writing
glue stick
1 11x18 inch piece of paper for a background
1. Cut out the template of the train engine. You can either do this with white paper and let your child color it in, or cut it out onto construction paper and add a small square of yellow for the window.
2. Help your child count how many letters are in their name and then cut out a square for each letter. These will be the train cars. The engine can be the first one or two letters if need be.
3. Cut out 2 inch circles from black paper for the train wheels for your cars, and 1 inch circles for your train engine. Let your child help with the cutting if you can. This helps hone fine motor skills that later help with writing.
4. Glue your train in place on a paper background starting with the engine, then the colorful train cars, and then glue the wheels between each joint. I used a 12inx18in piece of construction paper, but you can tape together regular sized pages until it is long enough to hold your whole train.
5. Finally, help your child write the letters of their name on each train car.
Dancing
Feet by Lindsey Craig is a delightful book that encourages movement and promotes the
early literacy practice of playing. Play nurtures creativity
and helps children think symbolically. Written with an distinct
rhythm, your child can “feel” the beat and dance along with the
animals throughout the book.
Along with rhythm and rhyme, Dancing
Feet is filled with silly words like “tippity”, “thumpity”, and
“slappity,” which are used to describe the sound the animal’s feet
are making. Rhythm, rhyme and silly words are all part of the early
literacy practice of singing and
support the skill of phonological awareness, or the ability to
hear the individual sounds in words.
Dancing Feet works well for
dialogic, or interactive, reading.
Read a page, such as, “Tippity!
Tippity! Little black feet! Who is dancing that tippity beat?” Ask
your child what animal they think has little black feet. Have them search the picture for clues and see if they can guess what animal it
refers to. Wait a few seconds for your child to respond. Ask why
they thought it was that animal.
Asking an open ended question is one
of the best ways to develop early literacy skills through talking.
If your child is too young to answer, or simply doesn’t answer, suggest
something, “do you think it could be an (animal)?” Let’s see…”
Turn the page to show ladybugs dancing on tippity feet.
Remember
that children learn more words when they have opportunities to talk,
use unusual words, and respond to an adult’s questions. The names of
the different animals adds to your child’s vocabulary.
Dancing Feet also is an early
introduction to footprints. Be sure to point out the footprints
throughout the book and talk about them. Have your child make
a footprint in sand or put some flour on the sidewalk and let your
child step in it to show their footprint. Learning about footprints
adds to your child’s background knowledge, everything they know before they begin to learn to read.
After reading Dancing Feet and
dancing the steps at the end, continue the fun by dancing along to
the Silly
Squirrel Dance from Sesame Street!
Extend the book with a moving trunk elephant craft
We followed this tutorial to make ours. When you blow through the straw, the elephant’s trunk extends!
You’ll need:
A piece of square paper (8.5″ x 8.5″ or 9″ x 9″)
A piece of paper size 2.5″ x 12″ (for the trunk)
A straw
Glue stick
Scissors
Here’s how ours turned out:
As you can see, we used googly eyes instead of paper for the eyes on the pink elephant - a fun addition if you have them!
This book follows the exchanging of letters between two friends, Oscar and Bill. Oscar is an ant. Bill is an Octopus. Watch their friendship grow as you read the letters they send back and forth to each other.
ALT
Pen Pals will help build print awareness, vocabulary, background knowledge, and narrative skills.
This book also builds early literacy skills such as talking, reading, and writing.
Extend the book by writing a letter to a friend or family member
Even if your little one can not write yet, this is a great time to practice picking up a marker and just doodling to understand the concept.
What you will need:
1 blank piece of paper, with or without lines.
Plenty of markers
Adult: write at the top of the paper the word DEAR with a line and at the bottom the paper, the word LOVE or FROM with a line. This will be so you can practice writing names and showing your child where they would go on a letter.
ALT
2. Allow your child to write whatever they would like the paper. You can practice words or just let them doodle.
3. When they are done, ask if they would like to send it to their friend. If not, keep it on the fridge.
What do you get when you combine
animals and colors? Why, a whole lot of unique creatures of course!
Have fun reading Animal Colors by @csneal and combining different colors and animals to create a whole new
creature. Can you guess what you’ll get from each combination?
Each color is presented in colored text to make it more noticeable, which will help your child build print awareness. While reading, have your child try saying the new colors they are learning. Also name the animals and colors you see. Can your child make their sound? This builds background knowledge, vocabulary, and helps your child practice talking!
Animal Colors is a sturdy board book, so let your child hold it and try turning the pages on their own. That will help them practice reading.
Extend the book with color-mixing activities!
Playing is an important learning process for kids, and color-mixing is a great play time activity that goes with this book. Try mixing paint, play dough, or even magnetic tiles if you have them.
I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson is a clever take on the original book and song with a Thanksgiving twist. You’ll giggle and gag over the silly and gross pictures as this old lady eats her way through a thanksgiving feast, digesting more than she can chew.
Sing with your child as you read this story, carrying the well known tune through one food item after another. As you turn the pages ask your child what the Old Lady is going to eat next, and then sing the verses together.
Talk with your child about Thanksgiving. Ask them what their favorite food is. Tell them yours. Carry a conversation with them about different Thanksgiving foods. Talking back and forth with your child helps them understand language and builds narrative skills and vocabulary. Singing and rhyming make words easier to hear and understand. Children also have a better chance at remembering a song over simply reading out loud.
Continue the fun with a pie craft!
Supplies: -paper plate -orange and brown paint (or whatever color your child wants for their pie) -paint brushes -shaving cream -white school glue -pie seasoning (if desired)
1. Put out some brown paint and direct your child to paint all around the edge of the plate. This is usually where the ridges are on the paper plate and will be the crust for your pie. 2. When they have finished, add some orange to their paint palate. Let them know that they can feel free to mix the brown in if they want. 3. In a separate little bowl add equal parts glue and shaving cream to create some white puffy paint. (About a tablespoon or two worth. You don’t need a whole lot). This will be the whipped cream for your pie. 4. Give your child a spoon and let them dollop it onto the pie as they like. 5. Finally, if you like, you can add pie seasoning to make this craft pie smell a little bit more real. (If the seasoning gets all over the “whipped cream” you can mix it around a bit until the cream is more white again).
The Rainbow Snail is a brightly illustrated picture book with easy-to-read text that is great for teaching colors to toddlers and preschoolers.
ALT
We follow the charming snail and discover all the colors of the rainbow. This book promotes vocabulary and background knowledge.
This book also encourages talking and playing as you describe the different colors of the rainbow: blue like the raindrops, green like the grass and yellow like the sun.
Extend this book by making a rocking rainbow snail
What you will need:
paper plate
white, black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple construction paper
scissors
tape or glue
black paint
Fold the paper plate in half.
Paint the plate black to match the snail in the book.
Cut out paper circles making the red one the biggest and purple the smallest.
Cut out black strips. Cut out white and black circles for the eyes.
Glue or tape pieces together.
Glue or tape the circles and the eyes on the plate.
