By: Courtney Newman
Even though it felt like you barely blinked, your baby is now standing before you as a preschooler, ready and eager to learn. We all recognize the importance of reading skills, but where do you even begin? How do you begin transitioning from solely reading books aloud to helping them learn to read?
It can be a lot. It’s a big step, and it can be a little intimidating. After all, every website and hack on Pinterest has its tips and tricks, don’t they? In reality, every child is different, and not every tip or idea will work well with each child. However, that doesn’t mean those tips aren’t worthwhile, just try not to get discouraged if they happen to not work for your family.
5 Signs Your Preschooler is Ready to Read
While not every child will demonstrate all of these signs of reading readiness, it’s a good place to start! Before we get into the signs, though, you may be wondering, “What is reading readiness?” When children have reached a certain stage in their development, they will begin showing an interest in learning more, which is manifested in a variety of ways. We refer to these as signs of “reading readiness,” which is essentially a stage when children are going to be most receptive to learning more advanced lessons than they have previously.
- Actively engaging during storytime.
- Pretending to read out loud.
- Demonstrating strong feelings about which books to read.
- Pretending to read on their own.
- Understanding letter sounds and the idea of sounding out words.
5 Ways to Help Your Preschooler Prepare to Read
Now that you know your child is ready to read, there are a few steps you can take to prepare them. Take your time, relax, and make these fun. The more your preschooler is enjoying themselves, the more they will progress. Preschool is all about encouraging children to learn through fun and the natural curiosity that stems from play.
In addition to the five ways below, perhaps you may like the idea of game schooling. There are several excellent reading comprehension games available on the market for preschoolers. These games aim to help children learn to read and to understand phonics instruction, while keeping the experience fun, lighthearted, and without any pressure.
The teaching of reading is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. There will be regressions, there will be obstacles. This is an entirely new concept to preschoolers, and it can be difficult for them to process at times. We can get headaches when struggling to learn something new, and kids may experience the equivalent struggle in their own ways. It’s important to try to stay encouraging and positive, while also praising their success.
Work on oral language skills. Give your preschooler time to talk about things that matter to them. Ask them to describe how they are feeling, or what they think about certain things. Truth be told, it can be tiring, but it will begin sharpening your child’s abilities to channel their thoughts into words. Another idea is to consider making a game from rhyming words together! Ask your child to think of a word that rhymes with the one you say, and vice versa. It’s a sure way to get them laughing! These are considered pre-reading skills.- Read aloud daily. You have likely already been reading with your child since they were an infant, but let’s put a twist on read alouds now. Consider reading books in which they are specifically interested, or books they choose for themselves. Reading with kids, especially when they have a say in which books to read, can motivate their reading engagement.
- Use fill-in-the-blanks with favorite books. Is there a book you read daily and could recite from memory? Try skipping over words and ask them to fill it in verbally as you read.
- Describe how the book works. For example, point out the cover, the title, how to turn pages properly, reading from left-to-right, and so on.
- Make literature a part of everyday routine. Let’s make storytime more than just before bed or naps. Talk with your preschooler about your favorite books, about why we love reading, and let them catch you reading books yourself. You can inspire an interest in reading just from demonstrating your own.
Work on oral language skills.
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I enjoyed reading this article, as a soon-to-be mom this is very helpful. I can’t wait to welcome my baby and hopefully I can apply the tips that you shared with us 🙂
That’s great to hear. Glad we could help!
Thank you for all the information. Im staying in Germany and also I will Let My friend read the articles here.
I’ve visited this site again to read through the article. It is very helpful to me as a first-time mom. Thanks a lot!
Regards
Thanks! So happy we can help!
Excellent post keep it up.
Thank you!
Thanks a lot for this Preschooler tips!
Michele –
Thanks for the advice!
This is such a big help for the first time, mom, like me. Thank you for the tips!
You are very welcome. So happy to help!
I don’t see my nephew’s 5 signs of Reading, maybe he need more time to learn.
I’ll try some other time after I finish my everyday yard care.
Just keep up with the reading aloud and word play and I am sure your nephew will get there!
I’m glad I was able to find your informative article. I’m a first-time mom and this article will really help me. Thanks a lot!
Regards
You are very welcome! So glad we can help!
This is really great! You may be experienced a lot to know the signs for preschoolers especially when they are pretending to read. I don’t really know about preschoolers but this topic made me look for my niece a bit longer and observing her. And yes! The signs were there and when my niece is watching a video, my niece also sings with it. Thanks for this post and I get to learn more about preschoolers’ stage. I am still observing my niece as of now.
Regards,
Jhonny
Thanks! Happy you found this useful!
Wow. I can see these 5 signs of my nephew. I will try this to get my nephew ready to read. Thank you for the useful information you gave. Then I can proceed to number reading to my nephew slowly after he is ready to read. Thanks.
You’re welcome! I’m so glad you found this helpful!
This is one of the good articles you can find in the net explaining everything in detail regarding thI will must share this blog and the information i found here really has no value in money but more than it. Thanks for this nice effort which you put here in the shape of this post.
Thanks!
Thank you for all these helpful tips, really glad I found this article. I will try and use these for our children. – Maze & Maria
Awesome to hear! I hope you check out our other posts as well! We have lots of great ideas and help for homeschoolers on the site. If you can’t find what you need just let me know!
Thanks for this useful tips, I will try to apply this to my kid.
You are very welcome! Hope they help your child!
This is a very helpful post for parents. Thanks so much!
Roy │
You are very welcome! So happy to help!
Thank you very much for sharing this very useful information.
Game Lover – https://games.lol/
You are very welcome.