The Best Way to Teach Your Preschooler to Read- Use Children’s Picture Books

I learned how to read early (about 2 years old) from my parents, who embraced phonics and intensive reading activities with me at a young age. Today, there are preschool reading programs, which are designed help you to teach your child to read starting as early as 4-months old!

According to Dr. Mark Thogmartin, author of Teaching a Child to Read with Children’s Books, studies show that early literacy helps a child all through school and life, as reading is critical to all children’s learning. All other subjects, including math and science depend on a child’s ability to read and to understand what they read. Plus, being a better reader makes school work easier. That’s reason enough to jump into promoting literacy with your own child or the children in your life as early as you can. But what is the best way to go about doing it? Structured program are out there, such as Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, based on the DISTAR (Direct Instruction System for Teaching and Remediation) method, now known as “Language for Learning” among teaching professionals and scholars.

Yet studies show that children can learn to read at an early age, even without formal instruction, when they are exposed to specific practices and activities at home that promote literacy, such as reading with your child, conversing regularly, letting them see you read, exposing them to books, and similar activities that expose them to the world of words and meaning, stimulating their natural curiosity. All of these are things that you can do with your own child to help them go from being a non-reader to a reader using children’s picture books. You can teach your child to read in an enjoyable, organic method building off your home’s existing literacy-encouraging environment, using materials you already have or can borrow from a library or purchase from a bookstore–picture books!

For parents looking for the best methods to teach preschool children how to read, you need look no further than classic children’s picture books. Illustrated story books are the best vehicles for teaching preschoolers to read. If your toddler or preschooler has tired of coloring only and shows an interest in words and sounds and books, then helping them along with picture books is a great way to start. Learning happens at the point of interest, and the best way to promote literacy in young, curious minds is to engage them where they are.

I often browse through bookstores looking for books for 3 year-old Destiny Baby, but was always unsure if the book is too young or too old for him. He recognizes all his letters, the sounds they make, and some words, but can not yet read a book on his own. At first, I figured since we read books together, it didn’t matter all that much if the book is exactly right for his reading age. I know that picture books are important, because young children “read” the pictures before the words and can make connections between the two.

After doing some research on the Department of Education’s ERIC clearinghouse (ERIC stands for Education Resources Information Center), I learned there is a method to preschool literacy using picture books, and that the kind of book you select does in fact matter, especially in promoting independent reading skills. It is important to choose appropriate reading level books, and continually introducing books just above your child’s current reading level (in terms of language and story), to challenge her or him.

Real books offer the best success for teaching children to read over textbooks. Academic peer-reviewed studies confirm that books should be the central most important element in any reading program. Most reading programs wait to introduce new readers to real books. According to most literacy experts, that’s a big mistake. The best children’s literature can stimulate a child’s interest in story reading, while at the same time helping them to develop the basic skills they need in grammar and decoding letters and symbols.

Why are books are such a great way to teach children to read over programs that promote memorization and drills? While memory and drill can promote word recognition, some phonics-based programs can be boring to early readers A book centered approach that combines reading story books with writing and phonics can make literacy teaching more enjoyable for both children and parents. The best programs combine all three skills. The foundation of such an approach is with the children’s books.

At the end of this post we list several examples of books that would help you begin a home-based instructional reading program for a preschooler. The defining characteristics of these books are that they are simple, repetitive and feature pictures that illustrate the words of the story. All of these books are used in book and story-based early reading programs.

As we at DestinyBaby.com start to create home-based lessons to teach our preschooler how to read, we will begin to add those lessons and share what seems to work and not work for us. We hope that you will also share your journeys with early literacy by posting your feedback and experiences in the comments so we can all learn from each other. So without further ado here is a list of example books for pre-readers, books that use repetition, pictures, language and topics familiar to the youngest children, just becoming aware of print. These will help you get started on your own home-based preschool reading program:

Look What I Can Do by Jose Aruego

Do You Want to Be My Friend? by Eric Carle

Growing Colors by Bruce McMillan

One, Two, One Pair! – Written and Photo-illustrated by Bruce McMillan

Have You Seen My Duckling? by Nancy Tafuri

Cat on the Mat by Brian Wildsmith

Mommy, Where Are You? by Leonid Gore

For more suggestions for books you can read aloud with your child, see the popular and well-regarded, The Read-Aloud Handbook: Sixth Edition by Jim Trelease.

Last year, we also featured a list of the best picture books of 2009, a really great list of beautifully illustrated, well-crafted tales perfect for the youngest readers that both you and your preschool child would enjoy. What are your favorite picture books that you use or have used with your preschool aged child?