Notice Print All Around You

Noticing that print in the environment is meaningful and knowing how to handle a book doesn’t just happen.

Children need many experiences handling books in their everyday world to understand that print is used in multiple ways for a variety of purposes. This is referred to as print awareness, and is different from knowing about letters. It includes knowledge about how a book works.

Check out our Staff Picks for Notice Print All Around You.

Activities!

• Use puzzles that have pictures and letters or words.
• Point out that a book has an author and an illustrator.
• Let children help you make a shopping list. Match the words on your list to those on the products.
• As you write, tell your children what you're doing.
• Let children help read recipes as you cook or bake. Let them make a picture recipe
• Identify print on t-shirts, boxes and signs.
• Hand a book to your child upside down, and see if she turns it around.
• When using a menu at a restaurant, show them what you’re ordering. When they get home, give them a pad of paper and let them pretend to be a server, taking and filling orders

Videos

See all of our 6 by 6 Finger Plays & Wordless Picturebook videos.

The videos below are particularly great for this 6 by 6 skill.