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.