Whether you are a parent, caregiver, cool aunt, or grandpops, these high-fun, high-impact activities will boost your preschooler or soon-to-be-kindergartner’s confidence and skills. 

Developed by expert early childhood educators, this Recipe for Readiness card collection considers how busy you are—and how young children deserve summertime delight. There is no dull skill-and-drill in the mix here—only engaging, focused experiences that you can fit into any day. With these activities, you can support development in the following key areas: 

• Listening and speaking  
• Learning to hear the sounds that make up words 
• Text or letter book familiarity 
• Alphabet knowledge and word-to-sound connections 
• Communication through writing and drawing 

Remember to...

Model: All people learn by seeing something demonstrated, doing it together with help, and practicing it independently until confident. Just like talking, walking, and riding a bicycle, the same is true for learning to read and write! 

Make time: 60–90 minutes throughout the day, depending on the child’s stamina. 

Download the full Recipe Card to use with your children at home.

The Learning Benefit of Being Familiar with Books

When children go to school, they will encounter many books. Teachers will help them feel comfortable with books by reading stories aloud and pointing out a book’s features. Still, it sure is fun and easy to give kids a head start over the summer.  

Point out to children: 

• Front and back of a book 
• Turning pages 
• Illustrations tell a story 
• Print carries the message 
• Read left to right  
• Read top to bottom 
• Knowing the difference between a letter and a word 
• The beginning and end of a word (first letter, last letter) 
• Knowing letters make words 

Book Familiarity Activities to Try

Read the Word

Point out signs in your neighborhood. Ask the child to say the letters/word aloud with you. Cheerlead that they are already reading messages! Look for sound and letter links to common words they might already be spelling, like mom, dad, sun, and dog.    

Book Time

Read a book together while pointing under words to show kids we read English left to right. Point out some of the interesting things about it: 

“There’s a question mark. Let’s read it with a question voice.” 

“That’s an exclamation point, so I will sound excited when I read it.” 

“Oh, look at the picture of the turtle. How do you think it’s feeling right now?” 

Clap & Cheer! 

Say a word. Clap the letters in the word. Cheer the word! 

“Stop.”     “S-T-O-P”     “Stop!” 

“Hi.”        “H-i.”             “Hi!” 

Some Favorite Book Familiarity Resources

Books: 

How to Read a Book by Kwame Alexander 

Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems, such as We Are In A Book
 
The Alphabet Tree by Leo Lionni 

Songs and Chants:

"The Parts of A Book Song" by Scratch Garden (YouTube) 

Poems and Rhymes: 

"My Favorite Word" by Lucia & James L. Hymes, Jr.