Did you know the best things you can do to help your child get ready to learn to read also happen to be some of the easiest, cheapest, and most fun things, too? They are! 

From the time kids are born, their brains are learning all the things they need to know so eventually they can put letters together into words and words into sentences. Singing songs and hearing and talking about books and stories help kids learn vocabulary and the rhythm and sounds of a language. Smooshing play dough, cutting paper with scissors, and digging in sandboxes, dirt, or piles of rice help make fingers and hands strong to hold a crayon, pencil, or pen later on when they are learning to write. Making up rules to their own games or creating their own stories helps them with social skills and learning about beginnings, middles, and ends. 

Reading, talking, singing, writing, and playing are all things you can do at home without expensive supplies; just sing and dance around to a favorite song or pick up a book, start reading, and ask questions like, “What do you think will happen next?” to get the early literacy learning started!

If this sounds like the kind of fun learning your family loves, the library has a lot of resources to help!

• Zoom Bags (not to be confused with the online meetings!) are easy-to-grab, age-based bags in Spanish and English filled with books and simple activity suggestions on kid-friendly topics. You can place those on hold and pick them up at your local library! 
• Storytime staff have videos of books, songs, flannelboard stories, and activities that you can enjoy and sing-along with on the library YouTube. You can even favorite and make playlists of the ones your family really enjoys! 
• There are booklists created on a variety of topics to help you find good read-aloud books, including these age-based lists, and you can always get suggestions just for you and your family with a quick email to My Librarian - Tasha, Amy, Kate, Sherita, and Diana all love picture books!

This article was written for our Family Newsletter, available in English and Spanish. Please sign up here, and you can email us at learning@multcolib.org with any questions.