Inspiring your preschoolers to be readers and artists

by Jamie Le Sesne Spears, Family Engagement Specialist

Even before your little one can read, their journey to becoming a reader begins with you! Story time is more than just fun for children; reading aloud is an essential part of supporting literacy and developing language skills.

Encouraging your preschooler to participate in story time

The need for reading aloud starts as early as infancy and continues well into your child’s school-age years. As your child grows older, this is a great opportunity to encourage additional participation during your read-alouds. When I was teaching preschooler, I encouraged my students to learn to love reading alongside me by doing things like:

Letting them hold the book
Asking them to turning pages
Allowing them to take turns sitting alongside me
Asking them to retell parts of the story
Encouraging them to point out certain letters
Ask and answer questions.

Step up your read-alouds with art

Moving down the path to reading, you can provide art experiences that engage with the books you read together. These experiences create a fun, engaging way to interact with the text. Your child can creatively retell parts of the story, make personal connections, and express their own thoughts. When you add adult questions alongside the art, you enhance their development even more. Your child can practice answering questions about a story, respond to the characters, as well as predict what may happen next.

Good reads to encourage art and literacy

You can enhance many books through art, but I have found that children’s books about art support both literacy and creative development. These children’s books about art both engage children and provide an easy transition into an art experience:

Scribble Stones by Diane Alber

A little gray stone discovers its purpose to bring joy and creativity to the world!

Art Experience

Go on a walk and gather a few stones (rocks).
Take them inside and let your child wash and dry their stone.
Provide markers, paint, or sharpies
Encourage your child to add “scribble” and “splatter” to their stone.
Try adding stickers to add texture and patterns to their art.

Question to Ask

How can we use our Scribble Stone to give joy to someone else?

The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions by Anna Llenas

The color monster’s feelings are all mixed up! He learns to put his feelings in the right place by matching each feeling with a color.

Art Experience

Pull out different colors of construction paper, scissors, and markers/crayons.
Draw or cut your own color monster.
Give your color monster a feeling.
Try making your color monster 3D by sculpting it with playdough!

Question to Ask

What color do you feel when … ? (i.e. I tell you “no” or you are playing outside)

Beautiful Oops! by Barney Saltzberg

This book teaches children that everyone makes mistakes and those mistakes can be created into something beautiful…and it’s a favorite of our Family & Community Engagement Manager, Tom Taylor!

Art Experience

Provide scrap paper, scissors, hole-punch, ruler, or markers/crayons.
Encourage your child to take a mistake or create a mistake by cutting or tearing paper.
Encourage them to transform that mistake into something new!

Question to Ask

What are some ways from the story that you can make an oops beautiful?

If Picasso Painted a Snowman by Amy & Greg Newbold

Everyone knows what a snowman looks like, but through beautiful illustrations, this story shows children that artists see snowman a little bit differently!

Art Experience