Summer Reading Program Activities for Tiny Tots and Preschoolers Birth Through Age 5
Reading, singing, playing and talking are fun activities to do with your little one that prepare them for learning to read. Feel free to repeat the activities & create your own – repetition is important for learning!
Ask your Librarian for more ideas to get your little one on the Road to Reading!
Download the gameboard here starting June 1.
Activities
Especially for infants and toddlers:
Explore different textures and talk about how they feel.
Create a rhyme or song with your child's name in it and say it to them.
Talk about the things you see around you in your house, outside and at the Library!
Change the wheels on the bus to the members of your family, and what they say or do. For example, Mommy on the bus says, "Read, read, read."
Talk about the different colors of food during mealtimes or grocery shopping.
Make a book of photographs or drawings of family members (don't forget pets!) and read it together.
Check out music on Hoopla and have a baby dance party.
Check out a toy from the Library!
Face-to-Face Chat Time
Lie on the floor together and copy your baby’s sounds, expressions, or movements.
Window Watch
Sit by a window and talk about what you see going by—cars, birds, people, clouds.
Book Peek-a-Boo
Cover part of a picture with your hand and reveal it slowly while talking about it.
Create your own
For preschoolers:
Use a cup of water and a paintbrush to paint pictures and practice writing letters on a sidewalk.
Make a sensory bin with dirt and other outdoor materials, and pretend to dig things up.
Hunt for the first letter of your child’s name in books, on signs in the store, and all around town: “Look, it’s a ‘T’ for 'Teddy!”
Play together in the Play and Learn Center at your favorite library branch.
Shape Hunt at Home
Find circles, squares, and triangles around the house.
Shadow Play
Use sunlight or a lamp to make shadows and tell stories with them.
Draw or name things that make sounds (cow, door, bell) and act them out.
Pretend Store or Restaurant
Take turns being the customer and the worker—great for conversation skills.
Try making a mud pie. Did you find any neat rocks or squiggly bugs while playing in the mud?
Make letter or color-related scavenger hunts to put up around your house to promote early literacy.
Dig a hole in the dirt or lift up some grass or leaves and take a look underneath. Name what you see there.
Read a book you love together.
Create your own
Activities
Thank you to our Youth Summer Passport sponsors!
