(Almost) Effortless Preschool Literacy Activities

When you want to lay a solid foundation for future readers there's no better activity than reading aloud. However, don't pass up the opportunity to include these fun and very easy literacy activities in your child's day.

It's amazing how many activities you can do with your child with almost no preparation! You can skip the prep and save all your energy for interacting with your child. Remember, your child cares about spending time with you, not elaborate, high-effort preparation!

Easy Preschool Literacy Activities

I've included my cheeky "Prep Scale" to give you an idea about how much effort you need to expend before you do the activity. A "0" is no prep at all. Nothing. Nada. You can do it where you are. Right. Now.

A 10 would include a trip to your local Michael's, then an hour crafting your own homemade, decoupage alphabet letters and washi-taped home literacy station.* Nothing here is above a 4 on my Preparation Scale.

Alphabet Puzzles

Teach alphabet sounds as your preschooler puts together their favorite alphabet puzzle. If you don't have an alphabet puzzle, use whatever puzzle you have and emphasize the first letter of every image in the puzzle. "B-b-b-b bear! Bear starts with b!" Prep Scale: 0

MORE: Alphabet books that aren't boring!

Journal

Guess what? Even preschoolers can journal, and we explain how we did it here! Journaling does not have to include the formation of letters in order to be valuable. In fact, Journaling is a fabulous pre-literacy tool and teaches kids that writing is fun. Prep Scale: 2

Wordless Books

Have your preschooler "read" wordless books to you! Scared of wordless books? I sympathize. Read about how I learned to love them and get some tips. Prep Scale: 0

MORE: Favorite Wordless Books

Match Letters While Reading

Have your alphabet puzzle pieces handy when you read books. Point to a letter in a book and have your child find the matching letter amongst the puzzle pieces. If you don't have alphabet puzzle pieces, you could use letter magnets, letter blocks, or even single letters written on index cards. Prep Scale: 1

Tell Impromptu Stories

Reading comprehension begins with storytelling! Tell stories as you do the housework, or keep your child from complaining about chores by telling them stories while they work. Tell stories while you wait in line, or at the doctor's office! If you struggle to make up your own stories, tell stories you already know, like fairy tales. Prep Scale: 0

Hang Up the Alphabet

Hang the alphabet up on a clothesline like we did here. If you don't have letter cards, you can hang up homemade ones that are a cinch to whip up. Prep Scale: 3 (4 if you have to make your own letters.)

Rhyme

Rhyming builds phonetic awareness, encourages a love of vocabulary, and makes everyone smile! Recite nursery rhymes or poems while you brush their teeth, help them get dressed, or walk to the store. Here are some other ways to make rhymes a part of every day. Prep Scale: 0

MORE: 8 Ways Poetry Calms Children

Sensory Writing

Make a salt tray by pouring a container of salt into a baking tray. Preschoolers use their fingers to "write" in the salt. They can make letters if they want, or just scribble. Scribbling is a very important pre-writing skill, so don't force them to learn how to form letters if they'd don't want to. Prep Scale: 2 Clean up: 3 (Be sure to include the kids in clean up–while reciting rhymes, of course!)

Trace Letters

Trace letters on your child's back. Have kids guess which letter you are tracing. Start out with letters that are very easy to distinguish, like "X" and "O". Prep Scale: "0"

MORE: Indoor and outdoor literacy games

Syllable Jump

Jump out the syllables of words in puddles! Is it not raining? Instead, draw shapes on the sidewalk and jump in and out of them. Prep Scale: 1 if it's raining and you have to put on rain gear; 0 if you just jump wherever you are right now!

Add Props to Storytelling

Introduce storytelling with a prop bag in order to build reading comprehension. I love this idea and you can find out more about how it works at Coffee Cups and Crayons. Prep Scale: 3

Read Aloud

Read books. Read books. Read books. There is no greater preschool literacy activity, none that takes so little effort on your part, than spending 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening reading picture books to your preschooler. Prep Scale: 0

MORE: Essential Read Aloud Picture Books

*Note to crafty moms and great activity planners: you are awesome, too.