Providing a Print-Rich Learning Environment

So many times I hear people say, “it’s not important, they can’t read yet anyway,” to which I’ll respond, “don’t every underestimate your child.”  It’s one of the greatest disservices you can ever do them.  By providing a print rich environment, you’re giving meaning to words and letting them know that reading is important. They will be using it their entire life, so we may as well point out the value of it now.  To be clear, I’m not suggesting you use words to label things without the presence of a picture.  By providing a picture of the labeled object next to the word, you’re making a connection between a visual they can understand and print that they haven’t yet mastered.  But like everything else, exposure, exposure, exposure.  If you prefer to take your own pictures of the actual objects and laminate them with the printed word attached (see example), you have that option.  If you want to download cartoon pictures or readily available pictures off the Internet because you find that easier, know you have that option as well. Just make sure you use basic font instead of something fancy when you label an object.  This will make it easier to read because children learn to read using basic font styles. As an added bonus, when you ask your child to clean up, they’ll be better able to understand where things actually go because they’re label. Set this up as an expectation, and you’ll be surprised how many positive habits you can instill by doing something as simple as labeling objects around the room.