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These ideas offer ways to build your child's literacy skills, preparing her for success in school and beyond.

Reading

Babies	Toddlers & Preschoolers
Provide your child picture books with simple objects or faces	Have your child point to numbers, colors, letters and familiar objects.
Give him board or cloth books with pages that turn easily and won't tear	Choose books about topics of interest like animals or trains-and big events like toilet training or the birth of a new sibling.
Offer him books with soft, rough or bumpy textures to touch and feel

Talking and listening

Babies	Toddlers & Preschoolers
Talk to your child about what you see and what you are doing.	Have conversations where each of you has a chance to talk and to listen.
Listen as she communicates with coos, smiles, laughs and cries.	Play hide-and-seek, talking about what you are seeing as you look. Your child will listen closely as she waits to be found.

Singing

Babies	Toddlers & Preschoolers
Play music and watch as your child bounces and babbles to the beat.	Teach you child songs that have hand movements.
Sing favorite songs over and over again.	Teach him simple sing-a-long songs like "Ring Around the Rosie."

Writing

Babies	Toddlers & Preschoolers
Encourage your child to hold soft toys or rattles, which help develop grasping skills.	Let your child play with and trace magnetic letters and numbers.
Play with puzzles that have oversized numbers and letters.	Allow her to draw freely and creatively.

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*Information courtesy of Born Learning™, a public engagement and material distribution campaign that provides important information about what young children need every day to ensure quality early learning. Designed to support you in your critical role as a child's first teacher, Born Learning™ materials are made available through the efforts of United Way, United Way Success by 6 and Civitas. For more information, visit bornlearning.org.