How to Teach Pre-Reading Skills to Preschoolers

Wondering how to teach pre-reading skills to preschoolers or young homeschooled children? You’ve come to the right place for methods, tips, and tricks!

How to Teach Pre-Reading Skills to Preschoolers

Reading is one of the most important foundational skills your child will learn. Many homeschooling moms ask how to teach pre-reading skills to preschoolers and kindergarteners. Do you want to know how your child can become a better reader?

During the primary grades, your homeschooled child will learn how to recognize letters, tap out sounds, blend those sounds into words, and finally, make those words into sentences. The amount of brainpower and hard work that go into this process is amazing, but with the right tips and tricks, it can be fun for your kids.

How to Teach Preschoolers to Read

What many people don’t realize is that your child starts to learn how to read before even starting formal preschool lessons! Every time you sit down with your toddler to read a book, you’re demonstrating important pre-reading skills that will start your child on their journey to reading. Learning how to teach pre-reading skills to preschoolers is not even necessary, really! That’s because pre-reading skills include the following:

Holding the book correctly – Your child will start learning how to read simply by holding the book the right way! Let your child experiment with this skill by letting them handle the book.
Turning pages in the right direction – Another pre-reading skill is turning the pages in the right direction. When you sit on the couch and cuddle with a book, let your child help you turn the pages to help develop this skill.
Following words top to bottom and left to right – When you’re reading together, use your finger to track the words. This will help your child learn how to follow words in the correct direction, from top to bottom and left to right.
Listening and comprehension – As you’re reading stories to your toddler, check in with them, and have them guess what will happen next. Ask about what’s going on so that your child can show off how much they understand about the story.
Retelling – After reading a book with your child, ask them to retell the story to you or a sibling, or ask them to “pretend” to read the story themselves. In this way, they are showing you their innate comprehension skills.
Love of reading – A love of reading will take your child a long way. Develop this pre-reading skill by making reading a fun and interactive activity.

How to Build Further Reading Skills

After pre-reading skills, next come all of the reading skills your child needs to know. Starting with letter recognition and phonics, your child will begin to learn how to read. Next will come blending letter sounds into words and recognizing common sight words, as well as comprehension and spelling skills.

Letter Recognition – Beginner readers need to learn all of the letters of the alphabet. Students will need to learn how to recognize individual letters in order to be able to start reading words.
Phonics – In addition to letter recognition, young readers need to learn the individual sounds that letters make, as well as the sounds that groups of letters make.
Blending – After learning sounds, students will begin blending those sounds into words. Words are usually simple CVC patterns, such as cat, dog, etc.
Sight Words – Some words can’t be sounded out. That’s why sight words are so important!
Comprehension – As kids progress in their reading skills, they’ll need to show that they understand what they’re reading. Comprehension practice helps develop these skills.

Preschool Reading Skills Practice with Reading Eggs

Teaching your child how to read can be easy and fun if you have the right online tool, and I’m excited to partner with Reading Eggs to include this portion of the article as a review and recommendation (please see my disclosure for more information about how my posts are occasionally sponsored).

Reading Eggs is a personal favorite of mine when it comes to online reading programs for how to teach pre-reading skills and further reading skills. I’ve used it with all three of my kids through the years.

Here is a review of Reading Eggs curriculum that I wrote last year when my two younger children were using it! It sparked excitement for reading with each of them, and they are both voracious book lovers now. My 4-year-old son is still a pre-reader, but my first grader has excellent reading skills now!

I used Reading Eggs when my oldest daughter was a preschooler-first grader as well. She is my dyslexic child, and it was amazing how much it helped her with her reading skills. She went through the program so fast, and it helped fill in many of her gaps in learning that I had previously missed. I loved how it strategically set her up for early reading success. I still advocate for this curriculum to my friends and readers.

A screenshot of Reading Eggs Pre-Reading skills practice

Reading Eggs has different levels so that all readers, from beginners to reading pro’s, can have fun developing their reading skills. And homeschooling moms like me love the program because it helps you as the homeschool teacher to know how to teach pre-reading skills and further skills for producing good readers.

Reading Eggs Junior: First Steps – This Reading Eggs course is ideal for 2-4-year-olds. It focuses on teachings those important pre-reading skills that every kid needs to know before learning how to read.
Reading Eggs: Ready for School -This online reading course focuses more on letter recognition, phonics, and sight words, all of which are needed to start reading. Your child will have fun learning these foundational reading skills, all from the comfort of home.
Reading Eggs: Practice Makes Perfect – As your child progresses in their reading skills, it’s time to start learning more difficult concepts! This course is made for 6-7 year-olds as they continue their reading progress.
Reading Eggspress: Reading for Meaning – After the reading foundation has been set, it’s time to start developing those reading skills. Reading for Meaning is for 7-13 year-olds helps develop comprehension skills using lessons and games.

A screenshot of Reading Eggs word recognition practice

Teaching your kids to read is one of the most important things you can do for their education. They will use reading in everything they learn, including math! You no longer have to wonder how to teach pre-reading skills and primary reading skills. With the tips and tricks above, you can be sure you’re on the right track. Find fun ways for them to learn the necessary skills so that they develop a love of reading alongside those skills. Using an online course, such as Reading Eggs, is a great way to accomplish this!