Milwaukee Public Library


Print Awareness
Print Awareness is noticing print, knowing how to handle a book, and how to follow the written words on a page:
Help children discover letters and words on signs, menus, billboards, etc Allow children to hold books and turn pages Follow the words on a page-demonstrate left to right and top to bottom
Activities you can do together :
Reading labels to them Giving them opportunities to draw and write
0 – 2 years old
Babies see things best about 8 to 12 inches from their faces. Show your baby a box from a toy or other colorful box. Tell your baby what it says as you point to the words that are in large type. Read with your baby every day. While you are in a store, point out signs and read them with your child.
A Closer Look by Mary McCarthy	Chicky Chicky Chook Chook by Cathy MacLennan
Daisy’s Hide-and-Seek: A Lift-the-Flap Book by Jane Simmons	Hooray for Fish! by Lucy Cousins
I Went Walking by Sue Williams	Maisy Big, Maisy Small by Lucy Cousins
Orange Pear Apple Bear by Emily Gravett	Silly Little Goose by Nancy Tafuri
Small Sister by Jessica Meserve	The Baby Goes Beep by Rebecca O’Connell
2 – 3 years old
Write your child’s name while they are watching you. Put their name on a door or shelf where they can see it.
Big and Little by John Stadler	Dog and Bear: Two Friends, Three Stories by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Freight Train by Donald Crews	Hi, Pizza Man! by Virginia Walter
I Can Do It Too! by Karen Baicker	I Read Signs by Tana Hoban
Maisy Goes Camping by Lucy Cousins	Oh What a Noisy Farm by Harriet Ziefert
Shhhhh! Everybody is Sleeping by Julie Markes	Yikes! by Robert Florczak
3 – 5 years old
Let your child draw a picture. Ask them to tell you about the picture. Write down what they say, under the picture, or on the back, or on a separate sheet of paper. They will see how you write words and what direction they go.
Bad Baby by Ross MacDonald	Big Moon Tortilla by Joy Cowley
First Day of Winter by Denise Fleming	I’m Not Scared! by Jonathan Allen
Olivia and the Missing Toy by Ian Falconer	Scribble by Deborah Freedman
The Teddy Bear by David McPhail	There’s Only One of Me! by Pat Hutchins
What Do You Do With a Tail Like This? by Steven Jenkins	What! Cried Granny: An Almost Bedtime Story by Kate Lum