As your baby approaches his first year, he is beginning to pay closer attention to illustrations in books. Use that budding interest to build his vocabulary and language

Babies love to hear their own names! Try substituting your child’s name in simple nursery rhymes to build pre-reading skills like phonological awareness.

Your baby is becoming more skillful in using her hands, and many infant toys -- like pegboards and puzzles -- foster the fine motor development that will help with beginning writing and other pre-reading skills later on.

Even though your infant can’t talk, he is starting to learn that he can use signals to communicate. When you're aware of your baby’s attempts to communicate and try to interpret his needs, you are building his pre-reading skills.

Introduce the traditional nursery rhyme Star Light, Star Bright, and find out what your child would wish for. These types of language opportunities help to build vocabulary and confidence in talking and sharing.

Make a game out of finding objects in your house that begin with the first letter of your child’s name.

When preschool children memorize and recite nursery rhymes, it helps develop their phonological awareness skills.

In this easy activity, your child will practice listening for individual words in sentences.

Learning to focus on sounds helps pave the way for later accomplishments in phonological awareness, and that’s important for future reading and spelling skills.

Fingerplays and action rhymes can help toddlers learn about rhyming, provide opportunities for listening and speaking, and encourage coordination of words with actions.