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Reading Doesn't Start with the Alphabet: The Skills Every Preschooler Needs First
208 Plays8 days ago
Have you ever worried that your preschooler isn't interested in letters yet? Or wondered if you should be doing more alphabet practice at home?
This episode is your reminder to take a deep breath.
In episode 94, Miss Beth breaks down the developmental skills that come before the ABCs — and explains why these early experiences are some of the strongest predictors of later reading success. Reading and writing don't begin with flashcards or worksheets. They begin years earlier through movement, play, conversation, scribbling, and sound awareness.
If you have a child between the ages of 2 and 5, this is one of those episodes you'll want to save and share with another parent who could use a little reassurance that they're doing better than they think.
In this episode, you'll learn:
- Why scribbling is the first stage of writing development
- The progression from lines and curves to letters and words
- How grip strength, shoulder stability, and fine motor skills support handwriting
- What print awareness is and why it matters before children can read
- The difference between phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics
- Why Miss Beth doesn't recommend rushing the alphabet or relying on "letter of the week"
- Simple, play-based activities that build lifelong reading and writing skills
You'll walk away knowing:
- Why the activities your child is already doing — drawing, playing, reading together — are building real reading readiness
- What to do instead of letter drills with a 2–5 year old
- How to tell if your child is developing on track without comparing them to flashcard milestones
- When to feel confident you're already giving your child exactly what they need
Links mentioned:
About the host
Beth Gaskill (Miss Beth) is a reading specialist, early childhood educator, and founder of Big City Readers. She helps parents support their children's literacy development through research-backed, science of reading strategies.
Topics
early literacy, pre-reading skills, phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, phonics, print awareness, fine motor skills, handwriting development, scribbling, play-based learning, preschool literacy, toddler learning, reading readiness, science of reading, parenting advice
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Early Literacy
00:00:00
Speaker
Things that you can stop doing tomorrow. Stop worrying if your child can write their name perfectly, if they hold the crayon perfectly, if they know every letter, if they can stay inside the lines, and if they can finish a worksheet.
00:00:13
Speaker
Things I would do more of. Read aloud to them. Talk about the book. Narrate what you're doing. Sing songs. Hum songs. Draw at their level.
00:00:23
Speaker
Play together. And have fun doing it.
Welcome to Play On Words Podcast
00:00:27
Speaker
Play Onwards! This is Play Onwards from Big City Readers. Is this Beth?
00:00:35
Speaker
Hello, hello, and welcome back to the Play On Words podcast from Big City Readers. Today's episode is one that I wish every parent had before they bought their first or their next alphabet workbook or flashcard
Early Literacy Activities
00:00:51
Speaker
set. Because somewhere along the baby to toddler years, someone or somebody or some company has convinced people parents that reading starts with the ABCs.
00:01:06
Speaker
And it doesn't. Reading actually starts years before your child can name letters. It starts when your two-year-old is covering the paper in scribbles, when they're singing nursery rhymes, when they're climbing on the playground, when they're squeezing Play-Doh. Those things probably don't look like literacy unless you're a big city reader's parent, but they're actually some of the most important literacy skills that your child will ever learn.
00:01:36
Speaker
So today, i want to walk you through what really comes before the alphabet and how you can support your child without turning your house into a
Social Media Pressure on Parents
00:01:45
Speaker
preschool. Like, it just takes a few minutes a day.
00:01:47
Speaker
So you might be scrolling social media and see a parent say, my two-year-old knows all their letters, and Social media is really just like brag media, right? My three-year-old is reading. My preschooler can write a summary about Harry Potter. You know, you name it, you will see it.
00:02:06
Speaker
And immediately, parents will think, well, all my child does is scribble. So I actually want to tell you that I get excited when I see a two-year-old scribbling. I'm not trying to throw a shade to this parent. I will not be saying who this was. And I think enough time has passed since this story happened. Like this is like way many years ago when we had a tutoring center in Chicago.
00:02:30
Speaker
Now we're all just digital. Well, a little bit in person, but many moons ago where I had all my staff there. But the reason I'm saying this is because we all freaked out. All of these reading specialists, speech pathologists, OTs, everybody that was there looked at this and were like, This is not true. This didn't happen. So there was a very popular social media influencer who posted her child's easel and a drawing that he had done.
00:02:57
Speaker
And he's like 18 months old. And I'm not going to show you it because I don't want it it to be this parent, but like this child's in fourth grade now. It doesn't matter. But I was like, this just didn't happen. So spoiler alert, it actually didn't happen. I know a friend of this person and she said she learned later that her husband had drawn that for their child.
00:03:20
Speaker
And she was too embarrassed to admit to it because everybody was like, wow, that's really advanced. But it was like a person with arms and fingers and legs. But usually around two and a half, every child draws the same exact way. They draw themselves or people as like a potato with a few sticks. And that's because there is a normal progression.
00:03:42
Speaker
of learning to draw into learning to write. And scribbles are part of it. So if your two-year-old is just scribbling, guess what? They are learning to write. So don't get discouraged. This is the foundation of reading and writing.
00:03:58
Speaker
So a lot of people think that writing starts with learning your letters, but it doesn't. It starts with marks. So scribbling is to writing what babbling
Foundations of Writing Skills
00:04:08
Speaker
is to talking. If you're nine-month-old starts saying, mama, mama, mama, you're probably going to celebrate that they're trying to say mama. But if they start scribbling, you might not celebrate that they're actually trying to write you a message, but they are.
00:04:23
Speaker
So we have a progression. It goes random scribbles to controlled scribbles to lines to curves to shapes to letters to words to sentences Have you ever really looked at letters?
00:04:40
Speaker
Probably not as much as I do. I really think about letters. I really am constantly thinking about why a child is writing a certain letter backwards and why they're getting certain letters mixed up. And really overanalyze letters. But think about letters. They really are just lines, curves, circles, crosses,
00:05:01
Speaker
So kids aren't just coloring when they're scribbling. They're practicing the movements that they'll eventually use to write. And their hands, when they're 18 months old, two years old, three years old, even four years old, aren't strong enough to write all of the letters. So that's why things like squeezing Play-Doh and playing on the monkey bars and building a tower are things that they need to be strong writers.
00:05:26
Speaker
So your kids actually don't just write with their fingers. Writing starts with the core, and then the shoulders, and then the arms, and then the wrists, and then the fingers.
Play-Based Learning
00:05:40
Speaker
Have you ever wondered why your child colors for 30 seconds and then says they're done? it might not be that they don't have a very big attention span or that they're not interested. It might be their body literally getting tired.
00:05:52
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So I love to add lots of fine and gross motor opportunities for toddlers and preschoolers. Like play-based preschool is excellent. People always like, oh, they didn't do any literacy development. They're in a play-based preschool.
00:06:07
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That does not mean that they're not doing any literacy development. Play-Doh. We are squeezing. We are building. Spray bottles require even just, I just did the action of using a spray bottle and I felt it go through my entire arm. um We need that strength. Climbing. Monkey bars. We're using different parts of the body. Painting. Drawing on easels.
00:06:28
Speaker
Pulling tape off the wall. Finger painting. Using little tongs to pick ice cubes or rice up, helping you cook, um playing with clothespins. These are all literacy activities.
00:06:42
Speaker
They're all literacy activities. So don't feel like you need to do flashcards and quiz your toddler on ABCs because honestly, you're probably doing that before they're ready.
00:06:55
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So there is another skill that is a pre-reading skill that not a lot of people talk about, and it's called phonological awareness.
Phonological Awareness
00:07:03
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I wish it had a better name. I wish it was easier to remember. But it simply means hearing sounds, not letters, not showing your child the letter B and saying there's a B.
00:07:14
Speaker
That is important too, but not as much as the sounds. You can do this without books, without flashcards, without worksheets. um Examples of this would be rhyming, right? So say you have the book, The Little Blue Truck. I can say it in my sleep.
00:07:30
Speaker
Horn went beep, engine purred. The friendliest sounds you've ever heard. If you read it to your child twice, they probably can start to fill in the rhyming word. And that is the first stage of rhyming. There's actually several stages of rhyming. The first is just completing the rhyme that they already know.
00:07:51
Speaker
Later, we'll see if they can tell you which two words rhyme. Like if you say spoon, moon, mom, which two rhymes? or which one doesn't. Another part of phonological awareness is syllables. So understanding that there are multiple syllables in a word, like mommy, brother.
00:08:14
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A lot of people practice this with thumping their feet or clapping their hands. Personally, i find that the most helpful is to have kids hum. So take a song that you know and um sing it like happy birthday to you.
00:08:32
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And then you're going to sing it with your lips closed. You're going to hum the song. po fool Kids will be able to hear how many syllables or beats are in a word even maybe before they're able to name that that's what they're doing. So you could do it with Happy Birthday, with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. You could do it with the ABC song.
00:08:53
Speaker
And guess what? If you want an extra challenge, I love to do this with my three-year-olds, you can hum the ABCs and stop and see if they can name the letter you stopped on. So maybe you're going to Fuh, fuh, fuh, fuh, fuh.
00:09:09
Speaker
And they might yell out, G. So that's a fun one that's more of a challenge. But even just practicing humming the song, letting your child hear you hum it is helping them hear the beats in the word.
00:09:21
Speaker
This is so crucial in kindergarten and first and second grade when kids are learning to read and write and spell bigger words. They have to understand syllables. And so many kids and parents skip this step.
00:09:36
Speaker
So syllables and rhyming are a big part of phonological awareness. Another one is beginning sounds. So I remember my sister, she's really silly with her kids, and she they just make up words, and she'll say, badios instead of adios. And even though like that's just like a funny thing, it actually is helping kids in their brain hear. like That's not usually actually the first sound in the word adios, even if that's not the language they're practicing. So saying a different sound, flipping some sounds like a game you can play is Silly Simon Says. So regular Simon Says will say touch different body parts like touch your head, touch your elbow. But Silly Simon would say touch your bed, touch your balbo. so kids will say, no, no, not balbo, elbow. So even if they're not fully able to say, oh wait a minute, that beginning sound is not the same.
00:10:34
Speaker
Noticing that something is off is the first part of that beginning sound. Then it's ending sounds. so So many people, even preschool teachers, even when I was a preschool teacher, I accidentally did this, would focus on beginning sounds only like a is for apple. But ending sounds matter too. So asking what's the last sound you hear in apple The key here is sound, not letter. You might want to say the last sound is E. That's not true. That's the last letter. The last sound you hear in apple is L. So we want kids to be able to name the sounds and not just the letters.
00:11:07
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We want kids to be able to change sounds, blend sounds. So you say it slow, they say it fast. Like, mm, um, and they can say mom So if your child hears sounds clearly, then letters can start to make sense.
00:11:25
Speaker
If they can't hear the sounds, then letters become something that they memorize. And this is a huge distinction that I want parents to be able to note, especially in the toddler and preschool years.
Understanding Print Concepts
00:11:37
Speaker
If you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, you're going too fast. I'm overwhelmed by this. I'm going to link in the show notes. We have a course that takes you through all the pre-reading skills. It's in our ready-to-read course for preschoolers. And I teach you all of this in several lessons that you can just play over and over on demand. And you can replicate on your own. Even if your child doesn't watch it, you can watch it and learn the games that you can play with your child. So I'll link that in the show notes. Okay.
00:12:03
Speaker
Another phrase that you've probably never heard is print awareness. Children have to learn that print means something. So before letters, we need to talk about how we hold a book, turning pages, that print moves from left to right and top to bottom.
00:12:19
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We want them to be able to point to the first word or the last word. Notice that there's spaces between words. Notice the title, of the author. And do you want to know what one of the easiest literacy activities is?
00:12:31
Speaker
is following the words with your finger while you read. That's it. Just have your child follow the words while you read to them. You could do this with your three-year-old. You could do this with your five-year-old. Whatever stage your child is in, it's more of a stage, not an age. Some kids are ready to learn to read at three. Some kids aren't until they're six. But you can start building on these pre-reading skills right now before you're just going to introduce the ABCs.
00:12:57
Speaker
But, okay, I will say, I'm not anti-alphabet. Obviously, kids need to know the names of the letters. I am, however, anti-rushing. We want to teach sounds.
00:13:08
Speaker
We do need to use the names of the letters. But I cannot stress this enough.
Meaningful Letter Teaching
00:13:13
Speaker
You don't need to do the letter of the week. If you're a preschool teacher listening to this or a parent listening to this, the letter of the week is cute, but it research does not show that this does much for learning to read and learning the letters.
00:13:24
Speaker
You can use magnetic letters. I'll link some of my favorite ABC activities in the show notes of this if you want to buy some things. But really, my favorite activity for learning letters and beginning sounds is just using a piece of paper or a post-it note. Like, put the beginning sound on a couple of things around the house, like the table, tuh.
00:13:45
Speaker
T. Put a T on the table. Put a CH on the chair. Connect sounds to meaningful words that they see in their everyday life rather than just having them memorize these letters because that is going to be what makes it stick.
00:14:03
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So quickly, things that you can stop doing tomorrow.
Encouraging Literacy Through Engagement
00:14:08
Speaker
Stop worrying if your child can write their name perfectly, if they hold the crayon perfectly, if they know every letter, if they can stay inside the lines, and if they can finish a worksheet.
00:14:19
Speaker
Things I would do more of? Read aloud to them, talk about the book, Talk to them. Narrate what you're doing. Sing songs. Hum songs. Draw at their level.
00:14:31
Speaker
What are the actual shapes and lines that they're able to do? Play together. Play on the playground. Cook together. Build things. And have fun doing it.
00:14:42
Speaker
And don't forget to ask questions, too. I think that we're all... accidentally thinking that early literacy should feel like school. But kids have learned language for thousands of years through relationships, through stories, through conversations, through movement, and through play. That doesn't mean that explicit literacy, when kids are ready for it, doesn't matter. But if your child is 2, 3, 4, and they're scribbling all over your walls—okay, wait, maybe not the walls—but they're scribbling all over paper, they are doing important work, so you should celebrate it.
00:15:16
Speaker
Slow down, enjoy it, save it, and watch the progression of their scribbles become their stories. It will happen before you know it.
Building a Strong Literacy Foundation
00:15:25
Speaker
Those scribbles become letters, those letters become words, and those words will become books.
00:15:30
Speaker
And if they can write it, they should be able to read it. And if they can read it, they should be able to write it. So as they're growing their writing skills, they should be growing their reading skills too.
00:15:42
Speaker
And one day, very soon, you'll watch your child curl up on the couch and read by themselves. I know this because I've been doing this for 10 years as big city readers, but 15 years as a reading specialist working with preschoolers through eighth graders.
00:15:58
Speaker
And people message me still every single day pictures of their kids just reading independently that they thought it would never happen. And it does, but not because you rushed them, not because you did it before they were ready, not because you drilled them, but because you built a really strong foundation.
00:16:15
Speaker
So I hope this has been helpful and i will link all the things I mentioned in the show notes. And if this episode was helpful, please send it to a parent of a toddler or preschooler because we want everyone to have the same strong foundation and not be rushed into something that they're simply not ready for.
00:16:34
Speaker
I will see you in the next episode. Please let me know if you have any questions. Like and follow the show for the next episodes. We have a new episode every Wednesday.
Contact Information
00:16:43
Speaker
And as always, message me on Instagram if you need anything at BigCityReaders.
00:16:48
Speaker
Or you can email our team, hello at BigCityReaders.com. And I will see you all next time.