Reading Books to Your Child is Educational - Photo by Aline Dassel

Parents and preschool workers should evaluate the books they read for that story’s ability to encourage other learning opportunities. Here are some evaluation tips to help you get started.

• Read through the story once – what is the main theme or concept of the book? Does that present an interesting conversation opportunity to teach the preschool child a moral or lesson?
• Look at the illustrators techniques – Are there unusual art techniques involved that a preschooler needs to learn?
• Examine the illustrations themselves carefully – Are there cultural references or interesting pictures in the illustrations? Hidden pictures? Repeating elements that a child needs to learn to recognize?
• Listen as you read the story aloud to yourself - Is there a use of rhyme or alliteration that is important for a preschooler to begin learning? Are there difficult vocabulary words to stretch a child’s understanding and introduce new words to their language skill repertoire?

Consider whether there are geography, cultural, science or other skills and lessons to be learned from the story and how you can present those concepts to your preschooler through the book. A child’s development can happen in a natural and organic way, when the growth stems from his or her favorite picture books and classic children’s stories.

So many children's books offer educational opportunities. Photo by Armin H.

Pick a book with lots of meaty learning potential and read it once a day for an entire week. Each day present a new educational concept and spend the day exploring these new ideas with your preschooler.

You’ll be amazed how much a child can learn before Kindergarten, simply and easily, as you help them analyze their favorite stories. It’s up to us as adults, to help bring that world to life for our children.