Making Sense of Print: 6 Playful Ways to Build Concepts of Print in Preschool
Wait… I Thought They Already Knew This?!
Have you ever had a moment in your classroom when you realized children were learning something important, but a piece of the puzzle was still missing?
Maybe you've been introducing letter names and sounds, incorporating movement, and helping children connect letters, sounds, and meaningful experiences. And you're starting to see progress! Children are recognizing more letter names, beginning to connect letters to their sounds, and getting excited to spot familiar letters around the classroom.
Then you sit down to read a big book together, and suddenly you realize something is missing.
Children recognize letters, but they don't seem to understand how those letters connect to the words you're reading. They might point randomly at the page, turn the book upside down, or have no idea where to begin reading.
Wait a minute. How can children be learning about letters but not understand how those letters work together on a page?
Welcome to the world of concepts of print, one of the often-overlooked pieces of early literacy.
We sometimes assume that because children spend time around books, look at pictures, and participate in story time, they'll naturally figure out how print works. But understanding how books and print work is a skill we need to help children develop intentionally, just like the other components of early literacy.
So, let's talk about what concepts of print actually are, why they matter, and how we can weave them into the playful learning already happening in our classrooms!
The Next Piece of the Puzzle: What Are Concepts of Print?
Simply put, concepts of print are children's understanding of how books and written language work.
Children are learning that print carries meaning and that the marks on a page aren't just random letters and symbols. They're learning how we use print to communicate ideas, share stories, and eventually read and write.
This includes understanding that:
Books have a front cover, a back cover, and pages.
We hold books in a particular way and turn the pages in order.
In English, we read from left to right and from top to bottom.
Print, rather than pictures alone, carries the words we read.
Letters and words are different.
Words are made up of letters, with spaces separating words.
Punctuation marks provide information about how text works.
And here's something important to remember: children don't need to master every one of these concepts before they begin learning to read. Instead, we want to provide repeated, meaningful opportunities to explore how print works as part of our everyday interactions with books, writing, and the world around us.
Why Do Concepts of Print Matter?
Children don't just need opportunities to be around books. They also need help noticing how print works and understanding that the words on a page carry meaning.
Research gives us a compelling reason to make these moments intentional.
In a 2012 study published in Child Development, researchers followed 550 four-year-olds across 85 preschool classrooms. Over 30 weeks, teachers in the intervention classrooms read books with children two or four times a week while intentionally drawing attention to print through comments and gestures. Other teachers read the same books using their usual approach.
The researchers followed up with children after the intervention ended and found that the effects of intentional print-focused reading on spelling, reading, and comprehension skills persisted for two years. Read the study here.
Think about that for a minute. Both groups of children were enjoying books, but when teachers made print an intentional part of the experience, children made greater progress in important early literacy skills.
Exposure matters, but intentional teaching matters, too.
We don't need to stop enjoying stories or turn every read-aloud into a formal lesson. We simply need to be more purposeful about helping children notice what print is, how it works, and why it matters.
6 Ways to Build Concepts of Print in Your Classroom
You don't need a separate lesson for every print concept. Instead, look for ways to make print visible and meaningful throughout your day.
1. Make Names Do the Work for You
Children connect with what's meaningful to them, and their names are a perfect place to start!
Use name cards during attendance, invite children to find their names, or point out the letters in a child's name as you read and write it together. Sign their artwork with their name and celebrate!
These experiences help children begin to understand that letters come together to make words, and that their name is one of those words. It may seem simple, but it matters!
2. Become Print Detectives
Grab some fun tools, like magnifying glasses, fly swatters, or flashlights, and let children hunt for print around the classroom, outside, and down the halls! Search for a letter you're learning about, spot it on labels or signs, and talk about the words you find. This is a big part of our Moving Little Minds alphabet approach: helping children connect letters to the print they see all around them.
For your 4s and TKs, take it a step further with Write the Room! Give children a clipboard and invite them to search for words that contain your focus letter. Not ready to write yet? No problem! Marking an X in a box when they find a word works, too. As you hunt, talk about the words you discover and what they mean!
3. Play with Big Books
Story time is the perfect opportunity to have a little fun while teaching how print works! With younger children, you might turn a book upside down and let them help you figure out what's wrong. As children grow, invite them to turn the pages!
With older children, invite them to come up and follow along as you move your finger beneath the words, or use highlighter tape to find periods at the ends of sentences.
Keep it playful, interactive, and appropriate for the children in front of you. You don't need to stop reading to teach a formal lesson. Just make print part of the experience!
4. Put Environmental Print to Work
Print is all around us, so let's use it! Add menus and food boxes to the dramatic play kitchen, display familiar signs and labels, or create an ABC wall featuring objects and words connected to the letters you're exploring.
You can even make a classroom book filled with photographs of familiar signs, labels, and objects. Pro tip: Invite families to send in toy and snack boxes from home to make it more meaningful!
The more children see print serving a real purpose, the more opportunities they have to understand why it matters.
5. Let Children See You Write (And Share the Pen When They're Ready!)
Don't save writing for a designated literacy activity! Write a grocery list during pretend play, make a sign for the block area, or record children's ideas during a group discussion.
In older classrooms, start the day with a simple morning message. As children become ready, invite them to help take on small parts of the process, such as writing a letter for a sound they hear, clapping the syllables in a word, or adding a period to the end of a sentence.
As you write, think aloud: "I'm writing STOP on our sign. These letters work together to make a word that tells people what to do."
Children begin to see that print isn't just something we read in books. It's something we use to communicate, and something they can create, too!
6. Turn Print Into Play
Once children begin noticing print, give them opportunities to explore how it works through hands-on play!
Letters or words? Write individual letters and words on sticky notes. Find them around the room and sort them into two categories.
Build a sentence. Write a simple sentence on separate cards, mix them up, and invite children to put the words back in order.
Act it out! Use your voice, face, and body to show what happens when a sentence ends with a period, question mark, or exclamation point.
Sentence Smash. Smash the playdough for each word in a simple sentence.
These playful experiences help children move beyond simply seeing print to exploring how letters, words, and sentences work together to communicate meaning.
Want to see it in action? Watch our latest lesson below!
Make It Practical: Bring Print in From Home
One of the best ways to help children connect letter learning to the print in their everyday lives is to start at home! Invite families to send in familiar print, like a cereal box, food label, shopping bag, or photo of a favorite sign. Use these items during your weekly letter celebrations to hunt for letters, talk about words, and make connections to children's experiences.
Print coming from home matters the most! Trust me, I learned this one the hard way. I used to bring in print from my own home for our letter celebrations, and all I got were blank stares. Turns out, three-year-olds don't eat Cocoa Puffs!
When we use print that children recognize from their own homes, we build meaningful connections, invite family participation, and celebrate the different experiences and cultures children bring to our classrooms.
To make it easy, I created a free Environmental Print Family Letter you can send home to start collecting. Grab your free family letter here!
Final Thoughts
It's easy to assume children will figure out how books and print work simply by spending time around them. And exposure certainly matters.
But as with so many early literacy skills, we can make a difference when we move beyond simply providing experiences and begin making those experiences intentional.
We don't need to turn story time into a formal lesson, but we can point to the words as we read. We can invite children to find their names. We can write a sign for the pretend restaurant and talk about what it says.
That's how we help children build the knowledge they need while keeping learning engaging and developmentally appropriate!
Keep making a difference!
P.S. Want ready-to-teach lessons that do this for you?
includes five 5–7 minute small group lessons where children follow a picture recipe, act out punctuation, and investigate the parts of a book with magnifying glasses. Plan once and teach it all week!
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