Toddlers can readily learn the rudiments of reading. Buy blocks in the shapes of letters and numbers. Turn on Sesame Street or another informational children's program. Then, when you play with your tot, focus on the Sesame Street letter of the day: “I'm giving T a ride in this car. Look out! Here comes T!” Buy or make a poster showing the letters of the alphabet. Position the poster so your child can see it when lying in bed. As part of your bedtime ritual, pick a letter and practice saying words that start with it: “Tuh-tuh-tuh-table! Tuh-tuh-tuh-turtle!”

Help your tot add a T page to his homemade alphabet book. Here's how to make the alphabet book:

• Put twenty-six pieces of notebook paper in a loose-leaf notebook.

• Print a different letter of the alphabet on each page.

• Find a picture that starts with each letter, cut it out, and have your toddler paste it on the correct page.

• Slip each page into a plastic protector.

• Glue a picture of your child on the front of the notebook and include your child's name in the title: Larry's Alphabet Book.

P Is for Phonics

Teach children to recognize letters by pointing them out in books and teaching the sounds they make the same way you teach about animals and the sounds they make. It doesn't matter if a toddler isn't yet talking. All that matters is that youngsters listen and look.

Here's how one mom taught her four children their letter sounds and animals before they reached age four.

PARENTS' READING GAME

Sight-Reading

To help a child progress from prereading to sight-reading when reading stories, point to each printed word as you say it, taking care not to block the child's view. Occasionally the child will follow your finger and glance at the text. After two years of having words pointed out as they're read, toddlers should be able to associate some spoken words with written ones.

The Leap to Reading

Point to a word that occurs often in a story that your child is very familiar with, such as “ham” in Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs & Ham. After pointing and reading the same word dramatically several times, focus your child's attention by pausing before you say it. Try to get him to say it with you. The next time the word comes up, pause but don't say the word. Encourage your child to say it with you. Don't insist if your child resists!The point is to get him to notice your chosen word, not to ruin the story. If your child says the word on his own, praise lavishly: “Wow! My baby can read! You were exactly right! It says ‘ham,’ see?” Continue reading and pausing before saying the word to see if he can “read” it again. Write the word on a note card and have him wow other family members by reading it to them. On another day, add another word. Make another note card to add to his collection.

Or try this sorting game: Cut pieces of three different colors of cloth into triangles, squares, and circles. Show children how to match by shape and by color. As your child becomes more advanced, so can the cardsorts. Make (or buy) cards with pictures and “bits” of information on them. Show kids how to sort them into categories (such as house pet or farm animal), and create new categories (such as animals that give us food or animals you see at the circus).