Creating A Print-Rich Environment For Toddlers

It's not that hard really.  The key is to have lots of print available, to make it part of their daily experience, and to make it interesting!  Right now, they're into cards and books so here's what we're currently doing...

We go to the public library every two weeks and check out twenty books for our book box.  I keep it in their nursery, so as not to get them mixed in with our playroom library.  And also to allow us to explore them before and after naps and before bedtime.  It's actually really fun to watch them focus on certain books first and then move on to others as the days pass.  To hear them get so familiar with their favorites that they stop me when I accidentally skip a page.  And to teach them basic print concepts like recognizing the front and back of a book.  The name of a book.  And so on.  And seriously, it is plain awesome to see them plop down in the floor with their book box and read, stacking the books they've finished neatly to the side.  Sometimes Addison really does read, you can hear her talking her way through the story, turning pages and using inflection.  A-dor-able!!

Same goes for magazines and real grown up books.  I also make those reachable.  And they love them too!  Especially Addison.  She flips through Oriental Trading Co. like I peruse the IKEA catalog.  And both kids love pulling grown up books off the shelf and flipping through them.  Not sure if it's how they feel, or what.  But they don't seem to care that there aren't any pics!

And cards?  Whenever there's a holiday that I know they'll be receiving several cards for, I collect them and set them out at least once a day for the kids to explore after the fact.  For a good long while.  They just don't seem to tire of it!  They read them and stack them and point to things they know.  And now they are actually beginning to point out things like, "that's Grammy's name" inside the card they know she got them for their birthday.  

They pay attention to letters every now and again, but not much.  So there's a bunch of them around in several different mediums (our puzzle mat, puzzles, several kinds of magnetic sets, cookie cutters, stickers, etc.) but we don't do much with them just yet.  Soon enough I bet!  I could easily spend alot more time and effort making their environment even more print-rich.  But I don't want to push, I want to follow their lead and keep things fun...