Every day when you leave your house, you are surrounded by hundreds of words. As a reader, you don’t make the conscious connection that you are reading. When you see a tree, you think tree. When you see a stop sign though, you know you have to stop but don’t even think about the fact that you read the word “Stop.” A stop sign is a part of the environmental print that we see and read every day and it is often the first print young children are exposed to.

     Environmental print is the print that we see as we go through our daily life that has become so ingrained in us that we don’t even notice it anymore nor realize that we are reading. It becomes so familiar to us that we know its meaning without reading the words. It’s the print that appears on street signs, labels, boxes and logos. The print we see on the street, in the store and on the goods that we buy. Sometimes, it is the first print that young children see and for young children learning to read, environmental print can help bridge the connection between letters and first efforts to read and therefore becomes an important influence that shouldn’t be taken for granted but used for its ready access.

     In the early 2000’s, studies found that those children who interacted with adults using environmental print were better able to transfer the acquired word and reading skills to conventional reading. Though print is all around, an adult must draw attention to the letters and sounds in order for young children to recognize environmental print as words rather than just pictures. This is not about recognizing logos, nor teaching children to be consumers, but rather it’s about showing children that letters make up words and that words are all around us and are a part of our everyday life giving us information or just making us smile.

     So what does this mean for a parent? With summer here and vacations and road trips underway, adults can take advantage of environmental print to help curb that all dreaded summer learning slide or give confidence to children who will begin attending school. Bring awareness to letters and words by pointing them out on cereal or waffle boxes during breakfast. Look throughout your house and point out that words and letters are on video cases, mail, food containers and even on appliances. Point out words that start with the same letter, end with the same letter or words that rhyme. Environmental print helps to show children how important reading is to life in making choices at the grocery store and restaurants, obeying traffic signs and finding your way using street signs. Environmental print can aid the beleaguered parent on a trip by creating a game of finding letters on billboards, license plates or hotel signs. Play a game of "I spy with my little eye..." while in the car pointing out letters, words, colors and shapes you see. This is a very popular game with my three-year-old. While she cannot read just yet, she is able to identify a stop sign and "read" it to me because she knows that it is red and an octagon. Look for new and creative opportunities to make reading a part of your child’s daily life instead of a chore or task they are required to master.

Consider reading some of these fun titles with your child to bring awareness to the print all around them.

Oh, How I Wished I Could Read! by John Gile
     Being able to read is a vital life skill, as the protagonist of this story learns when he has a nightmare in which he cannot read! He can't read the sign that says "Wet Paint" on a bench, "No Crossing" at the side of the road, "Wet Cement" at the sidewalk nor "Poison Ivy." Not being able to read these signs leads to some unfortunate happenings and makes the boy all that more grateful to be able to read when he wakes up.

I Read Signs by Tana Hoban
     This photographic book contains images of the signs typically seen throughout the city.  Take a walk or drive to see how many of the signs from the book you can find around your town.

City Signs by Zoran Milich
     Similar to Hoban's I Read Signs, this book is a collection of photographs of words that can be seen in the city, including words seen on vehicles like "taxi" and "ambulance," as well as a variety of street signs.

Signs in Our World by DK Publishing
     One more collection of signs that can be seen around town, but with more detail and explanation of what the signs mean.

Collecting Words: Short Visual Stories by Brian Fouhy
     Blending photography with storytelling, this book is a collection of short stories told through the different words to be found out and around town. Intended for adults, this title is best shared as a family.

     The following activities can help extend the learning and bring even more awareness to the letters and words that surround us every day.

Words are all around us!

Happy reading and exploring!

     ​What is in a word? A word as a unit of language is rather innocuous. It can be magical, powerful and can express emotion. It’s the words that are chosen to convey a message, however, that makes all the difference in how the message is received, and also what it says about the speaker. Do you have enough choices at your fingertips? Do you use enough of a variety to assist in your child’s vocabulary growth? 

     ​Studies have shown that young children who are read to and spoken with will have a larger vocabulary, and having a larger vocabulary allows a child to more easily recognize and process a greater amount of information. In order for a child’s vocabulary to grow, they need to continually acquire new words. The best way to help children expand their vocabulary is through read alouds with vocabulary rich books and playing with words through various songs and games. For example: play a word rhyming game with your little one in which you recite groupings of three words, with the last word not rhyming (“duck…duck…goose!”). Either your little one will notice that the final word does not rhyme or you may stop and say something like, “Wait, does goose rhyme with duck? No, it doesn’t.” Then ask for or offer additional examples that do rhyme and continue the game with a new set of words. This type of activity works well when in the car or waiting in line at the store.

     The characters in these titles are absolute logophiles and, like Jerome of Reynolds's The Word Collector, they are avid word collectors. If you are looking for books that highlight the wonder to be found in the words that we encounter every day and also encourage readers to appreciate the importance and power of words, these are the stories you've been looking for. Perhaps, after hearing these stories, your child will be inspired to start their own word collection!

     Hijinks and shenanigans abound in these titles as letters go missing or get rearranged creating whole new words! These books show children that just one letter has the potential to completely change a word and thus alter meaning.

     These books are a hodgepodge of fun, laugh-out-loud adventures with words. Each book features different grammatical and literary devices, such as a puns in 7 Ate 9: The Untold Story and alliteration in ​Betty's Burgled Bakery. When introducing children to the complexities and absurdities of the English language, these books are a definite must read!

     Learn about Noah Webster, the lexicographer, with these books. Webster was a true logophile who spent his life collecting and organizing the words of American English into one, comprehensive volume: the American Dictionary of the English Language.

     Webster was not the only logophile who changed the way we use and think of words. Before him there was William Shakespeare, the British poet and playwright whose wording and phrases became every day facets of the English language, many of which are still used to this day. There was another lexicographer, Peter Mark Roget, who made his mark on the English language, much like Webster. Roget is famous for compiling the first book of synonyms: the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases (also known as Roget's Thesaurus). 

​And, finally, to end our list of books about words and word play we have a book that celebrates the beauty of the many untranslatable words from around the world. Sometimes there are no words that can fully grasp the meaning of a word.

     Do you have a favorite book about words or word play that isn't listed here? Share it with us in the comments!

Happy reading!