There are many great ways to use books for homeschool preschool. Check out this list for ideas of what to include for your preschooler.
The Importance of Books in Preschool
Books are a fantastic way to bond with your preschooler. But the goodness of books doesn’t stop there.
By hearing stories read, little ones are exposed to new words, sentence structure, and vocabulary. This exposure helps littles strengthen their own spoken language skills.
Books engage little ones. They get preschoolers thinking, questioning, and problem-solving. These critical thinking skills are necessary for your little one to thrive (and play) independently.
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Creativity and imagination are fostered when littles are being read to. They hear the incredible story as they learn to visualize the setting and characters. This helps littles to learn to think outside the box.
Emotions are often explored in books. They may be a character’s personal emotions or the emotions of a friend or family member. The characters learn how to navigate these emotions. Littles pick up on these techniques for dealing with emotions.
Characters in books depict cultural and physical differences. Having a wide array of books allows your little one to be introduced to people who look, act, and sound different from them.
Books are a wonderful way to have open conversations about everyone being unique and how to be accepting.
Of course, reading books with your preschooler is a wonderful way to tie happy memories to reading and instill in your little one a love for reading.
By the way– we have MANY book lists for preschoolers on our blog.
Books for Homeschool Preschool
Picture Books
When you think books for homeschool preschool, picture books probably come to mind. They tend to be the backbone of many preschool libraries.
Many books fall under the picture book category. For this example, we are talking about picture books with pictures and a sentence or two on each page. Together, these pages make up a story.
Board Books
Board books are more durable than picture books. They can tell a story, provide information, or be a baby’s first book of words (which is great for preschoolers to look at and see the spelling of the word that the picture is of).
Interactive Books
Interactive books for homeschool preschool have an element your little one engages with. It can be a lift flap, a pull tab, or even books that encourage you to shine a flashlight through the back of the page to see a hidden element.
I Spy and Can You Find books are also interactive books.
Rhyming and Poetry Books
Preschoolers love rhyming, which is excellent because rhyming is a building block for learning to read and spell.
Include some simple rhyming and poetry choices in your books for homeschool preschool.
Concept Books
Concept books are books that teach simple concepts to preschoolers. These can be books about the ABCs, colors, shapes, counting, opposites, sizes, etc.
Story Collections
Story collections are a group of books that all have something in common. Sometimes, this looks like a bound book with a collection of stories (an anthology). Other times, story collections can be multiple short stories that you keep together.
Many variations on the 5-minute bedtime stories collections fall under the story collection category. Some are all made by the same person, and others are all a same favorite character.
Wordless Picture Books
Wordless books have a surprisingly important place in the books for homeschool preschool.
Without words, these books allow little ones to use their creativity to make up the story. No reciting the book from memory because it can change each time it is ‘read.’
Fairy Tales and Folktales
Fairy tales and folktales are a favorite among preschoolers. They end happily ever after and are stories passed down from generation to generation.
There are many variations of favorite fairy tales, and it is fun for preschoolers to hear and compare different versions.
NonFiction Books
How could we pull together books for homeschool preschool without including nonfiction books?
Nonfiction books are an amazing way to teach preschoolers about new things. Try asking your little one what they are interested in learning about and pulling some nonfiction books about that topic.
You may also want to use nonfiction books with your preschooler to match the week’s theme, if you do one.
Preschool Books
Gathering books for homeschool preschool doesn’t have to be like pulling teeth. Hopefully, this post will help guide you on which books to choose for your little one the next time you are at the library.