Stan is four and a half. At breakfast he taps the cereal box and announces: “That’s an S, like Stan!” Then he points to a second “S” on the milk carton and a third on his dad’s T-shirt. In the evening, during story time, he will not let anyone turn the page until he has found his letter on it. His grandmother asks whether it is time to buy a first reader, and his mother wonders whether she should start teaching him to read now or wait for school to do it.
Many parents of preschoolers ask themselves the same question: when to start, how to go about it, and whether teaching at home might spoil something. This article brings together what the American Academy of Pediatrics, the research review of the US National Reading Panel and the Polish preschool core curriculum say about the road to reading, and describes how Maria Montessori approached learning to read. The examples of sounds and letters come from Polish, because this site is written for families in Warsaw, many of them raising bilingual children; the principles apply to any alphabetic language.
How to teach a child to read — where do you start?
Learning to read does not begin with letters but with speech, listening and reading together. Before a child can link a written sign with a sound, they need to hear that words are made of smaller parts: syllables and individual sounds. So the most you can do at home is to read to your child every day, talk about books and play with the sounds of speech, introducing letters when the child starts to show an interest in them.
The US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), which led the National Reading Panel set up by Congress (its report came out in 2000), sums up the findings of the research review like this: most children are best served by instruction that covers the major parts of reading — phonemic awareness, meaning the ability to hear individual sounds in words, the relationship between letters and sounds (phonics), fluency, vocabulary and comprehension. NICHD adds that instruction should be systematic, meaning well planned and consistent, and clear.
That research looked at children learning to read in English and mainly describes teaching at school. For the parent of a preschooler, though, it leads to a simple conclusion: reading is a set of skills that grow side by side, and the child builds some of them — listening, vocabulary, understanding a story — long before meeting their first letter.
When do children start reading?
There is no single age at which a child should start reading. The American Academy of Pediatrics writes that a few four-year-olds want to learn to read and begin to recognise familiar words, but most preschoolers will need another year or two to develop the language skills, visual perception and memory that formal reading requires.
The AAP also stresses that there is no need to push a young child. An early head start does not help much once school begins, and some children who read early lose that advantage by second or third grade. What matters more than how early a child starts reading is their enthusiasm for learning.
The Polish core curriculum for preschool education, in force since 1 September 2026, says the same thing in the language of regulation: by the end of preschool the child “makes attempts to read words and short texts independently, including texts supplemented with a picture”. Attempts, not fluent reading. If you are wondering whether a five-year-old should already be reading, the article on what a 5-year-old should be able to do answers that in more detail.
For most children the road to reading looks similar, although each one travels it at their own pace:
| Stage | What the child does | How you can help at home | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listening and talking | listens to texts read aloud, talks about favourite books | read every day, talk about pictures and characters | AAP 2024, core curriculum 2026 |
| Rhymes and syllables | notices rhymes, splits words into syllables | nursery rhymes, clapping out syllables | NRP 2000, core curriculum 2026 |
| Sounds | hears the first sound in a word, blends sounds into a word | “what sound does … start with?” games | NRP 2000, core curriculum 2026 |
| Letters | links the shape of a letter with its sound | show the letters the child notices on their own | NRP 2000 |
| First words | tries to read and write words and short texts | short labels, shopping lists, names | core curriculum 2026 |
It is worth reading the table as a map rather than a timetable. The stages overlap, and a child may keep coming back to earlier games long after they have learned their letters.
How can you tell a child is ready to read?
Reading readiness shows in a child’s behaviour, not on their birth certificate. The American Academy of Pediatrics lists four signs that a preschooler may be ready to learn basic reading skills: they are interested in learning the names of letters, look at books and magazines on their own, like to “write” with a pencil or pen, and listen attentively during story time.
Stan from the breakfast scene ticks at least two of these boxes: he looks for his letter everywhere and will not let the page turn without playing that game. It is a good moment to answer his questions and offer more letters, but not to bring in a daily workbook routine.
The Polish core curriculum uses the same word: in preschool children get to know printed letters, and “having reached readiness” they begin to read words, sentences and texts and to write. Readiness is not an exam a child sits on a given day but a state they reach gradually — through speech, movement, play and contact with books.
Shared reading — a foundation that works from birth
In a 2024 policy statement published in the journal Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that paediatricians encourage parents to read together with their children from birth and at least through kindergarten, the US equivalent of the Polish reception year. The AAP writes that shared reading supports social-emotional, cognitive, language and literacy development, and that it should be mutually joyful and suited to the child’s stage of development.
The AAP encourages so-called dialogic reading, in which the adult does not only read but also asks questions and responds to the child’s questions, so that reading turns into a conversation. In practice it looks like this:
- ask what happens next — “what do you think the fox will do?”,
- name what you see — “that’s a crane, it has long legs”,
- connect the book with life — “remember when you lost your glove too?”,
- let the child tell the story — a toddler can “read” a familiar book to you by describing the pictures.
One of the authors of the AAP statement suggests making a book a fixed part of the bedtime routine, and the statement itself recommends an emphasis on print books in the early years. According to the AAP, digital books do not foster the same parent-child interaction, and if a family uses e-books or audiobooks it is worth talking with the child around them too.
Shared reading has one more effect: the child sees that reading is a pleasure rather than a task. That picture stays with them through years of learning at school.
Phonological awareness: rhymes, syllables, sounds
Phonological awareness is the ability to hear that speech is made of smaller parts. The 2000 National Reading Panel report distinguishes it from phonemic awareness: phonological awareness is the broader term and also covers larger units such as syllables and rhymes, while phonemic awareness concerns individual sounds. The panel notes that tasks with larger units are easier for beginners than manipulating individual sounds, and that many of the programmes it studied began with rhymes, splitting sentences into words and words into syllables before moving on to the first sound in a word.
That order translates well into games at home (the examples below are Polish words, but the same games work in English or any other language your child speaks):
- Rhymes. “Kot — płot”, “miś — dziś”. Nursery rhymes, poems, making up silly rhymes for names.
- Words in a sentence. “How many words do you hear in «Ala ma psa»?” — the child puts down a block for each word.
- Syllables. Clapping out “ba-na-ny”, “sa-mo-chód”; guessing what is left of “samochód” without “samo”.
- First sound. “What sound does «mama» start with?” or “I spy something beginning with «k»”.
- Blending sounds. You say “d-o-m” slowly, and the child guesses the word.
- Segmenting into sounds. The child says which sounds they hear in “kot”.
The report describes exactly these kinds of tasks: isolating the first sound, recognising the common sound in several words, blending sounds into a word, counting sounds and taking a sound away from a word. The panel also reports that in the studies it analysed, preschool and kindergarten children learned phonemic awareness with larger effects than pupils from first grade upwards, and that programmes lasting less than 20 hours in total were more effective than longer ones. At home, that means a few minutes of play when the moment is right, not lessons.
The Polish core curriculum sets preschool a similar goal: children learn to recognise the structure of a word by ear, “from syllables through intermediate parts down to individual sounds”, and by the end of preschool they can analyse and blend the sounds of selected words. On top of that comes experimenting with language and making up rhymes.
Letters: names, sounds and shapes
Once a child can hear sounds, letters start to make sense: they are signs that record sounds the child already knows. The National Reading Panel found that sound-awareness exercises that used letters produced larger effects than those without them, because they help the child apply what they hear to reading and writing. The report adds that if children have not yet learned letters, they need to be taught them — their shapes, names and sounds.
A few principles help at home:
- Use the sound, not the letter name. Reading needs “m”, not “em”. It is hard to build “mama” from “em-a-em-a”.
- Start with letters the child likes. The first letter of their name, a sibling’s name, a favourite animal.
- Combine letters with movement. Drawing a letter with a finger on someone’s back, in sand, on a steamed-up window.
- Remember digraphs. In Polish a single sound is sometimes written with two letters, such as “sz”, “cz” or “ch” (English has its own, like “sh” and “th”), and the child will need to discover this at some point — show them when they appear in a favourite word.
Preparing for writing starts even earlier and does not mean tracing patterns until boredom sets in. The core curriculum lists drawing lines and shapes found in letters — arcs, loops, waves, ovals, zigzags — and attempts at writing letters and words “in a way the child chooses”.
Phonics or whole-word reading — what does the research say?
Phonics teaches a child the relationship between letters and sounds and how to build words out of sounds. The whole-word method relies on recognising entire words from memory, usually with help from a picture or context. The National Reading Panel compared systematic phonics with other approaches, including whole-language and whole-word teaching, and in every comparison the results favoured the systematic approach.
The panel also found that this kind of teaching has the greatest effect when it begins in kindergarten or first grade, before children have learned to read independently, and that it must start from the foundations: knowing letters and phonemic awareness. According to the report, teaching phonics systematically does not get in the way of young children understanding what they read — in the younger grades it also supported comprehension.
The report does contain an important caveat, however. Phonics is a means to an end: programmes that focus too much on teaching letter-sound relationships and not enough on putting them to use in reading and writing are unlikely to be very effective. For a parent, this means sounding out makes sense when it leads to real words — a name on a drawing, a shop sign, a caption under a photo.
It is also worth remembering that the National Reading Panel studied children learning to read in English, and the report itself notes that in some analyses the effects for children learning in English were larger than for children learning other alphabetic languages. So the conclusion about one method being superior should not be carried over to Polish without reservations; the general principle — first hear the sounds, then link them with letters — stays the same.
Teaching reading at home step by step
The plan below is not a curriculum, just a suggested order. Each step can take weeks or months, and the child will show you when they want to move on.
- Read every day. A quarter of an hour in the evening, favourite books over and over again. Talk about them.
- Play with sounds. Rhymes, syllables, first sounds — in the car, while brushing teeth, in a queue.
- Answer questions about letters. When the child asks “what does it say here?”, read it and point with your finger.
- Show a few letters. Start with the ones the child knows from their name. Use the sound.
- Build short words together. With magnetic letters or little cards: “ma”, “mama”, “kot”, “dom”.
- Write together with the child. A shopping list, a card for grandma, a caption under a drawing. The child dictates, then adds the first letter.
- Let the child read what they built. A child will read a word they put together themselves more willingly than a stranger’s word from a workbook.
The American Academy of Pediatrics advises letting the child set their own pace and explore on their own, reading books the child enjoys without pressure to learn the words, and choosing educational experiences that are also entertaining. A prepared environment helps too: a low shelf with books facing outwards, crayons and paper always within reach. Ideas for activities like these are collected in the article on Montessori exercises at home.
Learning to read the Montessori way
Maria Montessori described her path to reading in a handbook published in 1914, “Dr. Montessori’s Own Handbook”. The key material is the sandpaper letters: letters cut out of sandpaper and glued onto smooth cards. The child traces them with two fingers — index and middle — as if writing, while the teacher pronounces the sound. For consonants, Montessori stresses, the teacher gives not the name of the letter but its sound. According to Montessori, this exercise prepares the child for writing (the hand remembers the movement) and for reading (the eye recognises the shape) at the same time.
The second material is the movable alphabet — a box of cut-out letters from which the child builds words. The child says a word, picks out its sounds one by one and finds the matching letter for each. Montessori wrote that once a child has composed a word this way, they know how to read it — which is why in her method writing, understood as building words from letters, comes before reading. A child can start with the movable alphabet once they know roughly half of the consonants. Montessori described how writing by hand then often appears suddenly, as several words written one after another. She noted, however, that she was describing a “phonetic” language such as Italian; for languages with less regular spelling, she suggested that the teacher compose the words and the child repeat the exercise of arranging and rereading them.
A recent text by Association Montessori Internationale (Uma Ramani, 2025) describes the same order: first rich spoken language and vocabulary, then sound games in which the child discovers that words are made of sounds, next the sandpaper letters, which link sound and shape through touch, sight and hearing, and finally the movable alphabet, with which the child records their own thoughts. Alongside this, the hand gets ready to hold a pencil through everyday activities: eating with a spoon, doing up buttons and zips, picking up small objects.
This is a description of a method, not a promise that a child will read by a particular age. Montessori linked a child’s interest in language with a period of special sensitivity to speech, which we write about in the article on sensitive periods in the first 6 years. The other classroom materials are described in the guide to Montessori materials. At home, the idea of sandpaper letters can be carried over to letters cut from fine sandpaper or written with a finger in a tray of semolina — what counts is combining sound, movement and shape.
What to avoid so you do not put a child off
The most common mistake parents make is not teaching too little but teaching in a hurry. The American Academy of Pediatrics advises plainly against drilling a child on letters, numbers, colours, shapes or words, and against pressing them to learn the words during shared reading. It adds that games that are too hard can dampen a child’s enthusiasm.
In practice it is worth avoiding a few things:
- comparisons — “Zosia in your group can already read, why can’t you?” turns curiosity into shame,
- interrupting the story with corrections — the bedtime book should be a pleasure, not a test,
- daily “lessons” against the child’s will — when a preschooler walks away from letters, go back to rhymes and reading aloud,
- replacing books with screens — in the early years the AAP puts print books and the conversation around them first,
- rewards for words read — reading should be its own reward, which the article on punishments and rewards in Montessori discusses in more detail.
If a child says “I don’t want to”, that is useful information, not stubbornness. It often means the task is too hard, too long or offered at the wrong time of day.
What does the Polish core curriculum expect from preschool?
Since 1 September 2026 a new core curriculum for preschool education has been in force in Poland, introduced by a regulation of the Minister of Education of 11 March 2026. Its wording shows clearly that preschool prepares children for reading and writing rather than requiring them to master these skills: children get to know printed letters, and only “having reached readiness” do they begin to read words, sentences and texts and to write.
Among the child’s achievements by the end of preschool in the language area, the curriculum lists, among other things, listening to stories, poems, fairy tales and legends read aloud and talking about favourite books, experimenting with language and making up rhymes, analysing and blending the sounds of selected words, drawing lines and shapes found in letters, attempts at writing letters, words and short messages, and attempts at reading words and short texts independently.
The curriculum also suggests a permanent reading area in the classroom: a cosy, quiet place with books in different formats. Teachers observe the children, share their observations about each child’s development with parents and prepare a school-readiness assessment for children who are due to start school that year. The final year before school is covered in more detail in the articles on the zerówka reception year and on school readiness in Montessori preschool.
When to talk to a specialist
A preschooler who does not read yet does not have a problem — they are simply a child of preschool age. There are, however, situations in which it is worth getting an opinion before the child starts school. They usually concern not reading itself but the skills it rests on.
It is worth talking to the teacher, your paediatrician, a speech therapist or a psychological and educational counselling centre (in Poland, a poradnia psychologiczno-pedagogiczna) when:
- the child speaks noticeably less or less clearly than their peers — how speech develops is covered in the article on when children start talking,
- they often do not respond when spoken to or ask for things to be repeated, which may point to hearing,
- despite many months of play they cannot hear rhymes or the first sound in a word,
- they avoid books, drawing and letters so strongly that every attempt ends in tears,
- the preschool teacher points out difficulties that have been recurring for some time.
The core curriculum requires teachers to discuss the results of their observations with parents and agree on the support the child needs. A conversation with the class teacher is therefore a good first step before you look for a specialist on your own.
FAQ — parents’ questions about learning to read
At what age do children start reading? It varies a great deal. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, a few four-year-olds want to learn to read and recognise familiar words, but most preschoolers need another year or two. The Polish core curriculum expects attempts at reading words and short texts by the end of preschool, not fluent reading.
Is it worth teaching a child to read before school? It is worth preparing them, and teaching them when they want to learn. The AAP writes that there is no need to push a preschooler, and some early readers lose their advantage by second or third grade. If your child asks about letters, answer; if not, read to them and play with rhymes.
Should I use letter names or letter sounds? Sounds. Reading needs sounds, not letter names: “m-a-m-a” blends easily into a word, “em-a-em-a” does not. In her handbook Montessori likewise recommended giving the sound, not the name, for consonants.
Should a child learn capital or lowercase letters first? The Polish core curriculum speaks of getting to know printed letters without setting an order. In practice children usually start with the capital letters of their own name, because they see them most often, and pick up lowercase letters from books. More important than the order is linking each letter with its sound.
How much time a day should we spend on learning to read? Not much. In the studies analysed by the National Reading Panel, shorter sound-awareness programmes were more effective than longer ones. At home, daily shared reading and a few minutes of sound games when the moment is right are enough, for as long as the child enjoys them.
Do reading apps help? In the early years the AAP recommends print books above all, because digital books do not foster the same conversation with a parent. If you use an app, sit next to your child, talk about what they see and check that the tasks are not frustrating for them.
Final thoughts
Learning to read is a long road that starts with speech and books read aloud, leads through rhymes, syllables and sounds, and only then through letters and first words. Research suggests the order, the Polish core curriculum says that preschool is about preparation, and Maria Montessori showed that a child can reach writing and reading through touch, movement and their own words. All three share one thing: the child sets the pace.
Stan, looking for his “S” on the milk carton, does not need a first reader. He needs someone to tell him that “S” says “sss”, as in “sok” and “słoń”, to read him his favourite book at bedtime and to let him build his own name from letters when he asks to.
If you would like to see what a day looks like for preschoolers in a mixed-age group, see the page on the Montessori preschool.