I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for Hands-on-Prints books. I received books to facilitate my review.

Are you concerned about your kiddos experiencing some brain drain over the summer? This is an issue I’ve been a bit worried about, personally, and it has impacted the types of activities I am going to make available. Of course my kids are going to have plenty of unstructured play time (that’s an important part of learning, after all!) but I’m also on the look out for reading materials that can help with skill development for my pre-reader and my early reader.

Today I want to highlight two books that are fantastic summer additions to my kids’ libraries!

My kids are in Montessori school, and one of the important learning activities that pre-readers do is to practice tracing the cursive letters while making the letter sounds. The focus isn’t on the name of the letter, but rather the sound that it typically makes. And by tracing the letter, you are using muscle memory. This is how learning, and not rote memorization, takes place.

I am really loving the book Around the World from A to Z. This book has the raised cursive letters on one side of each page for the child to enjoy tracing. The other side of the page has very vivid images from around the world. Real-world photographs would have been most ideal, in my opinion, but the drawings are very beautiful. The images show children all over the world engaged in various activities all over the world (for example: kayaking by the Golden Gate Bridge). So in addition to the pre-reading exercises, you are also getting some geography and some information about various physical sports and games.

My youngest has begins her first preschool year in Montessori school this fall. We will be tracing our letters over the summer and continuing to practice with it throughout the school year. When she outgrows the book, I will be donating it to the school!

The other book I’d recommend for little ones as they work on identifying emotions, as well as coping strategies for when things don’t go their way, is Do I have to? What if I don’t want to. Now this book is going to be just as helpful for me as it is for my kids. There are so many great points made just to the parents at the beginning of the book about how hard it is for a child to have so little control over how their day goes (when they wake up, where they go, what they eat, etc.) and that can get overwhelming, and also really frustrating! This book takes an empathetic approach to those difficulties and also helps start conversations between parents and their children so that they can help each other work through those hard moments.

Both of these titles are from Hands on Prints. Christina Cheung is the founder of Hands-on-Prints, and she began writing her books after establishing a Montessori school. The range of material offered on the website spans from the simple to the more complex, and incorporates tactile elements as well as a visually stimulating experience for children. Please take a moment to check out the website and see what might need to be added to your summer reading list!