5 Easy Ways to Help Young Students Build Visual Literacy Skills

“Hey, I can’t see! Move over!”

I’ve heard these words from my kindergarten students on several occasions when they’ve tried to secure spots closer to me during a read-aloud. While the plot of a book drives students’ curiosity, a book’s pictures are also crucial components. Most children see and talk about the world around them before they can read words, which makes their visual literacy—their ability to “read” pictures—an immediate, powerful, important tool.

A visually literate child is better able to discuss and articulate thoughts about picture books, for instance. And putting thoughts into words and writing is often easier when the subject matter is a visual, as opposed to a specific set of text.

Early elementary school activities designed to improve visual literacy skills can easily be woven into existing academic blocks. Below are some ideas from my own kindergarten classroom, including a handful of my favorite books that are essential for helping students “read” pictures.

Wordless Picture Books

Wordless picture books provide ample opportunities for rich discussions about visuals. The images in a wordless picture book tell a story on their own. The basics of the storyline are often apparent, but articulating exactly what’s happening can be difficult for young students. That’s part of what makes wordless picture books such an ideal exercise: They build language and vocabulary skills, and they serve as an excellent precursor to deeper discussions and writings about a passage or book.

Stormy, written and illustrated by Guojing, and Rosie’s Glasses, written and illustrated by Dave Whamond, are two wonderful wordless picture books that I use in my classroom every year. Both books lend themselves well to social and emotional lessons. Their characters depict a variety of emotions, and they’re open-ended enough that students can narrate their own versions without feeling the pressure of a “right” or “wrong” retell.

Literacy Scavenger Hunt

I like to take students on a walk around the school campus and have them look for letters in the visuals they spot. Identifying a letter on a sign is good for improving both language arts literacy skills and visual literacy skills; students see the letter applied in the real world, as opposed to its being isolated on a worksheet. For instance, a student who sees the “E” in “Elementary” may not be able to read the word in full, but they become more aware of the “E” making an /e/ sound on a sign that they already notice when they come to school every day.

Environmental Print

Somewhat related to the literacy scavenger hunt is environmental print, which refers to visuals that include text and appear in everyday life. A stop sign, for example, is an environmental print because most people—even children who cannot read yet—identify the visual of a stop sign as an indicator to stop. Using examples of environmental print in the classroom helps learners identify words they know from the real world but cannot actually read yet. Old magazines, maps, newspapers, and pamphlets are ideal guides for students—they’re full of recognizable objects and logos that serve as entry points for emerging learners.

Read Aloud, Draw Silently

Reading aloud to children is one of the best ways to establish a strong foundation of reading skills. To get students in the habit of visualizing a story in their minds, I’ve started reading some books to my kindergartners without showing them the pictures. Instead, I direct them to draw pictures as I continue reading. We usually go back and reread the book so they can see the illustrations, but asking them to initially draw as they hear the story is helpful for developing visualization techniques that simultaneously support comprehension.

I typically use books with simple characters or relatively little action for this exercise, so students don’t get bogged down by details. Some of my favorites are Mo Willems’s Elephant and Piggie series, Rosie’s Walk (written and illustrated by Pat Hutchins), and My Father’s Dragon (written by Ruth Stiles Gannett, illustrated by Ruth Chrisman Gannett).

Story Sequence

Another easy assignment is to provide children with images from a story and have them sequence the images in order after the story is read aloud. When students can make sense of specific images within the context of a story, they’re strengthening their comprehension and visual literacy skills. Stories with repetitive elements are helpful for this exercise. The Three Billy Goats Gruff (written and illustrated by Paul Galdone) and The Napping House (written by Audrey Wood and illustrated by Don Wood) are staples in my classroom.