Dear Parents and Guardians:
Spending time with your young child reading and doing other activities is important to his or her development. Ranger Rick Jr. provides you with many different ways to interact with your child. Let’s look at two things you can do together to have fun this month.
Draw bluebirds with your child, as shown on page 25. Then, you can both color your drawings to match the bluebird in the photograph. Watching you draw and color will be interesting to your child. Drawing and coloring will also increase your child’s eye-hand coordination. Be sure to compliment your child for his effort. The pictures don’t have to be perfect. Doing the activity together is the important thing.
The story on pages 26-31 show ways that animals keep themselves clean so that they can stay healthy. Ask your child if she would like to get clean the way the animals do. Can she imagine showering under a waterfall? What about taking a dust bath the way an elephant does? Would she like to use her tongue as a washcloth?
Then ask your child to describe things we do to stay clean and healthy. If necessary, provide your child with prompts, such as taking a 
bath or shower, brushing our teeth, cutting our nails, covering our mouth when coughing, going to the doctor or dentist, getting a haircut, and washing our clothes. This discussion will encourage your child to develop good health habits.
Enjoy reading Ranger Rick Jr. with your child.
Mike Wilson, Founder
Prekindergarten Reading Encouragement Project
PREP – Helping childhood literacy one family at a time.