Free printable · ages 3–6

Reading readiness checklist for ages 3–6

Tick the pre-reading skills you've seen your child do. You'll get a short list of what's still to come, with a simple activity for each, that you can print and stick on the fridge.

How old is your child?

Every age sees the same list; the age only changes the note with your result.

About 2 minutes · No email needed to see your result

This is not a diagnosis

Children get ready to read at different ages, and a partly ticked list at 3 or 4 is expected. This is not a diagnosis or an assessment, and a reassuring result doesn't rule anything out. Children learn to read on different timelines. If you're worried about your child's reading, talk to your child's teacher.

How to use the checklist

Tick a skill only if you've seen your child do it on their own, more than once. If you're not sure, try it now — most take ten seconds ("What sound does sun start with?"). Then press Show my result to see what's still to come, with an activity for each, and print it.

Books and stories: interest in books, how books work, pretend reading, retelling.
Letters: letter names, letter sounds, writing their name.
Hearing sounds in words: rhymes, syllables, first sounds, and blending — the step that leads into reading words.

Why these skills, and why sounds matter most

Reading starts in the ears before the eyes. A child who can hear that "sun" starts with /s/, and who knows that the letter s makes that sound, has the two pieces that blending puts together. That's why letter sounds and hearing sounds in words carry the most weight here — and why knowing letter names alone isn't the same as being ready to read.

These are the items from the getting-ready stage (ages 3–5) of our "Is my child behind in reading?" quiz, plus pretend reading and blending. The activities are the same ones in our free 10-minute daily routine.

What to do with the result

Pick one or two gaps and turn them into games that take a few minutes a day. Ten minutes every day does more than an hour on Saturday. When most of the list is ticked — especially letter sounds, first sounds and blending — your child is ready to start reading simple short-vowel words.

Frequently asked questions

What are pre-reading skills?

The skills that come before reading words: enjoying books and knowing how they work, knowing letters and their sounds, and hearing the sounds inside spoken words — rhymes, syllables and first sounds. Blending sounds into a word is the bridge from these into reading.

At what age is a child ready to read?

It varies. Our milestone guide groups these getting-ready skills under ages 3 to 5, and most children learn to decode words between 6 and 7. A child is usually ready to start sounding out simple words once they know letter sounds and can blend sounds you say into a word.

My child knows the alphabet song but not letter sounds. Are they ready?

Not quite yet. Letter names and the alphabet song are useful, but reading uses letter sounds. Practise the sounds — /m/, not "em" — a few letters at a time.

Can I print the checklist?

Yes. After you see your result, press Print. The printout shows every skill with your ticks and an activity for each gap.

How the result is worked out

Our quiz's cut-offs on the share of items ticked: 80% or more = most skills in place, 50–79% = on the way, below 50% = early days. They're our rules for a parent checklist, not published norms.