Teach your child the alphabet. Sing the "ABC" song with him so that he can memorize all of the letters correctly. Provide your child with examples of words that start with each letter and explain to him how each letter sounds, such as "ah" for "A" and "mmm" for "M." Test your preschooler's alphabet knowledge by asking him to identify letters on flashcards, blocks or in books.
Teach your child that words are formed by various letter sounds. For example, explain that the word "cat" is a combination of the "C" sound "ca," the "A" sound "ah" and the "T" sound "tah." Ask your child to think of other words that start with the "ca" sound, such as "car," "cool" and "cake." Ask him also to think of other words that have the "at" sound, including "bat," "hat" and "fat." Doing this will help your child associate letters with certain sounds and will make it easier for him to sound out words he is unfamiliar with.
Build your child's vocabulary. Identify various items for him, such as boats, flowers and vegetables, and show him how each item is spelled. After learning how a word is spelled, the child will have a greater chance of correctly identifying that word in a book. A larger vocabulary also means that your child will have more words to guess from when sounding out words when reading.
Get your preschooler familiar with books and text in general. Show him how words and reading are all around him, from words on a cereal box and road signs to words on new toys that he gets. Take him to the library and let him pick out books that interest him. Have him hold the books as you read to him so that he gets used to and stays interested in reading.
Read at least one book a day with your preschooler, if not more. Move your finger under each letter as you read it to show him which word corresponds with the one you are saying. Show him the connections between the words you are reading and the pictures on the page, such as "See, there's a pig. P-I-G." Test your child on occasion by stopping during the story and asking him to read a word that he is familiar with. Reading the same couple of books over and over helps your child to master the words in those books.
Ask your preschooler to "read" to you and to invent stories of his own. Have him go through a book he is familiar with page by page and tell it to you in his own words. Provide your preschooler with a pencil and paper, and instruct him to invent a story of his own. Help him write the story to the best of his ability and then read it to you. Doing this helps your child get his creative juices flowing and improve his writing, which in turn should improve his reading.