The first print a child recognizes are in his or her individual enviroment. We as parents can take advantage of this by surrounding our child with print. The point where they can transition from recognizing letters and words on packages in color, to seeing them on paper in black and white is a pivitol milestone. There are some simple things we can do such as labeling items like the dresser, door, closet etc. If you walk into a kindergarten room you will see it is full of labels. A cheap and easy activity we can help our children with is cutting up every day objects such as cereal boxes  and make puzzles out of them. Another tip is take your child for walks and "spy" words in your enviroment or at the store for instance. It is also important that your child be read to. While doing so remember to point to words as you are reading especially the ones under pictures. This helps to teach them that the words describe what is going on in the pictures. These are just a few tips. Happy reading!