One way children begin to learn how to read is being read to. Children who are exposed to a wide range of vocabulary in the course of conversation learn the words they will later need to recognize and understand when reading. Talking often to infants who can only say nonsense words will help them greatly. As toddlers, children find that the words they say and hear in conversation represent objects that they can see pictured in books. They vaguely start to comprehend that the picture represents an object and also later that the written words are representing knowledge.
Young children love listening, labeling objects in books and commenting on the characters.
When you take your child on outings, talk about what you are going to do before you do it. Talk about what you are doing while you are doing it and, afterward, talk about what you did. This stimulates the child's thinking abilities and reinforces the skills they are learning. Once children reach preschool age, parents can encourage them to become a teller of a story. For example, after you read the book you can ask your child a question about the book.