Visual Literacy

Literacy is awareness that leads to reading and writing skills.
Visual Literacy is the beginning stage of becoming literate.Infants and toddlers completely depend on adults and older reading children for clues along the literacy journey. They learn especially well from someone they trust.

Toddlers learn that pictures are symbols for real life objects.
Flat images as in picture books are ideal for toddlers to learn about symbols.The adult care giver or parent reading the pictures to a toddler gives him or her clues as to what the image represents. Thus the toddler learns that the pictures are symbols for real life objects.Later they can understand that some images are representing imaginary objects.

Toddlers learn that certain sounds go with certain pictures (symbols).Written words are not significant to toddlers.
They hear the sounds you say and gradually learn that certain sounds or words are said in association with certain pictures.They think you are reading the pictures. Print means nothing to them initially. Only later do they understand, the sounds you make are associated with print.

Toddlers learn that books are different from other objects.They learn books are not toys; we don’t build towers with them.They learn that books are not food; we don’t eat them.By regularly reading with toddlers they learn that books are for reading.They also learn how to handle a book by your example. You are modeling to them all the clues they need to navigate the world of books: proper care of books, how to turn the page; read them from front to back.Eventually as they can relate to print they see how you read from left to right.
For a book that pursues this topic in greater detail see: Young Children and Picture Books, Mary Renck Jalongo, published by NAEYC.