During the first six years of life, the most important skill, which the child will ever learn, is the ability to use language. A child’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development is unthinkable without playtime. It prepares the child for its future, creativity, artistic and scientific work. During the preschool years, children develop emotions, feelings, social skills and personality traits. The picture book is a child’s first book. It is a transition from the real world to the world of symbols. It is not the same what kind of picture book we offer the child. Today, the offer of picture books with bad text or bad illustrations is increasing and therefore it is becoming more and more difficult to recognize what is good quality and what is not. Vladimir Kirin is known as the first Croatian illustrator of picture books. The picture book is determined by its three-dimensionality; it is tactilely accessible, and you can read it from the middle or from the last page to the first. By reading picture books, children learn to think abstractly. In order to get acquainted with a picture book, a child needs the help and the encouragement of an adult. Playing with a puppet a child can express her/his problems and expand his/her experiences. Puppets can help them to survive difficulties and negative emotions without the feeling of guilt. In order to be able to master the language, a child needs a good adult speech model. Language is not being taught but gradually develops. Children also acquire a lot of knowledge throughout the preschool period, which will later help them to understand mathematics. Children's learning must be built on voluntariness, not coercion. Thus, any need to teach the child should be discarded and every opportunity to talk to the child about what the child is interested in should be used. Telling stories and fairy tales, reading picture books, performing plays and playing with puppets bring invaluable benefits to a child’s growth and development.