Many parents of preschoolers insist that naps are essential to recharge their little ones during the day and improve their mood. Turns out that daytime shut-eye may also boost early literacy skills. New research by scholars in Australia and England suggests that naps help preschoolers map letters to sounds, a key to reading success later on. “I think we provided some initial evidence, but also combining with the literature and other studies looking at similar things, we can say that nap does seem to help with learning,” said study author Hua-Chen Wang, a lecturer at the Macquarie University Center for Reading in Sydney. The new study included 32 children ages 3 to 5 from two Sydney day care centers. Though the tots napped regularly, they weren’t getting formal teaching of letter names or sounds through the centers. During seven sessions over two to four weeks, children were tested to establish their …