Research indicates that both home literacy activities and direct instruction of reading skills promote reading development. The current study investigates how parent-led direct teaching activities impact emergent literacy. Preschool children (n = 47) were administered subtests from the Test of Early Reading Ability-3 and the Kaufman Survey of Early Academic and Language Skills. In addition, parents responded to a questionnaire about direct teaching of literacy activities implemented within the home. The majority of parents reported directly teaching their children literacy skills (86%), particularly letter names (71%) and sounds (65%). Fewer parents reported directly teaching printing letters (45%), writing words (29%), reading words (26%), or reading stories (26%). A trend emerged in which children receiving any direct instruction scored higher on most emergent literacy tasks. However, statistical significance was only found in a few areas including direct teaching of alphabet knowledge and writing words. Implications for family literacy and for future research are discussed.