This research aimed to identify the literacy skills of the pre-school children (phonological awareness, recipient language skill, writing awareness, writing preparation and name writing). It examined these skills according to the age and gender of the children and explored the effect of pre-school education on the development of early literacy skills. The study was conducted in preschools and kindergartens in Kırıkkale. Random sampling is used to recruited participants. The participants of this study are 71 students attending pre-school and 107 students at kindergarten. The study is based on relational survey model and five different data collections tool were used. Computer-assisted statistical software program was utilised for data analysis. Children's general literacy skills were assessed based on phonological awareness, writing preparation, written awareness, name writing, and total scores obtained from the recipient language skills. The results also demonstrated that the pre-school education process positively affected the literacy skills of the children. The research also found out that gender and age are not a significant variable in the general literacy skills of children. Findings are discussed within the context of the relevant literature and some suggestions are presented.