In modern educational institutions, educators are expected to recognize the role of the picture book as the first child book in shaping and encourag in greading environments. The educator's task is to create a suitable surrounding in the group according to developmental tasks, bearing in mind the unavoidable importance of the picture book in shaping it. The aim of this paper is to examine the opinions of educators about the importance of picture books in shaping the stimulating reading environment, to examine the degree of inclusion of individual educational institutions in the reader ship campaigns, to check the amount of picture books the institutions possessand to examine the ways the educators use the picture books. There search was conducted in May 2018, and it included the educational institutions of Zadar County. The study was attended by 151 educators, out of which 85 educators come from state kindergartens and 66 educators come from private kindergartens. For survey purposes, a questionnaire was used as a measuring instrument. The obtained results show that educators are well aware of the role of the picture book and its positive effectsboth on children and on the educational institution as a whole. Institutions are content with the quantity of picture books they possess, which is motivating for further work, and educators understand it as two-dimensional (visualart, verbal) medium in which one and the other component equally participate in the creation of meaning of the same.