In order for children to truly enjoy reading, it is important to establish a routine at a very early age. Thus, the routine will stimulate interest and fun into the task of reading. Without interest, their motivation for reading is going to be very low. And motivation for reading should never be low. It is your job as a parent to spark fun into reading so that your children can be academically successful.
We stress the importance of early exposure to books and stories. Children from an early age can begin understanding ideas such as: characters, setting, and plot in books as well using these elements to build stories of their own. As your child progresses through more advanced reading levels other elements such as vocabulary, conversation and reading comprehension skills become more and more significant.
Reading for Toddlers:
Although babies cannot read, you can read to them. Ideally, you want to pick books with many pictures, colors, and textures. This will expose your child to a multisensory approach in the development of their senses of hearing, sight, smell, and touch. This interaction of the senses will make reading all the more interesting.
Many of the books that are made for babies and toddlers have very little words, and many things to question about. For example, if you see a picture of an animal with texture; as you read the book, you can instruct your child to feel the animal while providing them with new vocabulary. The fact that you have introduced experience through the interaction will increase their likelihood of remembering these new words.
Babies are very stimulated by color. Therefore providing books with vivid imagery may capture your child’s attention for a more prolonged period of time. As you read to your child, remember to point to things you are reading about. You want to make sure your child knows what you are talking about.
Keep in mind, that a child’s attention span is very different from adults. Do not overwhelm your baby with reading, if you notice he/she is shifting his/her head around, stop reading the book and move onto another activity or simply give he/she a moment of rest. Remember, the idea of these activities is to get your child interested in reading, not make them feel like its a chore.
Here is a list of some great books to read with your toddler. They should all be introduced as hard cover, with thick pages at this age. This will prevent them from breaking easily since babies like to chew, drool, and touch everything they discover.
-Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? By Bill Martin, Jr.
-Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
-Dr. Seuss’ ABC by Dr. Seuss
-The Touch Me Book, by Pat and Eve Witte (texture based book)
-The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
-Peek-A-Boo by Janet and Allan Ahlberg (pop-up book)
Books for your “Big Kids”
Yeah, I know you’ve conned your kids into doing things by telling them “you’re a big kid already, and big kids like to read!” By this age, your child has already begun reading in school, using sight words, and practicing reading at home. You are probably thinking of ways you can help your child become a better reader. The easiest way is with a little creativity and dedication.
At this point, your goal is to motivate your child to like reading. Setting up a selected time for reading, and naming it “reading time,” will definitely make things easier for you. That way your child knows that reading is both important and fun.
You can also introduce the idea of story time as well. Story time will be different than reading time because during story time, you will encourage your child to make up stories; and further enhance their creativity, language, grammar, and articulation skills.
Remember; do not force your child to read. If one day he/she tells you “I don’t feel like reading” you tell them to just read 3 pages, and that way you compromise. Most likely, if the book you are reading is appealing and entertaining to your child, they will want to continue reading.
Here is a list of books we actually have in our library at the office and we personally highly recommend:
-The Tale of Peter Rabbit, by Beatrix Potter
-Corduroy, by Don Freeman
-Harold and the Purple Crayon, by Crockett Johnson
-One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss
-The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
-Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Bad Day, by Judith Viorst
-Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak
-The Rainbow Fish, by Marcus Pfister
-Stellaluna, by Janell Cannon
