Key points:
1. Reading for pleasure boosts literacy skills, vocabulary, self-confidence, and knowledge in children.
2. Reading books to your child is crucial for their preparation for reading and learning.
3. Enhance the reading experience with accents, drama, gestures, and questions.
4. Make reading a daily habit, read at various times, and incorporate trips to the library.
An increasing number of studies show that promoting reading can have a great impact on children and their future. Among the benefits of reading for pleasure, you have that literacy skills, vocabulary, and general knowledge increase, as well as self-confidence and community participation.
There are many things parents can do to promote reading and raise a happy reader! It’s pretty simple, really. It all starts with you, the parents! Research shows that reading books to your little one is the most important thing you can do to prepare them for reading and learning.
Fun tips for promoting reading
But why limit yourself to simply reading words off a page? Why not take it one –or a few– steps further? Here are a few simple tips and tricks that will certainly help you on your way to raising a reader!
- Improvise – Let the actor in you shine! Use different accents for the characters and add a little drama with hand gestures, sound effects, and facial expressions.
- Point – Point to pictures and talk about them! Also, encourage your child to talk about the pictures and to repeat specific words.
- Interact – Every now and then pause and ask your little one questions about the story, alternate endings, characters’ feelings, etc.
- Multitask – Reading time is not limited to bedtime stories! You can read during mealtime or bathtime too!
- Play with words – Babies love rhyming and songs! Choose books that feature them and see how much your child enjoys them and learns from them!
- Every book is a good book – Try to read different kinds of books to your little one (according to their age), but don’t be afraid to vary the topics!
- Make a habit out of it – Start reading aloud very early on and incorporate it into your daily routine!
- Books everywhere – Make sure that you have a variety of books to read and that they are a natural part of your little one’s environment.
- Personalize the experience – Research shows that children who have books of their own enjoy reading more and do it more often.
- Field trips! – Incorporate trips to the local library or join a reading club for children.
- Give it as a gift – You can always give your little one a book on special occasions. You can also write something personalized on the first page, so your child will see it as a special gift!
- Show the love – Your child needs to see their parents enjoy reading too –after all, you are their first and most important teacher. And if your child sees you’re excited to read, they will be too!
As you can see, there are many things you can do to promote literacy development and they are all easy to do! We can’t stress enough the importance of adding reading time into your daily routine. It has many benefits: language development, brain development, and parent-child bonding are just some of them. Promoting reading and enjoying books should be a part of your daily life.
Why don’t you introduce one of your childhood favorites to your little one? They will enjoy reading your selection and, who knows, maybe they’ll love it as well!
