Teaching a Toddler to Love Reading
Our daughter loves reading books. Well, realistically, she cannot read the actual words yet (she is 3), but she sounds like she does a lot of the time because she remembers what we read to her so well. Oftentimes she would sit down for 30-40 minutes at a time during the day and read her books. We also read routinely before naps and bedtime.
There are many benefits of reading with your kids
According to a study done by the University of Melbourne in conjunction with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, there is a connection between parents reading to their young children and their child's later reading and cognitive skills. For example, children who read more frequently between the ages of 4-5 get higher scores in different school tests. It turns out that reading 6-7 days per week has a similar effect to being almost 12 months older in terms of language skills, numeracy, and cognition.
So here are the few ways we try to encourage our daughter to read more. She loves it so far and I hope the trend continues.
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Model reading books
Kids model after their parents. If kids do not see you reading books why would they want to read themselves? So, I believe it is important to set an example and read in front of them.
My husband started reading to our daughter before she was even born. The first book he read to her was Neil Gaiman's Coraline. I think because he is an avid reader himself, he is determined to pass his love for books to her. He reads at home, reads on the train, reads before bed and when he wakes up, and can easily walk places while reading. I love reading books also, but in my case, I like to sit down and have a quiet time reading. I am also a pretty obsessive reader - if I find a book I really like I would read it every minute I can find free time and would not put it down until finished. So, we read ourselves and we read out loud to our daughter all the time with the hope that it sticks.
Reading out loud together, read at bedtime, read before naps
Bedtime storytime is one of my favorite routines with my daughter. As I have mentioned before, there are some toddler activities I really dislike doing, but reading before bedtime I love. It is not just reading to her that I like, but also reading with her - interacting and discussing what is going on on the pages. I believe it is important for them to actually understand the content instead of rushing through the pages. This not only calms her down before naps and bedtime but it also helps us bond.
Have your child read a variety of books
We have tons of children's books, but our daughter likes to look at our books too. A recent favorite book of hers is a "hand-me-down" encyclopedia of primates - I still cannot understand how she remembers all the names of the different monkeys and gorillas, specific to different parts of the world, after one reading! It is incredible how much kids remember and how smart they are. Our daughter also likes flipping through anything else that is in sight - event magazines, catalogs, and booklets that come in the mail. Having a range of reading materials can teach them about different topics and life skills, so I do not mind her digging through my books.
Have books all over the house
We have books in every single room of the house. Our daughter's room has two shelves with books, one of which is right next to her bed and she loves picking out books to read herself and putting the ones she is finished with back on the shelf. I like that she has easy access to books.
Read books and then watch the movie
After reading The Little Mermaid book many times we decided to watch the Disney movie. Since the book is very short, the movie was very entertaining because she got more details during the movie, she was able to compare the characters, and listen to the wonderful songs. We have done that with a few other books and movies and our daughter loves going back and forth between the two and talk about the characters. In terms of screen time - we do not turn on the TV every day. We try to only give our daughter TV time when we are super exhausted or as a treat, as I definitely notice her behavior changes for the worse when TV is expected.
Go to the library
Before Covid-19 hit, we use to go to the library about once a week. We have several wonderful libraries in the nearby towns and it was such a great way to spend some time exploring books we do not have at home while meeting other kids. We found many interesting books, some of which she loved so much that we ended up getting them at home. One of them was a great pop-up book called Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs: The Definitive Pop-Up. She can sit for 30 minutes straight with that book! It is amazing.
How about you? How do you teach your child to love books?