Without question, one of the best ways to help your child develop early literacy skills is by reading with/to them and by giving them access to reading materials around the house, in the car, and in public spaces. But did you know that there are other activities, besides explicitly reading to them, that can help them become strong readers? Let’s explore some together!
Reading Support
Early Childhood – The Exciting Span of Merging Skills Birth to Eight
A lot happens for children from birth to age eight. We have all heard the amazing reports about how experiences early in life impact brain development. Babies’ brains make 700 neural connections every second during the first three years of life! By six months of age, babies encode the sounds of the language they hear and watch the mouths of people who talk to them so they can do likewise.
Inspired by Reading & Candy Eating!
Here it is a couple days before Halloween and your children still haven’t figured out how they want to dress up. They’ve gone through the usual characters but nothing is “cool” enough, or their friend is already dressing up as that character and – Gasp! – It is a total fashion no-no to dress as the same thing “Duh, Mom!”
Growing a Reader
There is so much information that comes at you as a parent as to why reading with your child is so important. Reading aloud increases vocabulary, it improves listening skills and imagination, and it sets your child on the road to greater success at school. All of this pressure to read to your child can be very overwhelming.
Babble to Books: Reading with Your Very Young Child
The value of reading to infants and toddlers has been well documented by recent research studies. Reading aloud with young children, talking about the pictures on a page or even paraphrasing words expands children’s imaginations and encourages language development. Reading aloud allows infants and young children to hear the sounds of our language combined in words and sentences.
Create a Reading Habit
Bedtime stories are a long-standing family tradition in my family. Growing up I was read to every night before bed, a chapter here, a story there, and now do the same for my two boys who are three and five. Each night after brushing their teeth, my boys pick a couple of books off the bookshelf and the three of us hunker down in one of the big beanbag chairs we have sitting on the floor.
