Besides being a great way to connect with your child, reading and talking about books are keys to helping your children develop language, build comprehension, and learn more about print.
What do you read with a preschooler?
EVERYTHING! Magazines, the comics, signs, notes, recipes, web pages, and books, books, books. Let children choose whatever books they want at the library, but check out some that you will enjoy, too. Your enthusiasm will be contagious. Parents modeling reading is powerful stuff.
Where should we read?
ANYWHERE! Position baskets and boxes of books around the house so you can reach for a book when opportunity knocks—the laundry room, the porch, under the dining room table,
next to the toy box, and, of course, the most popular reading room, the bathroom!
When should we read?
ANYTIME! In addition to quiet times like bedtime, pack a tote bag and try reading as you wait at the supermarket check-out counter or the bus stop. Have a wiggly child who doesn’t seem to sit still through a whole book? Look for times when you have a captive audience; when they are eating a snack or when they are sitting on the potty.
