Tips for Reading to Children
posted: 04.20.2015
Last week The Rhode Island Association for the Education of Young Children came together with early care and education programs in Rhode Island to celebrate the national Week of the Young Child™. Staff and early learning professionals were invited by programs to read the book Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann then donating the book to the program.
Birth to five are fundamental periods in a child’s life for language and literacy learning. Children's language skills are nurtured when they are spoken to, read to and engaged in verbal interaction (conversation). 1Research shows that children birth to five who are read to show somewhat more advanced linguistic skills than children who are not as verbally engaged by their parents and caregivers.
Here are some tips to use while reading to your child
- Establish a reading routine
- Read to your child at least once a day for 20 minutes
- Read slowly and try to project your voice in different ways to impersonate the characters in the book and make the story come alive
- Point to the different pictures in the book and talk about the images
- Engage your child by asking questions about the story
- Point to the words as you read them
- Have fun!
1 “FAQs on the Brain.” Zero to Three. Accessed June 30, 2014.
Further Information about reading to young children
http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/brain-development/faqs-on-the-brain.html
