Little readers, big adventures!
Reading with your child is great for developing their love of books – snuggling up with your child and some books can be a special part of your routine!
When we first become parents, something we quickly discover is how little time we have to do the things we used to take for granted. Reading for pleasure is one of the things which can go to the bottom of our list of priorities.
Modelling reading can be a great way to teach your child what a love of reading looks like, and how a book can take us on a journey away from the hustle and bustle of our busy lives.
At school, children often read sat at a desk but this isn’t usually how we as adults read a book, so let your child ‘catch you reading’!
Top tips:
- Read together: take your child’s favourite book, and your current read, to the park or out in the garden with you and sit together both looking at your own books
- Spend quality time together: turn off the television and snuggle up reading your book while your child is playing, or lie next to your child in bed reading your book while they explore theirs. These short, shared moments may stay with your child and hopefully encourage them to become life-long book lovers
- Model reading: when you receive a message on your phone or a card through the post, you could read it out loud to your child – they will begin to realise what a powerful tool reading is and how it is a part of our everyday life
- Read in ‘real life’: you could read aloud a menu in a restaurant, signs in supermarkets, or information in a museum to let your child see how useful and important reading is
- While out and about: let you child see you taking an interest in books when you see them, whether this be at the shops or your local Essex Library
- If English isn’t your first language: read to your child/talk about pictures in your home language: The Importance of Home Language – TLC
- If you’re not a confident reader: please don’t worry – simply looking at pictures and talking about what you see helps your child to enjoy a story, and you can even invent your own version of it!
