Reading to your child is one of the most beneficial activities for both you and your child. As a nurturing child academy who focus on ‘early education’ of children, Parkland Children’s Academy strongly encourages children to engage in literature from a young age to improve their literacy and language skills. To make this activity one from which you and your child gain the most, follow these tips that will ensure your child not only enjoys being read to, but also that she/he learns valuable skills at the same time.
Tips to instill a love of reading in your child
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Be well-stocked
Fill your shelves with a variety of books – both fiction and non-fiction. A range of genres and illustrations will give your child choice over what she/he would like to read, making choosing a book an empowering task for your child.
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Ask questions
Ask your child questions about the book that you have chosen to read. ‘Do you think this will be a funny story? A sad story?’, ‘What do you think this book will be about?’ or ‘Is this story a pretend one or a real one?’ are good examples of questions to ask your child. This will engage their minds before the story has even begun, and asking children for their opinion gives them a sense that they are valued and important.
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Give them choice
Allow your child to choose the book and to turn the pages. Once again, this empowers her/him and gives them a sense of control over the activity of reading.
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Engage in conversation
Ask more questions as the story unfolds. Things such as ‘Why do you think this character felt sad?’ or ‘Who would you have invited to your tea party?’ are open-ended and require your child to reflect and think critically.
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Establish connections
If you notice a similarity in the story you are reading and something in your child’s life, point this out. For example, if the character in the book performs an activity such as feeding the birds, prompt your child to remember the time where she/he fed the birds in the park. This will teach kids to connect what they are reading with their own lives.
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Use literary devices
Things such as alliteration or rhyme will help your child focus on the words being used in the book. They might learn to remember the rhymes after hearing the story a few times and say the lines before you have read them. This encourages memory development and an engagement with words. Dr. Seuss books are a good option to use.
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Make your child aware of the author’s agency by asking questions such as ‘Why do you think the writer decided to tell a story about a young kitten rather than an old cat?’. These types of questions will force the child to consider the inclusion or exclusion of important details, and what they might mean.
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Introduce basic concepts
By pointing to each word as you read, your child will start to notice how one reads from left to right, and how sentences are constructed from individual words and words constructed from letters.
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Be a reading role model
By enjoying reading in your own time, this will rub off on your child who will pick up similar habits. Reading for yourself shows that it is a pleasurable activity.
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Add some drama
Acting out the story or making puppets or dress-up clothes will challenge your child to retell their favorite story and build oral language skills.
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Refer back to the story
After reading a book, continue to make connections between the story and the life of your child. If in the book the character cooked dinner, refer to this while you are making dinner for your child. This encourages children to connect their world to the lives of others, even if ‘the others’ are fictional characters.