The benefits of reading with children, starting from infancy, are endless. Reading aloud together helps to strengthen parent-child bonds and promotes healthy brain development. Research shows that children who are read aloud to more often have advanced language and listening skills, have stronger emotional connections to their loved ones, and gain a lifelong love of reading. 

Reading with little ones consistently, helps to enhance their curiosity and memory. Books can introduce children to things and ideas they have never seen, which enhances their understanding of the world. Close contact and snuggles while reading can also help children manage anxiety and can create a positive association with reading that will last a lifetime.

Tips for reading aloud with your little one:

• Don’t Wait: Start talking, singing, and reading with your child from birth. Even an infant gets the idea that books are fun, and reading is a fun activity shared together.
• Repeat, Repeat, Repeat: Repetition helps children build important language skills.
• Keep it Short: Just a 3-minute story at night before bed will get your child interested in reading.
• Engage Their Senses: Board books and soft books are good for infants to get used to holding a book in their hands and enjoying the experience.
• Begin at the beginning: Talk about the title point out who the author and illustrators are (person who writes the book and the person who draws the pictures).  Ask questions like: “What do you think the story is about?”
• Read with inflection: Play with voices to make the story more interesting (raising or lowering pitch, volume, or add accents).
• Ask questions: “What do you think will happen next?”  “What is the character thinking?” “What could he do now?”
• Get them engaged: In predictable stories, allow the child to finish the rest of the sentence or poem.  Have them guess the rhyming words.

Remember, each age and stage of childhood listens differently. Infants may not have a long attention span and may just want to hold or chew the book (it’s how they explore their world and learn!), toddlers may want to move around as you read to them, and older children may sit and listen quietly. The important thing is to make reading fun and engaging and always follow your child’s lead in how they want to experience books and reading.