The Importance of
Reading To Children

The importance of reading to children cannot be underestimated. If you've browsed through this site you will have realized I mention reading to kids frequently!

There are so many benefits of reading childrens story books, that I would say of all activities you could be doing with your children, reading would have to be rated as the most important.

What Are The Benefits of Reading To Children?

• A bonding activity - nothing like snuggling up with a child for a story!
• Reading to children plays a huge role in language development, suck as increasing vocabulary, or even learning a second language
• Reading to kids, helps develops creative thinking - children have to imagine the story. How many of you have been disappointed by the film version of a favorite story?
• Critical thinking is developed through reading to children - giving children a wide exposure to both fiction and non-fiction gives them a wider range of opinions and ideas
• Communication skills are improved with reading, you can discusss ideas or the concepts raised in the story
• You can introduce ideas, values or learning stages from reading to children, ranging from potty training, thru to conflict resolution
• Research shows children who were read to at an early age, and have wide access to books are less likely to take drugs, drop out of school, or get in trouble in their teenage years.
• Reading to Children also contributes to written language skills, including sentence construction, creative writing, and report writing

Convinced about the importance of reading to children?

The Book Zone Home

What can you do to make your home a book zone? How do you encourage kids to read and develop a love of books?

The Book Zone Home:

• Read out loud anything and everything with words on it!
• Ask for books or book vouchers as presents when your baby is born. My Grand-daughter ended up with 12 Teddy bears. Wouldn't it have been wonderful to get 12 children's story books? Not just baby books, either, but get some of the classics like A.A. Milne's, Winnie The Poo (the real one, not the disneyfied versions!)
• Leave books in your baby's cot for the morning. You might just get an extra 1/2 hours sleep!
• Use the local library, start when they are tiny, so they are very familiar with borrowing books. Let them choose their own books
• Librarys often have read out loud sessions or meet the author, who will read and promote their latest book
• Bring books to life, by using funny voices or acting out the story
• Let older children read in bed for a while after bedtime
• Make sure they see you reading, don't just read in bed at night
• Have a snuggle corner or chair in a quiet, well lit place in the house where kids are encouraged to curl up with a book. We have a huge old chair that was my Grandmas. My daughter used to love curling up in it with a book.
• Make sure each child has their own collection of books, maybe their own shelf on the family bookcase
• Read lots and lots (and lots!!) of childrens story books - and not just while they are young. The last book I read to my children was Lord of the Rings, when they were 12 and 13 years.
• Extend the story by turning it into a play
• Have the children draw pictures about the story you are reading

What Should You Read To Children?

Reading to children is not just about sitting reading children's story books. You are giving children a much bigger exposure to language and reading if you read and talk about a wide variety of texts.

Some Ideas For Reading To Children

• Magazines

• Recipe Books
• Food Packets
• Shopping Lists
• Junk Mail
• The Internet
• Maps
• Road Signs or Billboards
• Tourist Information
• Field Guides, like bird books
• Indexes in Gardening Books, or Cookbooks

Reading to Children = Learning to Read

Of course the biggest value in reading to children is you are teaching them to read. Even from an early age, children will pick up words and begin to understand some of the more complex language. The more you read to them, the more they understand and expand their vocabulary, and develop a love of reading.

Our next article gives you some ideas for teaching children to read

Reading To Kids Organization

I came across a wonderful non profit organization whose mission is to "inspire under-served children with a love of reading, thereby enriching their lives and opportunities for future success."

They organize reading clubs where volunteers read to children, and they train parents to encourage reading. They also donate books to libraries, homes and teachers. Many of these children do not own any books.

How can we help? If you live in the area, you can donate your time in a variety of ways, or donate books or money. Much as I love reading to kids, I'm too far away to do that, but donations are always useful! If you'd like to join me in donating, you can do it via their site. You can even donate office equipment if that's something you have access to!

Book Closeouts.com often run sales with hundreds and hundreds of kids books for $1 (click on the promotions link to see what is super discounted at present), so consider donating 20 books to the Reading To Kids Organisation. It's a fantastic way of buy loads of cheap books at a fraction of their normal price. They are only cheap because the publishers are no longer publishing that particular book.

To find out more about how you can help, visit Reading To Children Organization.

Want To Know About Child Development?

Overview Of Child Development

Kindergarten Age Kids

School Age Kids

Adolescence

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