As Dr Seuss said “You’re never too old, too wacky, too wild to pick up a book and read to a child,” so we put it to our readers for their top tips for getting your little one interested in the worlds between the pages of books.
“Start reading to them at an early age and make sure the books are colourful with lots of pictures to get the child interested. I love the peeka- boo books or books with different textures for babies as young as four months. There’s nothing more that I enjoy than reading to my nieces and nephews and I always make sure they get a book for every birthday and Christmas. I love reading myself and want them to enjoy and really get their imagination from reading.” Nora Ryan
“Reading as part of wind-down throughout the day, even very short times with a toddler, builds
up their patience for books. Two minutes with them turning pages before you get a chance to read it
at 18 months turns into 20 mins of a book before bed and begging for ‘just one more story please’ at four!” Stephanie Love
“I’ve always read with my girls every night. I try and get my youngest to tell me what she thinks is going to happen from the pictures before we have read it. Getting them involved is half the battle! Once they feel like it involves them they will start to love it.” Nikki Card
“From the time I found out I was pregnant I said I want my baby to love books. I don’t want him
attached to video games. Reading helps a child grow, it helps with their imagination, it helps with their perception and how they perceive characters versus how another person perceives them. It helps them be artistic and also helps them be strong and independent, it helps their speech and listening and vocabulary and teaches them how to be patient.” Carroll Caz Caroline
“Living in a “text rich” environment with worded posters and signs and books around and encouraging children to read posters when you’re out and about is a huge help. We also do bedtime stories every night and a library trip every fortnight when they get to chose their own books with their ‘magic card’.” Tara Diana
“If you are looking to get an older child into reading then I would suggest you spend 5-10 mins a day reading to them, even let them read it to you as they get older. Make it fun and have it as special time between mom and child or dad and child!” Susan Glennon
“We have piles of books in every room in the house. Our children, four and 16 months, gravitate towards them during the day for quiet, independent entertainment. They will flick through them and look at the pictures. Also a fortnightly trip to the library means new stories to fuel the imagination. Children copy what adults do and fortunately in our house we are readers ourselves so our children luckily just want to be part of it too.” Lisa O’Brien
“I read to my son from just before he turned one, every night before bed and now it’s about three or four books every night with the two kids. They love books and often take them out themselves and flick through the pages and I can hear my four year old telling my two year old the story (in his own words obviously), he doesn’t even realise he can’t read because he knows the stories so well.” Karan Breheny
We asked the parents of the toughest critics to recommend their top children’s books, and these are just a few they recommended.
- Giraffes Can’t Dance by Giles Andreae
- The Snail and the Whale by Julia Donaldson
- Adam’s Adventures series by Benji Bennett
- Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
- The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson
- That’s Not My Tractor by Fiona Watt
- Jumblebum by Chae Strathie
maternity & infant
Originally posted 2015-08-25 09:26:34.