The cornerstone of a good education and strong academic performance is having strong reading and comprehension skills. Children who have learned to love reading may be able to grasp other basic skills earlier and with less trouble than those who have not – so it’s obviously something we should encourage in our children.
10 tips that can help them cultivate a love of reading in children.
1. Read As Much As Possible — Reading TO younger children, and WITH older ones is the single most effective way to help children acquire an early and strong love for books. Re-read favourites when small charges ask, and try to find new books that illustrate concepts you’re trying to teach, and keep their literary diet diverse.
2. Read Enthusiastically — Reading aloud to the children with dramatic voices, showy gestures and a real enthusiasm helps keep children attentive and excited about what comes next; it also helps them to see reading as a fun and interactive adventure, rather than a dull and tedious chore.
3. Establish a Reading Routine — Kids who associate reading with the affection they get before bedtime or the undivided attention of their nanny at mid-morning, or their parent at bedtime, will begin to look forward to these story times. As the anticipation of attention and affection grows, so will their love for the books themselves.
4. Encourage Discussion — ask the children about how a book makes them feel, and what they noticed about the story – they’re engaging in a conversation with you, which in itself will develop their language skills, and can make them feel accepted as more of an individual with their own ideas.
5. Ask Questions As You Go Along — Reading to younger children can be a challenge, as their short attention spans are often directly opposed to sitting still and being quiet while being read to! By asking the children questions about the plot or even just the pictures as you go along, you can gently recapture attention.
6. Don’t Make Reading a Chore — Forcing older kids to read a certain number of pages each day or to spend a certain amount of their time reading when they absolutely do not want to will not help them learn to read; it will actually have the opposite effect.
7. Take Day Trips to the Library — Making a trip to the library as exciting an outing as a visit to the zoo is down to you – when picking out a new book is the highlight of a week, that book becomes a treasure. It helps that libraries themselves often run story times and other activities, which helps foster a love of books, and makes the library a lovely place to go.
8. Use Books to Coach Kids Through Milestones – For virtually every situation and milestone that most children will encounter, there is a children’s book written specifically to help them make sense of it in their minds. Using books to help during potty training, with the first day of school, or even to deal with bullies helps children to see books as the source of information and entertainment that they are; as questions continue to arise, they’ll continue to turn to books for the answers.
9. Be Patient – When kids are learning to read on their own, the process can be a difficult one. Nannies and caregivers that aren’t patient with little readers can easily leave them discouraged and reluctant to continue the process. Try not to correct every single word as long as the children have the gist of the sentence – constant corrections rather than help can make reading seem like an unpleasant task, rather than something to be enjoyed.
10.Children, are also more likely to be excited about books that they have picked out themselves, so allowing children (including toddlers) to select their own books can help them to enjoy the whole experience – which should be what it’s all about!
On June 2nd, 2014, the BBC News Entertainment and Arts reported that Winnie the Pooh was the favourite children’s book as voted for in a poll of more than 2000 adults.
The first of the classic AA Milne books beat Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland into second place, while the most recently written book The Gruffalo, by Julia Donaldson from 1999, came in fifth.
The YouGov poll was carried out as part of a campaign to promote reading and support vulnerable children in the UK, and it was issued in conjunction with the start of the reading initiative entitled Story Time – supported by children’s charity Barnardo’s and retailer John Lewis – which was launched by the newly appointed Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi.
Top 10 favourite children’s books
• 1. Winnie-the-Pooh – AA Milne (1926)
• 2. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland – Lewis Carroll (1865)
• 3. The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Eric Carle (1969)
• 4. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien (1937)
• 5. The Gruffalo – Julia Donaldson (1999)
• 6. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl (1964)
• 7. Black Beauty – Anna Sewell (1877)
• 8. Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson (1883)
• 9. The BFG – Roald Dahl (1982)
• 10. The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe – CS Lewis (1950)
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