Are you wondering how to engage your child's brain as you read with her? Try these tricks and your child will be begging for more books!
- Snuggle with your child with her favorite blanket or toys as you read.
- Read with expression using different voices for different characters.
- Emphasize rhythms and rhymes in stories. Give your toddler opportunities to repeat rhyming phrases.
- Use pictures to build vocabulary by pointing to things and naming them and naming colors, too.
- Use pictures to develop speaking vocabulary by talking about what is shown.
- Encourage your child to repeat what you say or comment on it.
- Encourage your child to ask questions. Provide models of interesting questions and examples of possible answers. "I wonder what is going to happen next? I think the rabbit will get lost because he is not paying attention to where he is going. What do you think?"
- Look for books that are about things that interest your toddler. For example, does your child like cars, insects, or animals?
- Make reading a habit before bedtime, after lunch, or after naptime.
- Give your child a chance to choose his own books for reading. If your child chooses a book that is too long to hold his attention, read some and skip some, discussing the pictures and how they relate to the story.
- Read stories again and again. Your toddler enjoys repetition and it helps her become familiar with the way stories are organized.
From Reading Matters,National Education Association.