Mastering those ABCs may seem like child’s play today, but reading is serious business—it’s the very foundation for lifelong learning. When a child can’t read, school is a constant struggle, so start your child off on the right foot by beginning in babyhood. Following are some stage-setting ideas for babies, as well as toddler games and activities for preschoolers.
CRAWL
Purpose: To encourage a love of language and literature during your baby’s earliest days.
Play: Read to your baby, read to your baby, read to your baby. The sooner you start, the easier it’ll be. No baby is too young to snuggle up for stories as long as you’re watchful for cues that your little one has had enough. The best baby books are sturdy board versions of classic children's books. That way your child can take things into her own hands—literally. Try a variety of stories and illustration styles, focusing at first on bright, colorful pictures and rhyming passages. Don’t be afraid to repeat the same books over and over again as they become favorites. Look for books that offer a touch-and-feel experience such as Pat the Bunny or an activity like More Please: The Hungry Animal Book (both by Dorothy Kunhardt). Other tried-and-true titles:
- Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is a soothing, predictable bedtime book.
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is colorful and creative story about change.
- Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. offers a funny approach to the alphabet.
- Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney is a tender affirmation of the reader’s ongoing affection.
Plus: Believe it or not, simple games like “Where’s Your Ear?” build reading skills. Asking baby to point to her nose and toes and everything in-between helps her learn to focus, name and identify objects, giving her key verbal and visual skills that will help with reading in the years to come.
WALK
Purpose: To offer active alternatives to storytime during this go-go-go stage of childhood—which is also such an important time for literacy development.
Play: It’s unrealistic to expect high-energy tots to sit still for too long. Instead, “head outside for a nature walk and talk about everything you see,” says Oakland Schools’ Ingrid Snyder. “Use descriptive words like gigantic tree and soft, green grass. Find excuses to make up stories. Ask your child to guess what’s inside the box the mailman left on your neighbor’s porch. Or what that dog is trying to say with his bark.” Around the house, take every opportunity to point out words to your child. Show him that the word milk on the carton starts with the same letter as mommy. Challenge him to find words that start with the first letter of his own name. At the store, keep the whining and begging at bay by giving your child a grocery-related game to play: Have him search for items that start with A in the first aisle, B in the next, and so on. Or use the letters from your child’s name. As they pick up writing skills, ask for help writing the shopping list before leaving the house. Snyder says that she used to allow her young son to compose a wish list of three favorite items such as cookies, candy, or ice cream, and she would buy one treat from the list on each trip.
Plus: Although books may not be your child’s favorite plaything these days, they shouldn’t be left on the shelf altogether. Check your local library for age-specific story hours, which tend to combine brief reading sessions with dancing, singing, and silliness. These free events often include hands-on crafts and activities that reinforce lessons of the day. At home, vow to just say yes anytime a child asks you to read. And don’t insist they sit still and listen quietly. If Dr. Seuss inspires your child to shake and shimmy, then by all means let her wiggle her way from beginning to end.
RUN
Purpose: To reinforce at home the literacy lessons being taught at school.
Play: Kids at this age are beginning their formal instruction in how to read. You can help them practice by sharing books together at home. When your child is reading to you:
- Take a picture walk first. Look through the book without reading the text and ask your child to predict what will happen. Then go back and have your child read the actual words.
- Ease the burden by taking turns: You read one page, your child reads one page.
- If a child is particularly stressed out about “hard” words, offer to rescue him once per page. He’ll work that much harder to figure out the majority of the words knowing there’s a safety net in place.
- Boost confidence by encouraging your child to re-read books he’s already mastered.
Just because your child is beginning to read on her own doesn’t mean an end to storytime. Children well into elementary school gain both intellectually and emotionally when an adult reads to them. Here’s how to make the most of that time:
- Before you start to read, ask your child to point to one word on the page she knows.
- When reading a new book, stop occasionally to play “I wonder.” Start by looking at the cover and saying, “I wonder what this book is about?” Toward the beginning: “I wonder where the squirrel is headed in such a hurry?” At the end: “I wonder what would have happened next?”
- As you read old favorites, test your child’s attention and understanding by purposefully reading something wrong. Let him catch mistakes and correct you.
Plus: Make sure your child sees you reading and writing throughout the day. Talk about these things, such as, “I’m going to write a note to your teacher,” or, “I’m excited to see what happens in this book I just checked out from the library.” Ask your child to give you a hand when you cook dinner, reading words she recognizes or can sound out in the recipe and finding pantry ingredients such as baking soda or salt by looking at labels. In the car, play the memory game “Vacation.” You start by saying, “I’m going on vacation, and I’m going to take an apple.” Your child must remember what you’ve said and add a new word that starts with the next letter in the alphabet: “I’m going on vacation, and I’m going to take an apple and a baby.” This game makes the miles fly by.