Encouraging a love of reading from an early age
Our family love to read books. Between my husband and I, we have so many books we donated a whole bunch and still have no space for them all. I am so glad to see that the girls love books too. When we go to hospital we always bring Kiki, Alice’s koala, and some books. Reading books and using your imagination is a big part of childhood, so my husband and I did all we could to encourage a love of reading from an early age.
I do not think that enjoying reading books comes easily to children now. There are so many other distractions, for example, video games and television. Do not get me wrong, we watch TV, and I am a huge gamer (as well as my husband). Given a choice most children will choose technology over reading a book. Because of this we limit the TV and computer. We believe though that there is a place and time for everything, and reading should be a priority.
Below are some ideas I wanted to share about how to encourage reading from an early age that we did and now the girls love reading.
Read to your child from an early age
This might sound like a no brainer, but it is not as easy as it sounds. When you have a newborn, you are so mentally and emotionally tired the last thing you want to do is get a book and read. The effort is worthwhile, and the best thing is baby books are so short too.
When Alice was a baby, her sister Gwen, at bedtime would choose two books. Gwen would bring the books into our bedroom and we would all read them together as a family. I would be holding or feeding Alice so she would see and hear too. Gwen loved being able to go and choose the books herself. Letting children choose their own books that they want to read is especially important, so they do not become bored with reading. It also builds their confidence in choosing and reading books.
A great idea for babies is getting a few waterproof bath books! The first book Alice loved was the one she played with in the bath that was only 6 pages long and had farm animals on. Alice loves playing with the book in the bath and soon wanted to carry it around the house with her too. Now Alice is two and we still have that farm animal book.
Get into a good routine
When having a baby, you are always told to have a good routine. Including reading a book or two is a great thing to add. After a while it becomes a normal part of you day. Reading to your child every day helps them to learn new words and increases their vocabulary. Making sure you are constant with reading to your child helps increase their concentration too. But do not force your child to sit through a whole book if they do not want to, you want it to be fun for them. You do not even have to have a large collection of books for this. Children LOVE rereading the same books! Rereading the same book has its advantages too. Children get to recognize pictures in books, get used to turning the pages themselves and they become more confident in holding the book themselves.
Make books accessible
Having bookshelves mounted on the walls is nice and saves room but can children reach them without help? Make sure books are in an area where they can get them on their own. It is important to be ok that they will become well-loved. A lot of the time we will find Alice reading in her room to one of her babies.
We make sure that in both girl’s rooms they each have a bookshelf on the floor with their books on. Since they do most of their playing in our main room, we have made sure they have books there too. This way the girl’s have books to choose from as well as toys and games.
Do you love reading?
If you do not enjoy reading it is very doubtful that your children will either. Children mimic their parents; you need to be their role model. If they never see you reading, then why would they want to read? When children grow up surrounded by books and people reading books, they are more likely to like books too. Make sure your children can see you reading and talk to your children about your books so they can see how much you are enjoying it. If you are interested and excited about reading a book they will be too!
Plan activities around books
Libraries are a great source for books and fun activities! Check out your local library to see what they have planned during the week. Most do baby time, song circle, puppets and even Lego building. This way your child can start associating the library with fun. It is also a great way for you to meet new parents. Make sure you sign your child up for a library card too! Let your child explore the different books on the shelves and choose a few to take home.
As a family we would go to the children’s book bank (before COVID-19) in Toronto as it is a great place to visit! Most days they have story time, they always have a coloring/crafts table and at the end of your visit each person can take a book home for free. There are many comfortable reading nooks for everyone to relax and read in.
There are so many amazing children’s books available now. Especially since technology has made it easier for authors to self-publish their work. Every week I will be including a guest post from an indie author, so do not forget to sign up to my newsletter below to receive an alert for when it is live! If you would like to have your book featured in a post fill out the contact form below.
3 thoughts on “How to encourage a love of reading from an early age”
such helpful information. I want my daughter to be a reader, but unfortunately, today’s children are more into gadgets, I will use these tips now. thank you
I agree, I hope you find them useful!
Yes! As a previous Kindergarten teacher reading to kids, letting them see you read, and making books accessible are all so important in encouraging children to love reading! Great post!
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