Reading with young children and babies
Did you know that 75% of brain development occurs in the first
two years of life? Talking to babies, and reading to them, even if
you are not sure they understand, all help to give them the best
start in life.
How should babies and children be responding to books?
Reach out and Read have
put together charts to show children develop relationships with
books at milestone ages, from 6 months to 3 years. Be it simply
reaching for the book, at 6 months, to actually naming familiar
pictures, at 3 years, find out how your child is developing, and
what you can do to help by downloading the following milestones
chart.
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Development milestones for early literacy chart
(92KB, 1 pages)
How to choose the right books for the right age
Knowing how to choose books that are pitched at the right level
can be confusing. We have put together a summary of what to
look out for, such as pictures, words and story topics for each age
group:
Infants - 6-12 months like:
- Board books with photos of babies
- Brightly coloured board books to touch and taste
- Books with pictures of familiar objects - balls, bottles
- Small books sized for small hands
Younger toddlers - 12 to 24 months like:
- Sturdy board books they can handle and carry
- Books with photos and pictures of children doing familiar
things - sleeping, eating, playing
- Goodnight books for bedtime
- Books about saying goodbye and hello
- Books with only a few words on the page
- Books with simple rhymes or predictable text
Older toddlers - 24 to 36 months like:
- Books with board pages but also books with paper pages
- Silly books and funny books
- Rhymes, rhythms, repetitious textbooks they can learn by
heart
- Books about children and families
- Books about making friends
- Books about food
- Books about animals
- Books about trucks
- Word books
Pre-schoolers - 3 to 5 years like:
- Books that tell stories
- Books about kids that look like them and live like them, but
also books about different places and different ways of living
- Books about going to school, books about making friends
- Books with simple text they can memorize
- Counting books, alphabet books, vocabulary books