Reading with Your Baby

Reading with your child is the most important activity you can do to help your child get ready to read. It’s never too early to start! Reading, talking, and singing to your baby help form the brain connections that build language and literacy skills during the time of most rapid brain development. Reading also strengthens the bond between you and your baby. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents and caregivers read to babies from birth onward.

Here are some tips for reading with the very young:

· Snuggle up together and read with feeling. Your baby knows and prefers your voice and your face. He may not be able to understand the words or story in a book but will respond to your expression and the emotion in your voice when you read or talk with him. Just hearing your voice and being cuddled up with you will associate two things he loves – your voice and you – with reading. This will make reading a pleasure, not a chore, later when he is in school.

· Choose colorful and sturdy books. Babies learn with their mouths and hands. As they get older they will want to touch the book, hold it, turn the pages, and put it in their mouths. They also like books with simple, colorful, and high-contrast pictures.

· Plan a special reading time. Make this time special – turn off the TV, put your phone down, and give your baby your full attention. Babies and active toddlers may lose interest in a book after only a few minutes. That’s okay! Put the book down and come back to it later, or try another one. Don’t give up. Your baby’s interest and attention span will grow as she does. Just keep reading with your child.

· Read together every day. Establishing a reading routine can be very helpful as babies grow into toddlers, especially reading aloud together as part of a nightly bedtime ritual. Toddlers love to make their own decisions, so let them pick the books you read together. They also love repetition, quickly develop favorite books, and may ask for the same story over and over, so be sure to offer choices that you like too!

· Make time to talk about the stories and illustrations. Toddlers can point to pictures and characters in the stories. Preschoolers can point to letters, count some of the pictures, and answer simple questions about the story. Sometimes they may even “read” a much-beloved and often-read book, turning pages and telling the story as they go along.

Reading aloud with young children is fun and rewarding. It strengthens the bond between parent and child and provides tremendous learning benefits that will last a lifetime.

Guest post by Allison C. 

Talk, Talk, Talk!

There are five early literacy practices (talking, singing, reading, writing and playing) that help children develop the skills that are the foundation for reading. We incorporate these early literacy practices into our storytimes at the library. Parents and caregivers can also reinforce and help their children’s brain development through regular practice of these activities at home. This post will focus on talking with your child.

Here are some ways that you can talk with your child to help grow those neural connections:

· Talk about print that is all around you. Point out street signs, store signs, grocery lists, on cereal boxes, on books, or anywhere else in the environment. Help your child notice the print and talk about it together. This will make them more aware of print all around them and help them to see that print has meaning.

· Point out letters on signs or letter shapes in the environment or in books. Name the letters, point out their shapes, and make the letter sounds. The shapes, sounds, and names of letters are all things children need to be able to read.

· Describe to your child what you are doing as you go through your daily routine together. The more conversations you have with your child, the more words they will hear. The more words they hear, the larger vocabulary they’ll have when they go to school and the more words they’ll recognize when they see them in print.

· Talk about everyday things. Name objects that your child sees.

· Use “parentese” – slowed down speech – when talking with your child. It stretches out words and lets children hear the sounds that make up words. Playing simple rhyming games can also help with hearing and learning these sounds.

· Tell stories to your child about your family, favorite memories, and past experiences.

· Ask your child to retell stories that you read to them. This helps them learn the structure of a story. Have them make up stories to tell you.

· Ask questions about the stories you read together – what was their favorite part of the story, etc.

Children learn language by listening to their parents and others talk, and they understand words before they can carry on a conversation with you. Research has shown that there is a direct link between the number of words spoken in the home between birth and age three and a child’s academic performance in third grade. So talk, talk, talk to your child, about anything and everything!

Guest post by Allison C. 

The Forest Feast for Kids

Talking to your children about your day-to-day activities helps build their vocabulary and build their ability to read in the future. Some books make describing your activities easy, and The Forest Feast for Kids by Erin Gleeson is one of them! This vegetarian cookbook is full of delicious recipes that you can make with your child, and the beautiful and colorful photographs that accompany each recipe will make describing the ingredients easy. It’s a delicious trip through the senses that you and your children will love!

Guest post by Sarah H. 

Talk to Me, Baby!

Building your child’s vocabulary is an important part of learning to read in the future. Studies show that the number of words and range of vocabulary heard by a child in their early years can have a dramatic effect on their language skills. John Medina, the author of Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five, says that kids spoken to more frequently in their first three years have an IQ that’s one and a half times higher than those who aren't.

The easiest way to build vocabulary is to talk to your child as much as possible, but what do you talk about? The answer is anything! Anything and everything that you see, hear, or do you can describe to your child. Remember, they don’t know what anything is yet! Make sure to describe the things you’re doing in detail. Are you peeling an orange? What does it feel like? How does it smell? What colors do you see? How does it taste? Talking out loud may feel silly at first, but soon you’ll fall into a routine and your child will respond as they grow.

Guest post by Sarah H.

Start the Conversation!

Talking, one of the five early literacy practices, is crucial for vocabulary-building and overall reading success. Because children learn words by hearing them, it’s important to talk often to your little ones of any age. Even tiny babies’ language development is greatly improved by having someone talk to them frequently. Here are a few ideas of ways to start more conversations with your children:

-After reading, ask your child questions about the book you’ve just finished.

-As you’re driving in the car, talk about what you see on the road or where you’re going and what will happen there. Be descriptive!

-When going about daily routines, like dressing, bathing, cooking, or brushing teeth, talk about everything you’re doing and why.

-If your child goes to a day care or school, ask questions about his day. If he responds with a yes, no, or couple-word answer, re-phrase your question or ask follow-up questions to keep the conversation going.

Don’t forget to give your child a chance to chime in or respond. Since children generally require a longer response time than adults, make sure to be patient while your little one is coming up with an answer!

This is Our House

 

When it comes to picture books, I’m typically drawn to the ones that are going to make me (and more importantly, my audience) burst into laughter. Looking through some of the new books that just arrived at the library, though, one of my favorites didn’t need to make me giggle to appreciate it. This is Our House, by Hyewon Yum, is a perfect choice for families to share together.

In this book, a photo album of sorts, a young girl chronicles her family home’s history from the time her grandparents “arrived from far away with just two suitcases in hand,” up until the present day. The girl talks about all of the family memories her house has seen: her mother playing with her brothers when they were little; the kitchen where her grandmother made her mom’s favorite soup; the tree outside that blooms every year in the springtime; her mother bringing home her father to meet her grandparents for the first time; and the birth of the little girl herself.

More than anything else, I love thinking about the conversations that I know this book will encourage. Use it as an opportunity to share your family history with your children. You might be surprised at how much they will love hearing stories about your childhood and learning about the similarities and differences between yours and theirs. While you’re at it, you may even be inspired to break open some of those dusty, old family photo albums. While the book isn't likely to produce any laughter, the photo albums certainly might! J

Show Me the...Talking!

Be honest, have you ever heard someone talking to an infant in that high-pitched tone of voice, the one that people often use with babies and small children, and thought: “Oh man, she has got to stop talking like that?” Well, you’re not alone; I think it crosses all of our minds at times. But, even though it can sometimes sound a little annoying to adults, according to the book Amazing Minds by Jan Faull, that high-pitched, melodic voice--called child-directed speech or parentese--is actually preferred by infants. Research has shown that parentese holds a baby’s attention longer than regular adult speech. According to Amazing Minds: “With babies, it is not so important what you say to them, but how you say it.” And, interestingly enough, a version of parentese is used all around the world, in every language. It’s really an automatic, subconscious change that we make to our voices. If you really think about it, wouldn’t it be weird to hear someone talk to a baby in a normal tone of voice?

Not only does the way we talk have an impact, but the amount that we talk does, too. I know that I’ve brought up the importance of talking a lot to your kids before, but because of its significance, I feel like I can’t stress it enough. In fact, I was watching a webinar the other day that said that 2-year-olds who have a caregiver who’s very talkative have 295 more words in their arsenal than kids their age whose caregivers don’t talk as much. Similarly, kindergarteners whose caregivers were chatty knew 1,500 more words than their peers who grew up without a big talker around! Additionally, since research has shown that children who are proficient communicators are generally successful readers, it is even clearer that the impacts of talking to your little ones are profound and abundant.

Whether or not you already do a lot of talking with your child, try making a conscious effort to do more. Your child will benefit immeasurably, and pretty soon it will become second nature for you.

The Three Little Puppets

 

If your household is anything like mine was as a child, the holidays are filled with lots of stay-in-your-pajamas-all-day-long kinds of days. Oh, wait, that was just us? Well, whether you and your family are typically dressed to venture outside of your house or not, surely with school out and many parents off of work, there will be a little more family time than usual. If you could use a few ideas for ways to entertain those cooped-up kiddos on long winter days, you've come to the right place!

Playing, talking, and reading with your child are three of the five early literacy practices that will help prepare your little one to start reading on his own (singing and writing are the other two). Making puppets and telling stories are ways to incorporate those three practices into an afternoon of fun. Depending on your creativity, artistic ability, and time constraints, you can make puppets that are as simple as a paper bag with a face drawn on it or a craft stick/straw with a cut-out head glued/taped to it. Or, if you’re feeling ambitious, you could create beautifully sewn puppet masterpieces. I’m more of a craft-stick-puppet-kind-of-gal, myself. No matter how complicated your puppets are to make, your child will undoubtedly be thrilled to have made one (or ten!).

These puppets can be used in many different ways. Try reading a story to your child, and then have him retell the story using the puppets. He’ll have fun playing with the puppet and will comprehend the story better, having to tell it on his own. Or, if you’d prefer, try using the puppets to tell a story that you already know, like The Three Little Pigs. You can even do it multiple times, switching up the roles to make it more exciting. If your child has a vivid imagination, have him make up his own story using the puppets. Warning: fits of uncontrollable laughter will likely ensue!

If you and your family try this, I’d love to hear how it goes and what fun stories and memories you create. You never know, you may find a new calling; the world is always in need of more puppeteers, right?! Happy puppet-making!

New York, Baby!

I realize now how lucky I was to go on family vacations almost every year in my childhood. The experiences we had were always great and definitely shaped who I am today. And no, we didn’t go to amusement parks. We were the family that went to historical places, like Franklin Roosevelt’s house. At the time I didn’t appreciate it, but now I know how lucky I am to have had those experiences.  

If you’re lucky enough to go on a vacation this year, think about all of the exciting things your little one can learn from these experiences and all of the interesting conversations you can have together. Imagine if you would go to New York City, a place with so many diverse people, places and events. A new picture book by Ward Jenkins, New York, Baby!, explores NYC through a toddler’s eyes. They visit Central Park, take in a Broadway show, Times Square and, of course, have a tasty treat on the famed Bleecker Street! (Myself, I love to have a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery on Bleecker!)

The vibrant illustrations help draw the child’s eyes to all of the attractions. When you come to the page with the toddler riding the bus, talk about different modes of transportation like the bus, the taxi, or the subway. Introduce a new word, like skyscraper, and talk about the different bridges, along with the Statue of Liberty. All of these words or places might be a completely new experience for a child that has only lived in the suburbs/rural areas. You never know - you may be laying the groundwork for a future architect or city planner!

What's in a Name?

So I've been reading the book Amazing Minds by Jan Faull, which talks about simple things parents can do to nuture their child's mind during the newborn and toddler years. Being a parent of a 16-month-old, I'm always interested to learn about the way a child's brain develops and see it play out in my son. Right now he's learning new words like crazy, and one of the first words he recognized was his name.

Research shows that babies as young as 4 and 1/2 months old can recognize their names. According to Faull, using your toddler's name in conversation can be a powerful tool to support and reinforce behavior. So when your child does something good, like help clean up her toys, use her name when talking about how she helped and she'll pay attention and likely repeat the behavior. When your child gets a little older, she'll be able to recognize her name in print. And when she starts to learn letter names and sounds, the most important letter to her will be the first letter in her name.

Knowing letter names and sounds is an important precurser to learning how to read. So start with the letters in your child's name and point them out on signs, menus, in books, wherever. Talk about what sounds those letters make and look for objects that begin with the same sounds. In our weekly storytimes, each child has a nametag, and it's amazing to watch them learn which one is theirs - they always look for that first letter! Sometimes they can even recognize that letter in another child's tag. So don't underestimate the importance of a name - it's more of a learning tool than you think. And have fun helping your child recognize her name and everything that goes into it! Guest post by Shelly P.

When a Dog's not a Dog

When is a dog not a dog? When it's a Poodle, a Rottweiler, or a Dalmation. Exposing your children to a variety of words makes it easier for them to learn to read. The more words your children are exposed to, the better off they are, because they'll be more likely to recognize an unfamiliar word in print if they've heard it before. When talking to your little one, occasionally throw in a new word or a synonym in place of an everyday word. Hence a dog is sometimes a dog, but it can also be a Poodle. Sometimes you point out your hand, and sometimes you point out your fingers or your wrist. It's fun!

If you're not sure where to start, a board book or picture book will do. For the very young, we like to use word books, like Alligator, Bear Crab: a Baby's ABC or My First Animals: Let's Squeak and Squawk!

Just look at the pictures and describe what you see. Sometimes it's a bird, and sometimes it's an Eagle! Guest post by Charlette J.