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Back to school time means it is time to start thinking about stimulating little minds and getting them ready for all of the challenges coming their way this year. One of the most important things you can do with your child is to encourage their love for reading.
When a child reads, they not only open themselves up to a whole world of new adventures waiting for them, but they also strengthen skills that they can use in their everyday life such as problem solving, word building, and inference. If you have a child who is not exactly thrilled about reading, what can you do? Luckily, there are many ways to encourage a love for reading in children that can last them a lifetime. Take a look below at 7 ways to encourage a love for reading in children. As you approach the new school year, these tips are sure to come in handy.
Ways to Encourage a Love for Reading in Children:
1. Read to your child early.
While it is never to late to start, try reading to your child as early as possible. Even as an infant you can show your child pictures and tell stories. Toddlers will love combing through books and babbling about what they see, and of course older children understand the concept well and will enjoy hearing your read to them. Start early and make reading something they can remember doing for as long as they can remember.
2. Make regular library trips.
Give your child the chance to be surrounded by wonderful books. Libraries are full of chances to dive into a great story, so make a regular library trip at least once a month. This gives them a chance to explore a large variety of topics and to pick out books that appeal to them.
3. Demonstrate your own love for reading.
Children model their parents behavior, so when you model your love for reading, chances are they will too. Let your child see you taking the time to sit down with a good book, buy a book, or check out one of your own favorites from the local library.
4. Read as a family.
Why not choose an exciting chapter book and read a little of it as a family each night? This is a great way to enjoy the wonderful world of literacy as an entire family. Plus, you will be spending quality time together which is idea. When you encourage a love for reading as a family, the impact on your child will no doubt be a strong one.
5. Build a home library.
Having books easily accessible around your home is a great way to encourage a love for reading. Have a small shelf filled with books your child can easily get to. You don’t need to spend a lot, in fact second hand books from a yard sale or thrift shop are perfect.
6. Make time to read daily.
Pick a reading time for the entire family each day. 20 minutes is all you need. Set aside this time daily where everyone stops what they are doing and grabs a great book. When you make reading a priority, it is sure to stick in your child’s mind as something valuable.
7. Have book talks.
When reading time is over, always talk to your child about what she has read. A great book talk is a way to encourage a love for reading in children as it helps build their comprehension of what they read. It is also a great way to build communication skills and verbal skills, so give it a try.
As you can see these are 7 simple, easy, and of course very inexpensive ways to encourage a love for reading in children. Give a few of this tips a try today and you will see what a difference it makes not only to your child but to your whole family. Check out our ideas for great books to encourage a lifetime love of reading in children!
Agree with all of these! I would add one: Be animated when reading to little ones.
My 2 year old’s wandering attention is captured when my voice changes with the different characters, the bigger the voice the better, and the more you move and jump and gesture with different parts of the book, as required….
Great topic and advice! It is well known in the research world that children who are read to earlier in life are more likely to read earlier themselves! Soapbox alert: reading is a great diversion for kids who want to overuse their electronic gadgets! Thank you for sharing this important topic.
I’m so glad that both my kids have always loved to read. I’ve been reading to them since they were babies.
Those are great tips! It is important to encourage children to read when they’re young.
I love to read and my girls love being read too! I buy lots of books from yard sales, so they have a big collection and are always choosing new ones for bedtime stories.
Great tips! I think that if I ever have children though, they won’t have a choice. They’ll be born with the reading gene, lol.
I read a lot and I have always read to my kids 🙂 My 6 year old loves reading books and library is his favorite time of the day at school 🙂