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Reading With Toddlers

We all know how important it is for children to read from an early learning age. Reading has many benefits for your children, they learn new words, improve their language structure (sentences), and build oratory and literacy skills. Introducing reading to children from an early age develops their interest in academia, and that helps them in the future in the long run. We cannot deny the importance of reading, but we can also not deny the fact that reading to children is not just a piece of cake. 

Reading with Toddlers

Toddlerhood is the age where every activity in the children seems very interesting but very difficult for parents to handle. Even reading with toddlers is fun and challenging for parents. Toddlers keep wandering around, they enjoy being in a movement all the time and pay short attention. So, you may wonder how to slow them down and read a good book with them. Here are a couple of ideas;   

Choose the Right Books: 

• Select a short book for a toddler that can be read in 4 to 5 minutes, keeping it short will help summarize and tell the central idea. It will keep the toddler engaged and focused on the reading.

• Find books that interest your toddlers like superheroes, animals, and other activities that toddlers experience every day.  
• The idea is to get your toddler interested in reading therefore, board or cloth books that can withstand their small hands and last long, are essential.
• Try to get some sensory and interactive books, because senses are the key we learn through our five senses, especially the young children. So pop-up books, touch books, e-books, and others will engage toddlers fully. 
• Let your toddler choose the book even if he chooses it the hundredth time. It will draw his attention to listen more to what he chooses.

Set the routine:

• Make a routine for reading, routine keeps a child organized, and he remains ready to listen, focus and read with you.
•  Set a place for reading, study room or luminous place is better but your lap is the best place for reading a book. You can make your toddler sit in your lap and then read your child a book. 

Make reading interesting and funny:

• Read the book like it is happening in real. Animate it, use different sounds, silly voices, and actions that make your reading more interesting, and keep the child engage in the reading. The more engaged you are with the story, the more your child will focus. 
• You can ask questions, toddlers have their own perspective on everything, during the story ask them what they understand and think about the story. Ask questions about their favorite character in the story and what it should do. Make reading an active fun activity instead of sitting still and just reading.

• In the book point to characters, objects, and pictures, if your toddler is not interested in words, draw his attention toward pictures.
• Let toddlers turn the pages and be the in charge, toddlers usually love to do things on their own. Turning pages will engage them & encourage them to complete the task and read quickly. 

Despite trying the above ideas, the reading time may not be perfect. Your toddler may not sit and listen to the book you read. It is not necessary to keep them still, let them move around and read them a book, they may not look at the book, but they still listen. Your toddler may listen to it for five minutes on day one or ten minutes the other day, but it will make a difference in their future with each book you complete for them.