Reading books, talking about pictures, sharing stories, and singing rhymes and songs help your baby’s development in many ways.
Doing these activities every day helps your baby get familiar with speech sounds, words, pictures and books. This builds your baby’s early language skills and early literacy skills and helps them go on to read successfully later in life.
Reading stories also stimulates your baby’s imagination and helps them learn about the world around them. It’s a great time for you to bond with your baby and share time together too.
You can start reading aloud to your baby early – the earlier the better. Our article on reading stories with babies and children has more information to get you started.
As babies develop in the first year of life, the way they engage with books changes.
In the first 3 months, your baby might enjoy sitting on your lap and gazing at the pictures while you slowly read aloud. Your baby might pay attention to the book for only a few minutes.
By 6 months, your baby will start to take a more active role in story time. Your baby might grab, pat, handle or even try to chew books. Your baby might communicate with you by cooing, babbling and smiling.
By 9 months, your baby will start to engage more directly with the words and pictures in books. For example, your baby might babble while looking at pictures or try to lift up flaps. Your baby will also want to hold books and try to turn pages.
By 12 months, your baby will love being involved in story time. Your baby can turn the book the right way up, point to pictures, and make animal noises or car and truck sounds. Your baby might even enjoy looking at books by themselves. Your baby will like to carry books around (if they’re walking) and will probably want you to read their favourite books many times.
Here’s how you can help your baby learn and develop through reading with you:
Here are general tips to help you make the most of reading time with children:
Visit your local library – it’s free to join and borrow books. The staff will be able to recommend age-appropriate books for you and your baby to enjoy. Many libraries also offer free story time sessions for babies and their parents or carers.
In general, babies enjoy and benefit from books that have good rhymes, regular rhythm and repetition. Rhymes, rhythm and repetition emphasise the way words sound, which helps with language development.
From when your baby is born, you might like to look for books that:
Here are books your baby might enjoy:
For more story ideas, let storyteller Anne E. Stewart introduce you and your baby to ‘Mook Mook the owl’, ‘The crocodile’ and ‘The old lady and the mosquito’.
Reading books, sharing stories, talking and singing every day helps your child’s development in many ways.
Reading and storytelling can:
Reading stories with children has benefits for you too. The special time you spend reading together promotes bonding and builds your relationship with your child.
You can start reading aloud to your baby as early as you like – the earlier the better. Your baby will love being held in your arms, listening to your voice, hearing rhyme and rhythm, and looking at pictures.
Reading isn’t the only way to help with your child’s language and literacy development.
Telling stories, singing songs and saying rhymes together are also great activities for early literacy skills – and your child will probably have a lot of fun at the same time. Sometimes your child might enjoy these activities more than reading.
You and your child might like to make up your own stories or share family stories. Your child will learn words and develop language skills from the songs, stories and conversations you share together.
You can use books to share stories, but you don’t always have to read. Just by looking at pictures and talking about them with your child, you can be a storyteller and a model for using language and books. Your child will also learn by watching you hold a book the right way and seeing how you move through the book by gently turning the pages.
You can read, sing and tell stories with your child in whatever language you feel most comfortable speaking.
Using a language you’re comfortable with helps you to communicate more easily. It also helps to make reading, singing and storytelling more fun for you and your child. Your child will still learn that words are made up of different letters, syllables and sounds, and that words usually link to the pictures on the page.
If you speak languages other than English at home but want to introduce your child to reading in English, you can look for dual-language books. Or you could read a book aloud in English or listen to an audio book in English and then talk about the story with your child in whatever language feels most comfortable.
Bedtime, bath time, potty time, on the train, on the bus, in the car, in the park, in the pram, in the cot, when you’re in the GP’s waiting room ... any time is a good time for a story! You can make books part of your daily routine – take them with you to share and enjoy everywhere.
Knowing when to stop can be just as important as finding the time to share a story in the first place. Pay attention to your child’s reaction to the story, and stop if your child isn’t enjoying it. You can always try a different book, song or story another time.
If you don’t have a book or can’t make up a story on the spot, don’t worry. There are many other ways you and your child can share letters, words and pictures. For example, you can look at:
You could check out our storytelling videos. Let storyteller Anne E. Stewart introduce you and your child to ‘Mook Mook the owl’, ‘The crocodile’ and ‘The old lady and the mosquito’.
If you have older children, they can share books with your younger children, or you can all read together. Taking turns, asking questions and listening to the answers are all important skills that will help children when they start learning how to read.
Just reading for a few minutes at a time is good – you don’t always have to finish the book. As children grow, they can usually listen for longer.
As a broad rule, young children often enjoy books, songs and stories that have good rhyme, rhythm and repetition. In fact, one of the ways that children learn is through repetition and rhyme.
Children also like books they can relate to – for example, books about play, toys, dinner, bath time, walks, animals and cars.
It’s also important to choose books that are the right length for your child.
For a guide to what might suit your child, you can look at the following articles:
You can also vary the books and printed materials you read. Picture books, ebooks, magazines, instruction manuals, TV guides and letters can all be interesting and engaging for your child.
If your older child is interested in ebooks, look for ones without distracting games or animations. Also, it’s important to read ebooks with your child, rather than leaving your child alone with a device. It’s best if ebooks don’t replace paper books.
If you want to try new books or magazines without much cost, you could arrange book swaps with friends or other parents at your parent group or early childhood centre.
Libraries have a lot to offer. Getting to know your local library can be a part of learning about and loving books.
You can borrow great children’s books for free from your local library. This means you can have plenty of books in your home for your child to explore – and it won’t cost you a cent.
Taking your child to the library and letting them choose their own books can be a fun adventure. You can talk about and plan your trip to the library with your child. You could ask your child, for example:
Many libraries also offer free story times and activities for young children. Going along to these sessions is a way to help your child get familiar with the library, have fun, and enjoy books and stories. Some libraries offer these sessions online.
Libraries often have audio books, dual-language books, ebooks and magazines.
Just contact your local library for more information.
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