The Importance of Reading With Children

Reading with children in their early childhood years is essential in developing the literacy foundation that will carry them throughout their lives. The positive outcomes of frequent read-alouds with young children are endless! Reading is often viewed as simply a way to pass time and entertain children, which is true, but it goes so much deeper than that. Reading with your child is one of the most important things you can do to facilitate their language development and overall literacy skills.

Reading is extremely beneficial for child development overall. It is crucial in developing a child’s early language skills. As a child participates in frequent, regular read-alouds, their vocabulary is further expanded. They are able to strengthen their understanding and knowledge of letter recognition, which will support all facets of their learning throughout their lifetime. You can begin reading with your child as early and as often as possible. Language roots develop in a baby's brain even before they can talk, so it's important to start early. Over time, reading with your children helps develop their language by associating pictures with the corresponding words and real-life objects. Your child will be able to learn more words as they hear more words in their daily life, and reading is an efficient way to increase the overall amount of words they hear. Additionally, when a child listens to an adult read them a book, they’re able to observe the function of inflection. Inflection is important in speech because it places emphasis on keywords and helps communicate emotions in a variety of ways, depending on how and where the inflection is placed. Stories allow children to develop and strengthen their social-emotional skills as the characters interact and process emotions internally. By reading aloud intentionally and regularly, the parent-child bond is deepened, which also contributes to expanding a child's social-emotional skills.

The ultimate goal in setting up an environment that promotes reading is to create a reader-friendly environment. This simply means intentionally designing an environment that provides children with many opportunities to implement literacy in their daily life and routines. The following ideas accommodate both the home and classroom reading environments, as the specifics can be adjusted as needed. One of the most important things to remember for any reading space is to keep the books out and easy for children to access. Having bookshelves at the child’s level is a great way to make books easily available to them. It also helps to organize books by subject, color, or any other aspect that is most relevant to your children’s needs and interests, in order to make the bookshelf look more exciting. It’s essential to have a variety of topics as well as types of books to keep it interesting. Board books, paperback books, sensory books (such as touch-and-feel books), and interactive books (such as pop-up books) are some book types that are particularly appealing to children. Be sure to switch out titles from week to week to keep your children curious and actively engaged in the concept of reading. Make the reading space inviting. Providing comfortable and well-lit reading areas can be the key to success in extending reading time and increasing their desire to read more often. Add bean bags, comfortable chairs, rugs, fun lamps, and any other items you think they would find exciting and be able to utilize during reading time. In the classroom, provide an area that is spacious enough that multiple children can engage and listen at the same time, while still keeping it cozy. At home, provide personalized touches in the reading space to help them feel connected to it, such as a family photo. The reading environment, both at home and in the classroom, is about much more than just the physical space. The key to sparking up your little readers' desires is cultivating an atmosphere of curiosity and staying intentional with the reading environment you create. Making sure the physical and mental environment works effectively and specifically for your children or students is vital, as children have individualized needs and preferences. The more intentionally you can create the space to cater to their specific interests, the more success and engagement you will see in their literacy learning. Creating an optimum and engaging literacy environment for your children will facilitate their curiosity and motivation for learning as a whole.

Reading with young children is vital for their acquisition of literacy skills, as well as their overall academic development. The passion for and joy of learning begins to spark in early childhood, and continued reading works to turn that spark into a flame. Reading provides imaginary worlds for your children to explore, establishes and strengthens many aspects of their development, and provides them with a positive, constructive outlet for self-expression. Consistently reading aloud with your children conveys to them the valuable message that reading is essential. Be enthusiastic about it with them, and remember to make it fun!