Tips for Reading with Your Child

Reading to babies and toddlers

• Set aside at least one regularly scheduled time each day for reading.
• Select cloth, vinyl, and board books that are durable for babies.
• Read books with familiar objects to name.
• Use different voices for different characters - be entertaining.
• Spend time talking about the pictures before turning the page.
• Read aloud to your baby for only a few minutes at a time.
• Increase reading time as your older baby is willing to listen.
• Take toddlers to the library or bookstore for story hour.

Reading to your preschooler

• Set aside at least one regularly scheduled time each day for reading.
• Move your finger under the words as you read aloud. This helps preschoolers connect printed words to spoken words.
• Encourage your children to join in while you read. Pause to let them fill in a rhyming word or repeating line
• Look for books that are about things that interest your toddler. For example, does your child like cars, insects or animals?
• Ask open-ended questions, such as "What do you think is going to happen next?" or "Why do you think he did that?"

Reading with your beginning reader

• Set aside at least one regularly scheduled time each day for reading.
• Let your child gradually share some of the reading aloud. You read a sentence, paragraph, or page, then it's your child's turn.
• If your child can't sound out a word, suggest skipping it, reading the rest of the sentence, and deciding what word would make sense.
• Take your new reader to the library to sign up for his or her own library card.