Top 4 Things You Should Know When Reading to a Toddler

1. Have Repetition and Be Predictable: Do you remember how smart you felt, as a kid, when you figured out what was going to happen next in a story? With toddlers, it’s important to include books that contain repetitions, as they mature, add predictable and rhyming books. Read stories again and again. Your toddler enjoys repetition and it helps them become familiar with the way stories are organized.

2. Use Expressions & Rhymes: The beauty of reading with children is that you won’t be reading to a peanut gallery of harsh critics – release your inhibitions! Read with expression using different voices for different characters. This change in tone can help keep the child engaged and also teaches the art of storytelling – which is one of the benefits of our hands-free video storytelling platform! Toddlers also love rhythms and rhymes in stories, give them opportunities throughout the story to repeat rhyming phrases. Better yet, add a tune to it.

3. Have Child Repeat: Encourage your child to repeat what you say or comment on it and
encourage them to ask questions. Provide models of interesting questions and examples of possible answers. “I wonder where they are going to next? I think the bear will trip in the rock because he is not paying attention to where he is going. What do you think?”. Also encourage your child to make paying attention to where he is going. What do you think?”. Also encourage your child to make up next steps in the story, such as- “what would you like to see happen next”? This is the spark that storytelling causes in an imagination!

4. Make it a Routine/Habit: Make reading a habit for bedtime, after lunch, or after naptime. Research abounds on the benefits of daily reading for a child’s foundation of literacy for life. Combine reading with an encounter with relatives that are distant for uber-enhanced bonding! Bedtime stories happen every night, so pick one night a week and your child will begin to look forward to this reading time on the computer (or tablet) – as will the family member committed to this time with the child. You can even calendar the reading day so that they know when it is coming. Have them put stickers on each reading day so they can see when it is happening. Kids often approach the habit of reading as a chore, so by integrating it with computer privileges makes it cool and the storytelling dynamic teaches them about creativity.that has

Work at Play

Here is a great website: http://ht.ly/9A5ww

Currently you will find a study on this website that now gives us evidence for something most of us already knew anyway. Playing with your young children will pay off in future years. This study focused on toddlers and the same set of children later during their 5^th grade school year.  There were a number of interesting findings, but one I want to highlight is the mention of “stimulating activities” with toddlers that were linked to a positive academic achievement later in life. According to this study these activities included:

“encouraging and engaging in pretend play; presenting activities in an organized sequence of steps; elaborating on the pictures, words, and actions in a book or on unique attributes of objects; and relating play activity or book text to the child’s experience…”

So this begs us to ponder: “Is work, play? Or is play, work?”

Your turn!

Your only investment is time…

Are you looking for ways to encourage your young child to read? Would you like to instill in your toddler a love of books? With your help, toddlers and preschoolers can get a head start on the road to reading, even if they cannot yet read themselves. Here are a few suggestions help get you started from : – www.essortment.com

· First, and foremost, read aloud to your child, no matter how young. Infants love to hear their parent’s voice. Reading to your child not only provides a valuable learning experience, but it can become a treasured family activity.  Be There Bedtime Stories adds an entirely new dimension to reading aloud. After recording a story for a loved one, they will have it to look at for years to come.

· Be a role model. Parents can set a good example by showing that they enjoy and benefit from reading at home.

· Make regular visits to your local library, and be sure to elicit the help of the children’s librarian. There are a number of library resources available to help you choose books, such as reading lists and lists of award-winning books.

The rewards you will reap are priceless.