Mini Module 16:
Reading with Infants and Toddlers
It's never too soon to start reading to your children! If your
child learns early to associate reading with pleasure, she is more
likely to enjoy reading on her own when she is older.
Try these successful reading tips for reading to infants and toddlers:
- Snuggle
with your child with her favorite blanket or toys as you read.
- Read
with expression using different voices for different characters.
- Emphasize
rhythms and rhymes in stories. Give your toddler opportunities
to repeat rhyming phrases.
- Use pictures to build vocabulary by
varying objects and their colors.
- Use pictures to develop speaking
vocabulary by talking about what is shown.
- Encourage your child
to repeat what you say or comment on it. Encourage your child
to ask questions. Provide models of interesting
questions
and examples of possible answers. "I wonder what is going
to happen next? I think the rabbit will get lost because he is
not paying attention to where he is going. What do you think?"
- Look
for books that are about things that interest your toddler.
For example, does your child like cars, insects, or animals?
- Make
reading a habit for bedtime, after lunch, or after naptime.
- Give
your child a chance to choose his own books. If your toddler
chooses a book that is too long to hold his attention, read
some and skip some, discussing the pictures and how they
relate to
the story.
- Read stories again and again. Your toddler enjoys
repetition and it helps him become familiar with the way stories
are
organized.
Now take this short true/false quiz on the material you
just read:
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