Did you know that one of the most important activity for preparing your child to succeed as a reader is reading aloud together? In fact, it is a truism in child development that the very young learn through relationships and back-and-forth interactions, including the interactions that occur when parents read to their children.
Before a child begins reading on their own, it is our voices that bring the letters and colorful characters of books to life. Children connect to the characters, their situations, or the settings in which the stories took place and learn from them.
40% of children ages 6-11 still wish their parents would read to them.*
Benefits of Reading Aloud
Reading aloud doesn’t just encourage children to be avid readers in the future, for babies and small children, listening to stories while looking at pictures stimulates children’s deep brain networks, stimulate their imagination and expands their understanding of the world. The companionable experience of reading together also cultivates empathy and dramatically accelerates young children’s language acquisition.
A study conducted by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research found that reading aloud to children every day puts them almost a year ahead (academically) of children who do not receive daily read-aloud. This practice sets the stage for lifelong success.
Reading aloud also helps children develop language and listening skills, and prepares them to understand the written word. When the rhythm and melody of language become a part of a child’s life, learning to read will be as natural as learning to walk and talk.
85% of children ages 6 – 14 who are or have been read aloud consider the activity as a special time with their parents.*
Guidelines for Reading Aloud
As you stand in front of your bookshelf to select your next book to read aloud to your kids, keep the following guidelines for reading aloud in mind.
Pick a book you enjoy reading. When you enjoy the book, children can feel your love for it in the way you read. Also pick books that you know children will love hearing. Your child might prefer listening to stories about dinosaurs or superheroes. Ask them which they’d prefer, and you’re both enjoy the moment better.
Talk. Take the time to stop and talk as you are reading to your children. Talk about the things they might see on the page, words they may be hearing, or the events of the story. Make the conversation as natural as possible and refrain from turning the talk into a quiz. Also, let your child guide the conversation. He or she will notice and ask questions if you pause in your reading from time to time.
Oral expression. Read with expressions that engages and captivates children. This will help the story come alive for them, which in turn builds their interest and attention. If a dinosaur is stomping its feet, then let the children feel, hear, and mimic stomping feet.
Read! Read! Read! Whenever the opportunity presents itself, read to your children. Having 1,500 hours of reading time will go a long way in setting up children for success in their adventures in learning to read (Adam 1990).
Recommended Books According to Age
0-3 Years Old
Title: I Love You Too
Creator: Stephen Michael King
Format: Paperback
The perfect book to share with a child, parent, friend or any special person in your life, I Love You Too is a simple yet extremely touching story about how the people we love make the world a beautiful place – in any kind of weather!
Title: Who’s Wearing This
Creator: Lin Po Ting
Format: Picture Book
Introduce your little ones to the colorful beauty of the natural world as, together, you discover some of the animal kingdom’s best and brightest costumes.
Title: CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG
Creator: Norman Bridwell
Format: Paperback
Imagine having a dog bigger than a house! In the original story that has sparked the imaginations of young readers for generations, a little girl gets a tiny puppy who grows up to be the biggest dog in the whole world. He’s so big that he can fetch robbers…and their car! Most important, Clifford is a good friend who’s always cheerful and ready to play and help.
4 – 6 Years Old
Title: Be You!
Creator: Peter Reynolds
Format: Picture Book
Discover a joyful reminder of the ways that every child is unique and special, from the beloved creator of The Dot, Happy Dreamer, and New York Times bestseller, The Word Collector. Here, Reynolds reminds readers to “be your own work of art.” To be patient, persistent, and true. Because there is one, and only one, YOU.
Title: The Very Cranky Bear
Creator: Nick Bland
Format: Picture Book
Nick Bland’s expressive, adorable illustrations complement delightful, rhyming, read-aloud text in this lesson about the importance of sharing with others.
Title: 6 Minute Stories For 6 Year Olds
Creator: Meredith Costain and Paul Collins
Format: Short Stories
An ice-cream-eating dinosaur, a big, bad smell, a lifesaving dog, zombies playing soccer, a ghost in the garden, pets who get lost and found again, trouble with losing a tooth, seven helpful robots, a knight-slaying dragon, and much, much more in this collection of six-minute stories.
7-9 Years old
Title: GS#1: LOST TREASURE OF THE EMERALD EYE
Creator: Geronimo Stilton
Format: Chapter Book
It all started when my sister, Thea, discovered a mysterious map. It showed a secret treasure on a faraway island. In no time at all, my sister dragged me and my cousin Trap into her treasure hunt. It was an adventure I’d never forget…
Title: Dog Man #1: Dog Man
Creator: Dav Pilkey
Format: Graphic Novel
George and Harold have created a new hero who digs into deception, claws after crooks, and rolls over robbers. When Greg the police dog and his cop companion are injured on the job, a life-saving surgery changes the course of history, and Dog Man is born. With the head of a dog and the body of a human, this heroic hound has a real nose for justice. But can he resist the call of the wild to answer the call of duty?
Title: 7 Minute Stories For 7 Year Olds
Creator: Meredith Costain and Paul Collins
Format: Short Stories
A haunted house, trouble at the zoo, a girl who gets zapped into a computer game, homework-stealing aliens, a pirate war, the loudest kid alive, a princess under a magic spell, racing snails, a family of monsters and much, much more in this collection of seven-minute stories.
10 – 12 Years Old
Title: The Bad Guys – Episode 1: The Bad Guys
Creator: Aaron Blabey
Format: Graphic Chapter Book
They sound like the Bad Guys, they look like the Bad Guys . . . and they even smell like the Bad Guys. But Mr Wolf, Mr Piranha, Mr Snake and Mr Shark are about to change all of that! Mr Wolf has a daring plan for the Bad Guys first good mission. The gang are going to break 200 dogs out of the Maximum Security City Dog Pound. Will Operation Dog Pound go smoothly? Will the Bad Guys become the Good Guys? And will Mr Snake please spit out Mr Piranha?
Title: Dreams Come True (Melowy #1)
Creator: Danielle Star
Format: Chapter Book
Hidden somewhere beyond the highest clouds is the castle of Destino, a school for very special students. They’re the Melowies, little unicorns born with a symbol on their wings and a hidden magical power.
But Destino is also a place where friendships are born, where the Melowies find their courage, and where they learn their path to growing up. Five of the students are Clio, Kora, Maia, Selene, and Electra. And the time destined for them to meet has now arrived.
Title: WildKat
Creator: Vittoria D’Alessio
Format: Novel
WildKat tells the story of Kat Hollow, a somewhat spoiled, gadget-addicted 12-year-old living in Singapore. When Kat’s little brother is almost killed by a python. Life changes for the hollow family in several ways, not least financially. Escalating medical bills and job losses lead to Kat being forced to give up all her electronic devices, but, as it turns out, this results in Kat finding true meaning and direction in her life as only when her life has been stripped bare can Kat’s true heroic nature flourish.
*For the last 12 years, Scholastic has been conducting a biannual longitudinal study to monitor changes in children’s and parents’ attitudes and behaviours around reading. The findings are released to the public in a document called the Kids & Family Reading Report.
