QC Family Focus: November 2015

Brenda Boleyn, Ph.D. & Barbara Wiese, Ph.D.
Professors in the School of Education
at St. Ambrose University
The benefits of reading with children emerge very
early in life. To start, the act of sharing books with someone
they love helps infants and toddlers learn to love reading, too!
It also helps them learn new words, as well as the form of
language used in writing—book language is more formal than
spoken language. Reading encourages them to explore new
ideas and think about things they may not have experienced
yet. It helps them understand that pictures and print are
symbols and represent or stand for something, and they also
come to understand why people read, what they read, and how
books work.
Let’s talk first about the word, “reading.” What does
reading with an infant or toddler look like? What does it sound
like? We know it is a totally different experience from how adults
or school-age children read. Appropriate reading behaviors
when talking about infants and toddlers might include: chewing
books, opening and closing a book repeatedly, treating books
as toys, imitating an action in a picture they see, or repeating
a word they hear the adult read. Reading does NOT generally
mean the infant or toddler quietly and attentively listens while
sitting still in one spot for 30 minutes, or that every word on
every page gets read (State of Iowa, Department of Education,
Every Child Reads, 2005).
Let’s think next about the second word in our title—
“with.” It is important to think of reading as an activity you do
WITH young children, rather than TO young children. Sharing
a book is like having a conversation. A strategy you can use to
facilitate a discussion around a book with a very young child is
the CAR strategy—C stands for comment. There are several
kinds of comments you can make. You can point at what your
child is looking at and name it, describe the picture your child
is looking at, or connect the picture or story to something
familiar in the child’s life. A stands for ask questions. When
you ask questions, you want to limit your questions to one at
a time, keep them short and simple, and use words you think
your child already understands. Finally, R stands for respond,
and add a little more information. For instance, if you are
reading to your child and you notice her getting excited when
looking at the kitten in the picture, you would do more than
point and say, “kitty.” Instead you might say, “Yes, that is a
kitty! He’s sitting under the table.”
Reading
with Infants
and Toddlers
Other helpful suggestions to encourage your infant/
toddler to listen and respond to the books you share include:
reading with enthusiasm, using different voices for different
characters, varying the loudness of your voice and the speed with
which you read, making the sounds of things you are reading
about—encouraging your child to do the same, and using
different facial expressions and gestures—again, encouraging
your child to do the same (State of Iowa, Department of
Education Early Childhood Services Bureau, 2009).
The strategies we’ve discussed for sharing books
will be far more successful if you start with the right kind of
books. Following are some guidelines taken from Tips for
Choosing Books for Babies and Toddlers (2011), found on the
ZerotoThree.org website. This website is a wonderful resource
on a variety of topics regarding children from birth to age three.
Infants 0-6 months:
● Books with simple, large pictures or designs with bright
colors.
● Stiff cardboard, “chunky” books, or fold-out books that can be
propped up in the crib.
● Cloth and soft vinyl books with simple pictures of people or
familiar objects that can go in the bath or get washed.
Infants 6-12 months:
● Board books with photos of other babies.
● Brightly colored “chunky” board books.
● Books with photos of familiar objects like balls and blankets.
● Books with sturdy pages that can be propped up or spread out
in the crib or on a blanket.
● Plastic/vinyl books for bath time.
● Washable cloth books to cuddle and mouth.
● Small plastic photo albums of family and friends.
Toddlers 12-24 months:
● Sturdy board books that they can carry.
● Books with photos of children doing familiar things like
sleeping or playing.
● Goodnight books for bedtime.
● Books with only a few words on each page.
● Books with simple rhymes or predictable text.
Toddlers 2-3 years:
● Books that tell simple stories.
● Simple rhyming books that they can memorize.
● Books about counting, the alphabet, shapes, or sizes.
● Animal books, vehicle books, books about playtime.
● Books with their favorite TV characters inside.
Research has found that children who are read
with often from an early age usually enter school with more
advanced language and better listening skills than those who
have not had the same experience (Greenberg, J., Parrish, H.,
and James, C., 2008). They also have an easier time learning
to read independently when they begin school (Newman, S. B.,
2002). If your child is one week, one month, one year old, or
older, read with him/her. It is never too early (or late!) to start!
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