3 Tips to Help Your Toddlers Enjoy Reading

September 16, 2015

By now we all know I love to read. Luckily, Kyle enjoys reading too (although not to the same extent… ha.) And now I get to instill in my children that same love of reading. Or at least, I hope to! When Abe was little (like, newborn little) and couldn’t crawl or run away, we’d read books to him, but of course he didn’t really get what was going on. (But you should still do it! It’s so beneficial for them later!) Now that he’s older, he’s started to understand there are stories in the books, but doesn’t usually sit still long enough for us to read the whole book to him. I’ve been experimenting with ways to get him to listen to or explore books, and I want to share what I’ve found to be successful thus far.

1 | Use funny voices and faces.Let’s face it, babies and toddlers (and really kids in general) think that funny faces and voices are the best. Abe listens best if we make funny voices or animal noises, and then he’ll join in, trying to mimic our noises. Doing this makes the books more exciting and interesting to him, and he’s more likely to sit still for longer than a few seconds.

2 | Let them explore on their own terms.One thing we’ve learned with Abe is that he doesn’t always like to be read to, especially to have us dictate when to turn the page. But if we turn him loose with books he will sit down for 10-20 minutes at a time, just flipping back and forth looking at the pictures, and we can then point out shapes or colors on the page he’s currently looking at. Eventually we’ll get to actually reading a story, but I’m grateful he is getting exposure to books in any way!

3 | Invest in books with fun, bright illustrations.We’ve definitely found that Abe’s favorite books to look at are ones with bright colors. When I first pulled the book Noah’s Ark put of the package it came to, Abe immediately saw the bright colors and came to grab it. And as soon as we cracked it open I loved it, and immediately jumped online to see what other versions they had. (I ended up ordering Jesus and Prayers for Bedtime.) These books are perfect for Abe right now. They are board books, so I don’t have to worry about him ripping pages out, and the illustrations are so bright and colorful and full of different textures. These Little Words Matter books are also great because they only have one word per page, allowing children to explore and learn words at their own pace.

Here’s an example of one of the pages in the book. I wish it could do the illustrations justice, they are so bright and fun!

What tips do you have for helping your toddlers enjoy reading? I’d love to know! I received free product from Family Christian in exchange for an honest review.All opinions are my own.