Reading With our Young children ages birth to 3 years old.
Birth to 9 months: Children explore books, hear your voice and enjoy snuggling.
Children
- like board books, cloth or vinyl books.
- reach out to grasp or pat the book.
- use hands to turn pages or grasp the book.
- point or make sounds while looking at picture books.
- focus on pages for brief periods of time.
Parents
- allow the child to help turn pages.
- say more about the pictures after the baby makes sounds or points.
- name and point to objects.
7 Months – 18 months: Children join in when you read a book.
Children
- point to pictures and react to pictures. Example: A child may smile at the picture of a dog.
- like books with photos of familiar objects like balls or other babies.
- imitate the parent by attempting to turn pages.
- imitates the parent by using sounds or babbling as the parent reads.
Parents
- read books that include songs and rhyming books.
- point and tell about the pictures.
- create a safe area where books are easily accessible to the child
- provide the child with opportunities to hold different writing utensils such as large crayons.
16-24 months: Children begin to demonstrate an understanding of reading.
Children
- enjoy books about bedtime.
- enjoy books with simple rhymes or predictable text.
- turn the pages of board books, one by one,
- point to familiar pictures and actions in books.
- repeat familiar words in a book when being read to
- have a favorite book and brings the book over or point to it.
- begin to know what happens next in a favorite book.
Parents
- encourage the child to repeat words and point to objects that are found in books.
- talk about what might happen next.
- agree to read a favorite book over and over and over when asked.
21- 36 months: Children have awareness of letters and words.
Children
- imitate the parent by pretending to read a book.
- may read to stuffed animals or dolls.
- says parts of a book from memory.
- begin to scribble in a more orderly fashion and names what he or she has drawn
- tells what happens next when reading a familiar book.
- enjoy animal books, vehicle books, books about playtime, and books about TV characters.
Parents
- encourage the child to talk about the character and what is happening in the story.
- encourage the child to guess what is happening next in the story.
- See the dialogic reading method on the next tab, Reading Tips ages 2-6.
