How to Share Books with Your Child at Different Ages (0-3 years old)
It is never too early to start introducing books to your children. Not only does reading build language, literacy, and socio-emotional skills at a young age, but it also strengthens the bond between parent and child (American Association of Pediatrics et al, 2015d). Based on your child’s age, the American Association of Pediatrics have shared the best way to share books with your child:
0 – 11 months:
Babies (0-3 months) have an attention span of one to two minutes at a time and start enjoying the voice of their loved ones (American Association of Pediatrics et al, 2015a). As they get older and learn to enjoy books, their attention span might increase. They might imitate the sounds and facial expressions you make while reading books. When they do this, be sure to praise and respond to them. Be animated while reading books to your children and take note of your child’s body language to know if they want to spend more time on a specific page of a book.
By 6 to 8 months, your child might be able to hold on to books and explore it physically. Consider introducing books with sliders and levers and encouraging them to independently flip pages.
12 – 24 months:
By this age, your child should start walking, running, climbing and being more active (American Association of Pediatrics et al, 2015b) . They will start developing preferences and communicating clearly if they want or do not want to do something. Let you child choose the book to read and do not force them to read a specific book if they do not want to. Parents might consider taking children to the bookstore or library to choose their own books! Similarly, some children might request to read their favorite books over and over. Be sure to honor their request – children learn by repetition!
Children will start pointing to pictures on books and parents are encouraged to copy sounds children make and then expand on those sounds. For example, a child may say “moo” as they point to a cow. You can say, “yes, a cow says moo”. Similarly, when a child points to a character’s hair, you can say, “she has long hair”. By 18 months, children may start finishing some sentences from their favorite books. Make sure to give them praise for this!
24 – 35 months:
At two years old, children will start being curious and asking questions such as “what is that” and will start laughing at funny storylines (American Association of Pediatrics et al, 2015c). Respond excitedly when this happens. Like when they were younger, parents are encouraged to facilitate conversations while reading. When your child labels pictures, you can repeat and expand on what they said and give them an opportunity to respond back by pausing for a few seconds.
By 30 months, children can recall past stories, pretend to be a storybook character, reinterpret favorite stories, and ask questions beyond what is in the books they read. Make reading time more enjoyable by incorporating costumes and re-enacting some scenes from books.
You can start teaching early math skills during reading time by counting pictures and encouraging them to repeat after you. You can also start teaching listener responding by feature, function, and class by asking them to point out items in the book that belong to a certain category (e.g., animals, vehicles, food etc.) and items in the book that have similar properties (e.g., yellow, circle, soft, etc.).
Written By: Tania J. Purnomo, M.S., BCBA (Enreach Behavioral Services)
References:
American Academy of Pediatrics, Too Small To Fail, & Talk Read Sing. (2015a). Sharing Books with Baby Up to 11 Months . Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://pediatriccarectr.com/wp-content/uploads/parenting/literacy/booksbuildconnections_sharingbookswithyourbabyupto11months.pdf
American Academy of Pediatrics, Too Small To Fail, & Talk Read Sing. (2015b). Sharing Books
with Your 1-year-old . Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://pediatriccarectr.com/wp-content/uploads/parenting/literacy/booksbuildconnections_sharingbookswithyour1yearold.pdf
American Academy of Pediatrics, Too Small To Fail, & Talk Read Sing. (2015c). Sharing Books with Your 2-year-old . Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://pediatriccarectr.com/wp-content/uploads/parenting/literacy/booksbuildconnections_sharingbookswithyour2yearold.pdf
Read Out & Read. (2013). Milestones of Early Literacy Development. (2013) . Retrieved March 13, 2022, from https://pediatriccarectr.com/wp-content/uploads/parenting/literacy/milestoneschart_english.pdf
Reading, books, learning, parenting, literacy, milestones, learning at home, 0-3 years old, 1 year old, 2 years old, 3 years old
Newborn 0 - 6 Months / Newborn 0 - 6 Bulan / Reading / Membaca / Education / Pendidikan / How to Share Books with Your Child at Different Ages (0-3 years old)
Comments
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Personalized book to trigger the imagination and curiosity to discover the wonders of our wonderful Indonesia. The food, music, fashion, language, landscape and the culture. They all never fail to amaze us. What better legacy can we pass on for Indonesia than by instilling nationalism to the future generation of this part of the planet called heaven on earth.
Personalized book to trigger the imagination and curiosity to discover the wonders of our wonderful Indonesia. The food, music, fashion, language, landscape and the culture. They all never fail to amaze us. What better legacy can we pass on for Indonesia than by instilling nationalism to the future generation of this part of the planet called heaven on earth.
