Read to Your Babies

It is never too early to start reading to your baby. Reading to our babies, besides being comfort time for everyone involved, helps build your child's attention span, exposes them to words they may not hear, helps them know how to follow a story, and shows them how to handle a book.

In my 8th grade reading class, I can tell which students have been read to and which ones have not. Kids who are read to, enjoy hearing stories and are able to focus and listen better than those who are not read to. Books geared toward early childhood readers help  children learn about colors, numbers, letters, rhyme, rhythm, and allows them to feel loved while they sit on mom's or dad's lap.

KSL.com recently published an article about reading to our littlest children. I found it interesting and hope you will as well.  Article: This is your child's brain on reading

Books my children and grandchild have enjoyed in early infancy:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle is one of our family's favorites. I read to Isaac when he was still in the NICU, and he actually looked at the pages and listened. This story has great rhythm and repetition, which is great for developing readers. When they get old enough to talk, they will say, "And he was still hungry!" The Very Hungry Caterpillar is also sold as a board book for when your baby starts grabbing things. This will allow your baby to handle the book without damaging it.

I memorized Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak when my youngest daughter was little. She loved this Caldecott Winning book the most and even slept with it each night.

Our grand son Vincent, fourteen months, loves Animal Hide and Seek. The pages of this board book and the flaps to lift and find the animals are sturdy for little hands. This book also teaches about numbers and counting.

Aria, our eleven month old grand daughter loves this book: Llamas in Pajamas by Russel Punter and David Semple. It is one of the phonics readers, so it rhymes and is fun to read. 

Olivia, our ten month old grand daughter, loves all of the touchy feely That's Not My books from Usborne books. The That's not my collection contains books that are durable board books with different textures on each page. I have several of these at my house for when the grand babies visit. Here are two  of their favorites: 

Our nine month old grand daughter, Charlie, loves the book Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin and John Archambault. This book has great rhythm and repetition that even the littlest of babies will respond to. 

One of my favorite author/illustrator pairs are Don and Audrey Wood who wrote and illustrated The Napping House. Don's illustrations are divine. He includes a little flea on each page that your child will love to find when he or she is old enough. This book also has repetition and rhythm. I'll write a blog post about Don and Audrey Woods in the future. 

My youngest son's favorite was Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman. This book has repetition and rhythm, and of course the wonderful SNORT. He memorize the book and then "read" it to his little niece who is only eighteen months younger than he is. This was also my middle son's favorite book.

My two oldest children loved Thingumajig books, but they are out of print and quite pricey. Thingumajig Book of Manners These books rhyme and have a great read aloud rhythm if you are lucky enough to find a copy. 

Other books your baby may love:

As you can see, we are a reading family, and while each of my children and grandchildren have a different level of interest in reading and enjoy different types of books, this book grandma will do her best to help each one become a lifelong reader. 

What are some of your child's favorite storybooks? Share in the comments because I'm always looking for new titles to add to my collection.