Encouraging Children to Read

Reading books iis fun! Reading can and should be passed on to children as a thing of enjoyment and pleasure. It stands to reason that if a child is encouraged to read from an early age, they are much more likely to read books through their childhood and teenage years. The benefits of reading books is enormous, it helps develop a childs vocabulary, speech, imagination and interpersonal skills. We know this is of no great surprise to you and that the hard thing is encouraging your child to read without forcing them, here are our top five tips:

1. Choose a Variety of Books Books come in all shapes and sizes, bath books, popup books, activity books, soft books, board books just to mention a few. Some make noises, some have 'touchy feely bits' some have activities inside and so on. By offering a variety of books that incorporate various elements you will allow your child to develop all their senses.

2. Language Games When you are reading or writing, let your child share that experience with you to reinforce the message that reading and writing are fun and something that everyone can do. Play language games such as scrabble and bingo, I-spy, 20 questions, memory games, Simon says etc. Play the nonsense game, cut out pictures from catalogues or magazines of objects that all begin with the same letter, plus a few that don't. Write down the names of the objects and get your child to match the picture to the name. Can they make a nonsense sentence with their words ?

3. Encourage Independant Reading Its one thing reading to your child but if they are to continue to read in later life then at some point they will need to be encouraged to read of their own accord. Activity books are a great way to encourage this. As well as a story many activity books have a game or something to make. Once the child has completed the activity they will more than likely increase ther curiousity to learn more about the subject.

4. Its not Just About Books! There are so many other ways to develop a childs reading skills other than books. Children love to copy their parents and a simple task such as writing a shopping list for the supermarket will encourage your child to learn. Encourage even very young children to 'help' you when you write greetings cards, messages and shopping lists - it really doesn't matter if they only scribble or draw as you are helping them develop essential skills. Wherever you and your child are, there will be things you can point out to them such as signs, adverts, signposts, road names, shop names, place names which will all help your child understand the concept of reading and language.

5. Focus on your Childs Interests From a young age children become fascinated with certain things like a type of animal, maybe a type of transport, a particular event and so on. Whatever your childs interest theres almost certainly likely to be a huge number of books on that theme, by matching interests with themes you can ensure that you will have a captive audience.