by Dawn Marie Barhyte

You may already have heard how vital it is to read to your young child every day. But you might be surprised that doing so will boost brain development and give your child an edge once they have gone off to school.

Children whose parents have read to them regularly during early childhood will do better in school than those who haven’t. You can promote literacy and have a lasting impact on your child’s reading level. The experience of reading to your youngster gets your child ready to read and will make it easier for him to do so when the time comes.

This window of opportunity not only builds a foundation for literacy, but it turns kids on to reading. No single factor has been directly linked to schol success more than reading to children, beginning at young ages. Studies also show that children will develop more positive attitudes toward reading if they experience a close bond with you while reading aloud.

Children learn many skills when you read aloud to them. These include better vocabulary, listening skills and attention span. Just as important is that a whole new world opens up to children as they gaze at the colorful pages of books. So give your child the magical gift of reading aloud — it is the key that unlocks their potential.

Crawl

Purpose: To stimulate brain development by listening to the rhythmic sound of your voice.

Play: Choose books that have bright colorful illustrations or contrasting colors like black and white, which babies prefer. Regularly snuggle with your baby and read stories aloud as long as your baby is interested. Be expressive as you read and hold your baby close, so that your child connects reading with comfort.

Plus: Babies like the books, but they like the closeness of being held and the rhythm of your voice even more. Hearing spoken language at an early age helps the speech centers of the brain to grow, so babies learn to recognize different sounds.

Walk

Purpose: To make early experiences with books fun and memorable, boost brain development and sound awareness.

Play: Choose nursery rhymes with simple texts and repetitive rhymes. You can help your child’s motor coordination and listening skills with familiar, fun finger rhymes such as The Itsy Bitsy Spider or Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. Encourage your child to join in as you recite these familiar rhymes. By repeating, your child will begin to memorize the words — a sign of increasing reading readiness. Then extend the activity by writing down the rhyme and have your child draw pictures to go with the words. Remember, toddlers’ attention spans are short, so don’t force it if a child loses interest.

Plus: Research has found that children who are familiar with nursery rhymes when they enter kindergarten learn to read more easily. With each nursery rhyme, thousands of connections are formed or strengthened in the brain. This is called “the nursery rhyme effect,” and it introduces your child to the patterns of sounds as the brain receives the input it will need to sort out words. Experts believe this helps the brain separate words into syllables, hear similarities between words that rhyme, or start with the same sound and enjoy sound play. These skills are critical to early literacy.

Run

Purpose: To introduce children to the way print works.

Play: Begin by creating a book together that is personal, such as “All About Me,” or “My Favorite Things.” Have your child make up his or her own story. Write it down word-for-word, one sentence to a page in capital and lower case letters, so that it looks just like print in a storybook. To help your child make up a story about himself, ask questions such as, “What is your favorite color? Your favorite food? Who are your friends?”

Prompt your youngster to cut out magazine pictures of their favorite things and make a book, printing the name of each picture. Using a hole puncher, put several holes in the book and then bind it with yarn. Make sure to put a title and your child’s name on the cover.

Plus: Preschoolers enjoy stories more if they have had a role in writing them. Also, your child will be more interested in books and better understand print and the way it works when they start reading.