Through reading to your baby, you will make a bond with your child. The exposure of your voice, the unique sound it makes, your rhythm and tone all work to create a feeling of intimacy. Moreover, this will aid the preparation of your child reading on it’s own in time to come.

At a very young age, from 0 – 3 months, a baby’s eyes begin to focus on patterns and colours. notably, it is vibrant colours and strong contrasts that intrigue babies most. It is therefore a good reason to use picture books to assist your reading. Reading helps children to hear and see what is around them, and respond to it. The idea of the picture book can be taken further to one that involves interactions – such as flaps and sliding partitions – to create a greater interest between the baby and learning.

With your baby building language skills, reading will undoubtedly help build a strong vocabulary. The repetition of these words on a daily basis will create an understanding of the link between many words, which will be hugely beneficial during schooling years and later on in life.

When reading to your baby it is worth thinking about your tone and emotion for different characters and situations, depending on the respective storyline. Sound is a very important way for your baby to understand feelings connoted though speaking.

Picture books are a fabulous way to get your baby involved with reading, and to realise that it is a very important, but fun interest to have. These short stories will make a huge difference to your baby’s skills, but remember that their attention span is very short at such a young age so it is best to read little and often.

Did you read to your little one and feel it helped in their speech and listening abilities? Let us know at Kings Tutors.