10 tips to foster your child's love of reading

Reading with your children offers so many positives. As you share a story, you can bond with them while also encouraging the development of language and learning.

Here are 10 ways to make reading a much loved part of your children’s day

1. Make bedtime reading special
Your children feel comfortable and safe in their bedrooms – so why not read there, surrounded by their favourite toys, comforting blankets, and a reassuring night-light?

Why does this work?
Children’s emotional and physical regulation is usually at its peak when they are in a familiar and safe place. They associate positive things with reading when you make it a pleasurable activity that happens regularly in a safe and special place.

2. Sit close by
Your children will feel especially secure when you sit next to them or have them on your lap while you read together.  
      
Why does this work?
When a child feels insecure, the body releases a hormone that can interfere with learning. When you create a warm, close physical bond, your children will feel calmer and be better able to engage in the language and learning that reading brings.

3. Time it right
Make sure that your reading sessions are appropriate to your children’s developmental abilities. Short reading sessions that build over time to longer sessions are usually the most successful.

Why does this work?
Children’s attention spans and physical ability to stay engaged with a story range according to their age. Highly visual stories with lots of pictures and a simple narrative meet the conceptual and language needs of young children who need lots of guidance to make meaning from a story.  Older children, whose language and experience of the world is wider are usually better able to cope with chapter based stories. This also helps them to transition from reading with help to reading independently.

4. Get into the Act
Most children love it when the characters come to life. Use variation in your expressions while reading the story.

Why does this work?
Children learn how to read with expression when these skills are modelled to them. Expressive reading will also help your children to develop critical listening skills. Perhaps most importantly, a lively story told with animation makes reading even more fun!

5. Make a point
Use your finger to point to the words, pictures, colours and page numbers as you read.

Why does this work?
Running your finger under the text of a story trains your child's eyes to follow words and symbols from left to right.  This orientation also helps children to identify the sounds they hear in the words and to understand that they can gain meaning from printed text.

6. Read it again, Mum and Dad
Go ahead – read your kids’ favourite books more than once! It’s OK to do this and enhances your child’s enjoyment.
 
Why does this work?
When your children read a book over and over, they learn to predict outcomes and recognise patterns. This enhances their comprehension. High frequency words also become more memorable , helping them to learn and store new information.

7. Choose your words wisely
Your children are paying close attention to you when you are reading, so speak clearly and model good pronunciation as you read aloud. Use good grammar too! 

Why does this work?
When your children listen to you read, they are listening to and learning from spoken language. Understanding the spoken word is a lifelong skill, so teaching your children to ‘tune in; to what you say will help them learn to communicate correctly.

8. Share and Compare
Encourage your children to make comparisons as you read together. For example, "Which tree is taller?" Or, "You have brown hair. What colour hair does Cinderella have?"

Why does this work?
Comparing and contrasting helps children create connections. They begin to understand why things happen in stories and start to draw conclusions that are beyond the simple narrative. This is called ‘inferential understanding’ and is an important part of children’s literacy.

9. Help them to get the story straight
When the story is finished, ask your children what happened in the beginning, middle, and end. To add to the fun, you can even pretend to get the sequence wrong so that they can correct you.

Why does this work?
Encouraging your children to get the sequence of the story right stimulates higher-order thinking and comprehension. When children tell you what happened in their own words, you get a good idea of how their listening and reading comprehension skills are progressing.

10. Read as a family
Encourage everyone in the family to share some quiet time in the day when you all pick up a book to read. Just 10 minutes will do!

Why does this work?
D.E.A.R. – ‘Drop Everything and Read’ is part of many children’s school routines. At this point in the day, students and teachers stop working and read for pleasure. You can do this at home too...and the benefits can be huge! Children learn by watching the adults around them. If you make an active and regular effort to show your children that you value reading as a pleasurable, relaxing activity to be enjoyed, they are likely to follow your example and develop a positive attitude to reading.