Focus

• Reading and storytelling with babies and toddlers can improve brain development, imagination, language, and learning.
• Reading and storytelling can strengthen relationships.
• Sometimes you can just read. Sometimes you can read picture books, sing songs, or tell stories from your own culture.
• Babies and toddlers love books, songs, and stories that have good rhymes, rhythm, and repetition. Anytime is a good time to read or tell stories! Try to share at least one book or story a day.

Reading and telling stories can:

• Help your child recognize sounds, words and language and develop early literacy skills
• Teach your child the value of books and stories
• Stimulates children’s imagination and curiosity
• Promotes children’s brain development and attention span
• Helps your child develop social, communication and cognitive skills
• Helps your child learn about the world, their own culture and other cultures.

You and your child may enjoy making up your own stories or sharing family stories. Your child will learn vocabulary and develop language skills through songs, stories, and conversations you share together. Read in different languages with your children
You can read, sing, and tell stories with your child in a language that you both understand.

Using a language that you understand will make it easier for you to talk. It will also help make reading, singing, and telling stories more fun for you and your child. Your child will continue to learn that words have different letters, sounds, and words can be associated with pictures on the page.

If you speak a language other than English at home but want to get your child reading in English, you can look for bilingual books. You can read an English book or listen to an English book and talk to your child about the story in the language they are most comfortable with.

Reading time, singing and telling stories with your child
Bedtime, bath time, toilet time, on the train, on the bus, in the car, in the park, in the shower, in bed, while you are in the GP waiting room… every moment tells a story What a great time! You can make books a part of your daily life – take them with you to share and enjoy anywhere and anytime.

Knowing when to stop is important to finding the time to tell your story. Pay attention to your child’s response to the story and stop if the child does not like it. You can try another book, song or story.

• Packaging at home or in supermarkets, especially food packaging
• Clothing – What’s in a t-shirt? What color is it? Letters and Notices – What’s in them? Who ordered them? Signs or notices in shops, buses and trains – display signs that the letters match your child’s name
• Menu – For older children, it’s fun to look at the menu and figure out what they’re going to eat.