It’s never too soon to start reading with your child. Helping them learn to love books is an important part of their development and can make a significant impact on their learning skills later down the line. Parents who spend time reading to their children create nurturing relationships, which is important for a child’s cognitive, language and social-emotional development.
Pediatricians often recommend parents routinely read aloud to their young children and now researchers have hard evidence that doing so activates the parts of preschoolers’ brains that help with mental imagery and understanding narrative — both of which are key for the development of language and literacy.
Offering an established Holistic Development Programme, Abacus Ark are on a mission to ensure that your child will become a well-rounded individual through their careful focus on cognitive, emotional, and physical skill training. Here, they look at 5 reasons why it’s important to read with your child.
1. Language development
By reading stories, your child quickly recognises the connection between sounds and the words on the page. This cognitive development is essential in the speech and language learning process. Even the most basic of books will start to make an impact on development.
2. Stimulates imagination
Imagination and imaginative play are other areas of key development and reading stories can form the basis to many happy hours of make believe. Read a variety of books and let your child’s imagination soar as they enter different worlds and meet different characters.
3. Supports learning
Reading with your child helps support learning across the curriculum. Alongside words and language your child will also recognise shapes and the patterns you point out to them. Books are also a great way to introduce your child to numbers and make the connection between shape and sound.
4. Helps make sense of the world
Hearing stories about the world they live in can help your child make sense of the environment around them. Introduce books that help explain a new situation, a new baby brother or sister for example. Books can help your child feel reassured that they aren’t alone when facing a new challenge or change in routine.
5. Allows children to express themselves
Books can help your child to better express themselves. With new vocabulary comes greater ability to find words that express how they’re feeling and work through a range of emotions. This in turn helps your child to become more confident in their ability to express their thoughts and opinions.
