SIMPLE WAYS TO MAKE READING FUN FOR YOUR TODDLER

Written by Caroline Meyer 

Establishing a love of literacy starts very young. As a parent, we all want our kids to succeed and prosper in life.  Giving a good grounding in reading at the start of their lives can pay off enormous dividends later on in life.  It is also a wonderful way to bond and spend quality time with your little one. 

Toddlers can be a handful and reading with your small ones may seem more like a chore than fun at times.  The best way to get them interested is to get them involved and make reading fun. Here are a few ideas of how to make reading fun your toddler. 

Make books accessible 

If you are worried about damage, start them off with cloth or vinyl books and progress on to board, hardcovers and paperbacks. Bright colours and a variety of books to choose from is a good way to build your toddler’s knowledge without it becoming boring. They will usually have a few favourites that you can always grab for a quick read. If affordability is a problem, you can always shop at used bookshops, markets or even online. Put the books where the little ones can see them, touch them and explore for themselves. 

Lead by example 

Children love to copy what we do. Show them how much fun reading is by reading yourself. Even if you don’t enjoy novels, brightly printed magazines are a good way to show your toddler that reading is something good to do. 

Read aloud 

There is no need to restrict reading to bedtime. Why not have older siblings read aloud to your toddler while you prepare breakfast? Older children can read to the family pet to encourage reading aloud without concern for judgement. Have a family book reading get together where everyone gets to read a page and then passes the book along. Get your toddler to “read” a page as well, with your help.  

Read books with rhymes that your little one can learn and “read” back to you. Have your toddler sit on your lap and point out things in the pictures and turn the pages for you. The more involved they are, the more fun it will be (for everyone). 

Reading everywhere 

Books are portable entertainment. Take one with you on outings. You can read to your toddler while you wait at the doctor’s office or in a restaurant. Take your books with you on holiday so you don’t miss out on the daily reading time.  If you go on an outing to the zoo, take a book of animals with. This helps relate the animals to the words and the pictures. You can even take a well-behaved toddler to a local library’s story hour. 

Bring the book to life 

In the same vein as taking an animal book to the zoo, you can read the book at home before a visit to the zoo. Your toddler can then see the book animals come to life. Or read a book about trains and then take them to see a real train. Bringing the books to life will make them more interested in reading the next story to be able to relate it to real life. 

Keep it interesting 

While most toddlers will have their favourite books they want you to read again and again, this becomes boring for you and the toddler doesn’t learn anything new. Familiar books are comforting, but new books can be very exciting.  Make a big production of the new book. Wrap it up or make it fun to discover. Get their natural curiosity going. Make them want to read the new books.  This also means you have to make sure there are new books to read quite often. 

Make them part of the story  

You can write your own stories featuring your toddler or place them into books where they can interact with the story. Change the characters name to the child’s name and have them act out what the character is doing such as making noises for them, hand gestures, facial expressions and more. Getting your toddler involved in the reading is a wonderful way to make reading more fun for them. 

I’m sure you can come up with even more creative ways to get your toddler excited about reading. Make it a fun time and something that is a reward to look forward to. If your toddler does not want to interact with the story or you when you are reading, don’t force them to as you never want to make it into an unpleasant experience. Reading should be fun and exciting and if done right, it can inspire them to be readers for life.