Reading to babies and toddlers (aged 0-3 years)
Do you think your baby would learn to speak if no-one ever spoke to him or her? Exactly! Babies learn to talk because older people talk to them. Learning to read and write are learned in similar ways, because like listening and speaking, they are also language. Reading to your baby offers her other opportunities to […]
Reading activities to extend children’s learning
Here are some activities for children to do that deepen and extend their experiences of the books they read. Some of the ideas are suitable for all ages while some are better suited to older children. Things to do before reading Sing a song or say a rhyme linked to the content of the story. […]
Is my child ready to read?
Do you and your children spend time enjoying storybooks together? And, do they also enjoy looking at or reading books on their own? When children spend time in these ways with books, they are learning to be readers! Learning to read is a journey of discovery. As you travel through the world of storybooks with […]
Easy ways to encourage your children to read for pleasure
We all have hopes and dreams for our children – that they will live happy, healthy and successful lives. And we know that achieving these dreams takes effort on our part. The wisest investment we can make in our children is to give them our time – to listen to them, to talk together and […]
How to not discourage your child from reading
As parents we do whatever we can to encourage our children to read. But sometimes, without realising it, we also do things that stand in the way of our children becoming readers. Here are some of the ways in which we may sometimes discourage our children from reading without realising it, as well as suggestions […]
Getting kids excited about books and reading
Have you heard the saying “practice makes perfect”? Well, this certainly is true for reading! Children who are read to and who read for pleasure themselves, get better at reading and want to read. Unfortunately the opposite is also true: children who are not read to or who read very little themselves, usually avoid reading where they […]
Holiday reading & writing activities
Here are 30 fun ideas that incorporate reading and writing to keep your children busy and entertained during the school holidays. The idea is to enjoy yourselves so use the language/s you and your children feel most comfortable with. 1. Keep a holiday journal. Use an exercise book or staple sheets of paper together to create a […]
Encouraging your child to read and write
What we believe our children can do and achieve, influences what they see as possible for themselves. When you believe that your children will succeed at reading and writing, and you let them know this, you help them to see that this goal is within their reach. And, as you take the time to read […]
How children learn to read and write
When adults write, we do so for a real reason: to write a shopping list, to leave a note for someone, to fill in forms, to communicate with a friend in a letter or email, to create a story. Children learn to write most easily when they write forreal reasons too rather than because an adult […]
How to read aloud to a child
Reading aloud to children stimulates their imagination and curiosity and develops their language and knowledge as they experience the pleasure of stories. But reading aloud – whether it is to your own children or a group of children in your class or at a reading club – is not something that comes naturally to everyone. […]
