Helping your children to love reading: the greatest gift to their world

Helping your children to love reading is one of the best gifts you can ever give to them.

When children read books they stimulate their imaginations, safely gain a broader understanding of their place in the world and learn to express themselves to get what they need in life. As an education writer, I’m mad about reading and over the years have interviewed many Australian authors, teachers and academics about how to help children to love reading. Here are some of the greatest reading tips to date.

How can you be about helping children love reading?

1. Read to your children from birth ~ read to them in the evening where it becomes a calming ritual and quiet time with you. A soothing voice … a soft light … it’s a beautiful and intimate way to introduce storytelling to your children.

2. Make reading a feature in your home ~ let your children see you reading to validate that it’s important in your family. You are the perfect reading role model for them.

3. Make stories a part of your lives ~ have books, magazines, e-books and other items that remind children of the art of storytelling around the home.

4. Read rhyming books ~ books with rhyming endings help children predict words and help them comprehend what the book is about. When you read together your child can guess the word you are about to say. It makes reading fun and gives them a chance to feel clever and successful at this new skill.

5. Choose authentic books with great story lines ~ we all love a good story including our children. Books with exciting storylines, authentic characters, interesting words and fantastic images will encourage your child to want to hear the story again, and again. It also makes it easier for you to read to them and enjoy it too.

6. Growing up with a strong sense of self ~ did you know that children make sense of themselves through the characters they read about in books? They can explore new places with the characters, challenge their identities, problem solve. Exposing your children to books with positive, daring, funny and kind characters will help your children see those qualities in their own lives.

What are your reading tips? Did you know that our mobile characters are all based on stories – either real or imagined to stimulate children’s love of adventure, humour, art and imagination?