If you remember being read to as a child, those memories of snuggling up with a book as a family and spending time together can be precious into adulthood. Today reading to your children can pass on your childhood favorites and create an entirely new list of their favorites to pass on to their children thus connecting generation to generation. Designations such as March Is National Read Aloud Month open a unique opportunity for you and your children.
As a parent, you play an important role in introducing your children to the joy of reading that will serve them well throughout their lifetime. The bedtime stories you share over the years can help develop a lifetime love of reading as well as improved social skills. According to Fifty Top Literary Statistics – Ferst Readers less than half of children under age 4 in the United States are read to daily!
Why Read Aloud?
During the first three years of life 80% of a child’s brain is formed, and what they experience during those years shapes their further development. There are three things young children need to thrive – physical touch, attention, and care, and reading together provides all three.
By reading together you help develop a child’s vocabulary and introduce them to grammar and sentence structure. Reading also improves their readiness to learn!
Here are some great activities for National Read Aloud Month!
Visit your local library! Libraries are full of books, more books that most people can afford to buy for their own children. Let your children spend time looking at books, check a stack out and take them home, join in the library’s read aloud programs. Regular visits to a library helps to create long-term interest in reading.
Be sure to use bedtime as story time! It’s the perfect time for you both. They have your full attention and they’re ready to snuggle up. Read a book, make it a tradition.
Create a small library at home with their favorites they like to read again and again. The more books you can have available the better.
Reading shouldn’t be a chore, it should be fun. Foster the joy of reading with enthusiasm and make it a part of daily life because reading truly matters and time spent with your child is indispensable.
Here are a few of our favorite books to read out loud!
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
It’s time for the little red chicken’s bedtime story—and a reminder from Papa to try not to interrupt. But the chicken can’t help herself!
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Nobody Hugs A Cactus by Carter Goodrich
Hank is the prickliest cactus in the entire world. He sits in a pot in a window that faces the empty desert, which is just how he likes it.
In A Jar by Deborah Marcero
Llewellyn, a little rabbit, is a collector. He gathers things in jars–ordinary things like buttercups, feathers, and heart-shaped stones. Then he meets another rabbit, Evelyn, and together they begin to collect extraordinary things.
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Hey Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins
Rupert, Thistle, and Nibbs, the fun-loving mice in Bruce’s begrudgingly expansive family, guide readers on a quest for a fun reading experience, with Bruce the ever-reluctant star.
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Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct by Mo Willems
Everyone in town loves Edwina, a fun-loving dinosaur who makes scrumptious chocolate cookies, helps old ladies, and plays with the children.
Something’s Wrong! A Bear, A Hare and Some Underwear by Jory John
Jeff the bear has definitely forgotten something. He ate his breakfast, he watered his plant, he combed his fur…what could it be?
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We Don’t Eat Our Classmates by Ryan T. Higgins
It’s the first day of school for Penelope Rex, and she can’t wait to meet her classmates. But it’s hard to make human friends when they’re so darn delicious!
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Are You A Cheeseburger by Monica Arnaldo
A Kids’ Indie Next List pick! Laugh-out-loud humor and a tender friendship blossom in author-illustrator Monica Arnaldo’s charming picture book about a lonely raccoon and a glowing seed, and the world’s most important question: Can this seed grow cheeseburgers?
Please Don’t Read This Book by Deanna Kizis
In this laugh-out-loud book that begs readers to break the rules, silliness and hilarity reign supreme! Perfect for fans of The Book with No Pictures.
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Snow Horses by Patricia MacLachlan
On the very last evening before the new year, when the snow is falling soft and thick, two black horses wait for the jingle of their sled. As they ride about town, they will spread light to their beloved neighbors, bidding farewell to the last night—and saying hello to the first morning.
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The Scarecrow by Beth Ferry
All the animals know not to mess with old Scarecrow. But when a small, scared crow falls from midair, Scarecrow does the strangest thing.…
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