Birth-2 Months
2-6 Months
6-12 Months
12-18 Months
18 Months-2 Years
2 Years
3 Years
4 Years
5 Years

Reading Time
Problems in Reading

Birth-2 Months
Did you know? Your child can benefit from reading even before they are born! Babies begin to form ears and hearing while they are still in the womb. This means they can hear you reading and talking to them! When you read and talk to them you are stimulating their brains and helping them to develop.

When you read to a newborn you are helping them begin to understand the nuances of language, speech, communication and words. (Even though they can’t yet understand all that you are saying.) Besides that, you will be bonding with your child!

2-6 Months
The first language learning in babies comes from facial expression and voice inflection. Though babies at this age may not be able to grasp the exact meaning of words when you read to them, they will learn a lot from your face and voice.

6-12 Months
At 6 months babies are beginning to be more interactive. They recognize expression of emotion on your face & in your voice. They are using the information in their environment to learn. Reading to your children will help support talking skills by increasing their vocabulary.

Reading Tips:

• Books with simple pictures & words, different textures & visuals encourage your children to explore the world around them.
• Let your children hold the book.
• It’s age appropriate for your children to chew on the book. Board books are almost indestructible!
• Be enthusiastic when you read!
• Read everyday!

12-18 Months
Children at this age are active! Some may not sit through entire books, but don’t let that deter you! They can still benefit even if they don’t listen to the entire book!

Reading Tips:

• Share books during quiet times such as nap and bed times.
• Let your child try to hold the book.
• Nursery rhymes teach a child rhythm and word rhyming skills.
• Engage your child while you read: ask them to point to parts of the pictures, make animal sounds, ask them questions.
• Children will want to read a favorite book over and over. Repetition builds their vocabulary.
• Attention spans are short, that’s okay!
• Read everyday.
• Have fun!

18 Months-2 Years
Reading to your child is important while they still want to imitate what they are seeing and hearing. Children learn to talk by imitating others. By 18 months children are beginning to combine 2 words, such as “all gone” or “Daddy bye-bye.” When reading to your children, you are stimulating their imagination, improving their attention span, and providing them with a reading role model. (Often children will notice whether or not you enjoy reading, and that may affect whether or not they enjoy reading!)

Reading Tips:

• Let your children help turn the pages.
• Let them retell the story in their own words.
• Instead of reading the words, use the picture and tell a story, label items and actions within the story, make up silly phrases and introduce rhyming.
• Read everywhere-outdoors, in the bathtub or on a camping trip!

2 Years
At two years children are walking, producing 2-3 word sentences and have their own personality. This is a wonderful time to read to your children since they can interact with the story.

Reading Tips:

• Encourage and develop language skills by using enthusiasm and high energy when you read.
• Point to pictures and talk about them.
• Allow your children to describe the picture to you or finish your sentence.
• When necessary simplify stories so they are shorter, easier to follow and more fun for your children.
• Include educational books. Some teach new speech sounds, concepts like farm animals, colors, shapes and others teach social skills such as making friends and sharing.
• Make reading fun!

3 Years
By three years of age children speak in short sentences of 4 or more words. They talk about what they are doing, what they see & what they want easily and fluently. Reading books or singing nursery rhymes helps to expand a child's vocabulary & the length of his/her sentences. A three year old child is able to understand & answer who, what & where questions.

Reading Tips:

• As you read ask questions to help with comprehension & encourage back & forth conversation.
• Act out parts of the story.
• Discuss how words sound alike or rhyme.
• Introduce letter identification. Point ot a letter in a word, name it and ask your child to find it in another word that you point to.

4 Years
Four year olds like being read to and "reading" or repeating familar stories. They can understand longer and more complicated picture books and enjoy books about familar situations and different kinds of families and cultures. They can label feelings and give examples of what makes a person feel a certain way. They still love the sounds and rythm of language, chants, nonsense words, riddles, and simple tongue twisters and rhyming words.

Reading Tips:

• Ask your child to find letters in words on pages of books you read with them.
• Ask "why", "when", and "how" questions to increase comprehension.
• Read informational books to satisfy a curious nature.
• Ask your child to make predictions, "what do you think will happen next?"

5 Years
Raising Readers in Wyoming is on a rolling start and has not yet chosen a 5 year old book. Once we add a book for that age, we will also compile information for parents abut reading to thier five year old! Please check back in the fall of 2007 for our 5 year old book and reading tips!

Reading Time
Reading aloud to your child can be great bonding time for both child and parent. However, reading to young children who are squirmy and inattentive can be frustrating! Here are some tips to help you create a quiet daily reading time for you and your child.

• Create a routine - finding a daily time that works for you and your child will help remind you to read together every day!
• Sit in a quiet place away from noise, TV's and other distractions.
• Find a way to sit that is comfortable for both you and your child.
• Hold the book so that both of you can see it.
• Asking questions like “What is that?” and “What is he/she doing?” will help your child learn and stay interested in the book.
• Find a book you both enjoy! Read it as often as you want! (Or as often as your child wants!)
• Encourage your child’s other parent or parental figures such as grandparents, aunts and uncles to read with the him/her too!

Problems in Reading
Don’t be discouraged if your young child:

• Tries to eat the book
• Interrupts, points and asks questions
• Won’t sit through a whole book
• Wants to read the book out of order
• Wants to read the same book over and over
• Wants to turn pages before you are done reading

These are normal behaviors for young children. Don’t stress if your children do this while reading! Let them guide your reading time and explore the books. These behaviors don’t mean that they don’t like reading, or that you should stop reading to them. Be patient, continue reading to them, and making reading fun!