Reading aloud and sharing stories with your child is a great way to spend time together. Reading and storytelling also helps promote language, literacy and brain development.
Why reading is important for babies and young children
Sharing stories, talking and singing every day helps your child’s development.
You’re helping your child become familiar with sounds, words, language and the value of books. This all builds your child’s early literacy skills, helping her go on to read successfully later in life.
Reading stories sparks your child’s imagination, stimulates curiosity and helps with brain development. Interesting illustrations and word patterns – such as rhymes – can get your child talking about what he’s seeing and thinking, and help him understand the patterns of language.
Exploring stories also helps your child learn the difference between ‘real’ and ‘make-believe’ and might help develop her own ideas.
Reading or telling stories can also be safe ways to explore strong emotions, which can help your child understand change, as well as new or frightening events. Books about going to the dentist or hospital, starting at child care or making new friends will help your child learn about the world around him.
Sharing stories with your child doesn’t mean you have to read.
Just by looking at books with your child, you can be a great storyteller and a good model for using language and books. Your child will learn by watching you hold a book the right way and seeing how you move through the book by gently turning the pages.
Reading stories with children has benefits for grown-ups too. This special time together promotes bonding and helps to build your relationship, laying the groundwork for your child’s later social, communication and interpersonal skills.
Video Telling stories with children
In this short video, storyteller Anne E. Stewart talks about telling stories with children. She says storytelling promotes literacy and language and gets children ready to start reading. Stories about family and culture also give children a sense of their place in the world. You can use actions and rhymes to get children involved in the story.
You can start reading aloud to your child as early as you like – the earlier the better. Your baby will love being held in your arms, listening to your voice, hearing rhyme and rhythm, and looking at pictures.
Storytelling and songs
Reading isn’t the only way to create a home environment that’s rich in language and literacy experiences. Telling stories and singing songs also help your child develop early literacy skills and have a lot of fun at the same time.
You might like to make up your own stories or share family stories. Your child will learn words and develop language skills from the songs, stories and conversations you share together.
Singing songs and saying rhymes together are also great, especially if your child enjoys these activities more than reading.
Reading to your child in other languages
You can read, sing and tell stories with your child in whatever language you feel most comfortable speaking.
Using a language you’re comfortable with helps you to communicate more easily and helps to make reading, singing and storytelling more fun for you both. Your child will still learn that words are made up of different letters, syllables and sounds, and that words usually link to the pictures on the page.
Don’t worry if English isn’t your child’s first language. Knowing another language will actually help her learn English when she starts playgroup, kindergarten or school.
Dual-language books are a great resource, and many children’s books are published in two languages. If you speak a language other than English at home, reading dual-language books with your child might also help you become more familiar with English.
Another option is to read a book aloud in English and talk about it with your child in whatever language feels most comfortable to both of you.
If you like, you can talk about the pictures in the book instead of reading the words. Could you and your child make up a story togeth