Research tells us one of the best ways to promote healthy brain development for infants and toddlers is play! Playing, interacting, and responding to our little ones is essential for their growth. It maximizes the love they feel and simply makes parenting fun. With playing comes great learning opportunities as Read more…
When you’re looking for books for your child, you need to not just consider the type of interests they have, but also their reading level. If you find books that are too hard for them to tackle, they’ll lose interest quickly and it will add to their frustration.
Children learn in many ways. Young children especially learn best when their body is engaged, a process known as kinesthetic learning. Rather than simply listening to a lesson being taught, kids are actively engaged. This developmentally appropriate approach is a great way to develop literacy in toddlers and preschoolers. Red Apple Reading shares 10 great kinesthetic literacy activities for parents to do with their little ones today!
If you are a parent of young children, you may be wondering about the role reading should play in your child’s daily routine. Most kids don’t become independent readers until they reach elementary school, but the building blocks for reading are laid early in life. So earlier is definitely better when it comes to establishing beneficial reading behaviors. If you want to know how you can foster good reading habits in your little one, Red Apple Reading has some helpful hints!
If you have a toddler at home, you may not have thought much about teaching her to read. Most parents of toddlers would be thrilled if their little one would just learn to keep their food on their plate! While most toddlers have several years before they begin to read fluently, there are some activities you can begin now in order to build a strong reading foundation. And trust us, your child will be in much better shape when starting school if you have already taken the time to do these things!
Even as infants our children are learning. Have you ever tried to read your baby a book only to have her stick it in her mouth and chew on it? She is experiencing her world orally. As your baby grows into a toddler and then a preschooler, her experiences may become more sophisticated, but she is still learning through her senses. Parents can help their toddler and preschool children develop and learn by providing simple sensory experiences for them to enjoy.
In my last post I discussed how you can get your child’s reading development off to a good start with activities for infants and toddlers. Those budding skills will need to continue being nurtured as your child moves from toddlerhood to preschool.
One of the most important things you can do for your child from the beginning is to read to him. Reading books, even if they are plastic or board books, introduces your child to the wonderful world of reading that will become so critical once he enters school.
When was the last time you went to a baby shower and saw children’s books on the gift registry? No, I haven’t seen that either, but it’s not a bad idea. In fact it could end up being one of the most valuable gifts for that new baby’s first years of life.
According to the latest research, early exposure to books can be an important component of a child’s development, and will provide a solid foundation for the expansion of reading skills. Even infants can benefit from being read to, as they gain valuable practice with the many aspects of language and reading, including: