Babies & Toddler Information

When you take your child to the library, check out a bookfor yourself. Then set a good example by letting your childsee you reading for yourself. Ask your child to get one ofher books and sit with you as you read your book, magazine,or newspaper. Don't worry if you feel uncomfortable withyour own reading ability. It's the reading that counts.Whenyour child sees that reading is important to you, she maydecide that it is important to him or her, too

How Does a Book Work?

Children are fascinated by how books look and feel. They seehow easily you handle and read books, and they want to dothe same. When your toddler watches you handle books, shebegins to learn that a book is for reading, not tearing ortossing around. Before she is 3, she may even pick one upand pretend to read, an important sign that she is beginningto know what a book is for. As your child becomes apreschooler, she is learning that ??

A book has a front cover.

A book has a beginning and an end.

A book has pages.

A page in a book has a top and a bottom.

You turn pages one at a time to follow the story. You read a story from left to right of a page. As you read with your babt, begin to remind her about thesethings. Read the title on the cover. Talk about the pictureon the cover. Point to the place where the story starts and,later, where it ends. Let your child help turn the pages.When you start a new page, point to where the words of thestory continue and keep following the words by moving yourfinger beneath them. It takes time for a child to learnthese things, but when your child does learn them, she or hehas solved some of reading's mysteries.