So I am a teacher who is currently staying home with her baby. So I thought hmm mom’s may be interested in my view on reading with their little. Let me start this by saying I don’t treat reading time like that of one I would of had with my first graders.
- All reading is done with mom. If you expect to just sit your baby on the floor with a pile of books more than likely all they are going to so is chew on them (nom, nom, nom). But a book can be much more than just a chewing toy for your little!
- You are teaching your baby what we teachers like to call “Concepts of Print”. This is the first thing we expect those kindergartners to know when they come into the classroom, and you can start teaching it to them as a baby. It is pretty basic; it is teaching them how a book works. Such as: You start at the cover. Point to the title as you read. Turn the pages. Reading from the left to the right. Showing the pictures vs. the text. Pretty basic right? As you are reading to your child you are teaching this to them without even knowing! That’s part of the reason why so many push reading to your kids. You are teaching to them!
- I love the touch and feel books! Your baby is learning so much in the world, and one of the ways they do this is through touch! We have three, and I plan on getting more. This way they really can interact with their hands as you are reading to them. I’ve created links to the ones we have below for Amazon. Her favorite of the three is Touch and Feel Farm.
2. Okay next up is flip up books. I have tried a few different ones, and this is our favorite. Again this gets the babies to interact with the book as there is a flip up with them. We tried Dear Zoo and she just isn’t ready for that one. These one I think are better for her age range as they are large and more brightly colored which is appealing to an almost 9 month old. So the two she likes are If You See a Cow and If You See a Farmer both by Richard Powell.
3. As a teacher I have to get into my non-fiction. It is just the teacher in me. My favorite for this at the baby age are these ones called Little Critters Up Close that are made by ZooBooks. They make magazines for elementary age, but they also make these board books for your littles! I love it as it has real images of these animals with very simple words for me to read aloud. They are also great for pointing out different body parts on animals. Now these are a little pricey, and you can’t buy them on amazon :(. Which this Amazon addict is very sad. Although if you watch Groupon you can get in on good deals, and pay a monthly subscription, and two show up in the mail every month!
