We started reading to our son, Henry, when he was in utero; I diligently read black and white books like I was told to do in those first few months of his life. Now that he’s a little person who has his own ideas about whether he’d like to read a book or grind Play-Doh into the carpet, I’ve become more conscious about ways of teaching him that books are fun:
1. We visit the library often. The Plaza Library is a short walk from our house and offers tons of fun programs. We also love checking out a wagon-load of books! Henry has his own library card and knows exactly where to find Pete the Cat books in the children’s section. I check out books, too, and he sees that reading isn’t just for kids.
2. We read at home. A lot. Reading is part of our nap time and bedtime routines. As 8 p.m. nears, my familiar call is always “books or bed?” and guess what? He always picks books. A genius in the making! Our recent favorites are the Llama Llama books, Clifford the Big Red Dog and the many adventures of Carl. Nothing makes my heart swell with pride more than when he throws a pillow on the floor and chooses to “read” by himself at random times throughout the day.
3. We talk about letters. We’re in the “what’s that?” phase, which applies to everything – including letters. We exhaustively go through the letters on the license plate, in books, on signs … everything. I’ve found myself using food to encourage the curiosity about words. We’ve used Alpha-Bits cereal to spell out words, then glue them to paper next to pictures from magazines. He for sure has no idea whet we’re doing but you have to start the brainwashing early, right? 😉 Alpha-Bits suggests making a family tree with each branch representing a family member. Your child can draw the tree and glue letters to spell out your loved one’s names. Another idea is for older kids to spell out the ingredients for dinner and match them to pictures (chicken, rice, beans, etc.) while you prepare the meal.
4. We cook. One of Henry’s favorite things to help with is cooking. He loves pretending like he’s reading the recipe to me! We’ve used letter noodles in soups, naming the letters as we throw them in. If you already have Alpha-Bits for the crafts mentioned above, you can make snack bars with the remaining cereal.
Here’s hoping all this crafting and cooking translates into a love of reading for your little ones!
Note: Kansas City Moms Blog received samples from Alpha-Bits in exchange for writing this post. Opinions are my own.
