How to Read to Your Toddler

How to Read to your Toddler

            You love to read.  You stay up late to finish that novel.  You devour that new biography.  And, of course, you want to pass on that love of reading to your kids.

            But how do you get sticky, squirmy toddlers to sit still long enough to read them anything?  How can you convince them to look away from Sesame Street and look at something that is not dancing across the screen? That a book can be exciting, entertaining and fun?

            After teaching first grade and then being a mom to a toddler, I have found a several tips and tricks to getting your toddler to read with you!

First: this is not a post to teach your toddler to decode words on a page.  This list is for reading together, for instilling the love of reading, and for teaching pre-reading strategies like looking at the pictures and turning the pages.   

1.    Choose a book about something they are interested in

Why would they want to stop playing with their dinosaurs to read about butterflies if they have zero interest in them?  Get a book about dinosaurs!  Let them hold their favorite dinosaur while you reading them the dinosaur book! 

Do you remember having to read a textbook that you were just. not. into? (Geology in college for me).  I would almost always fall asleep.  You don’t want reading to feel like that for your kid.

2.    Choose a book that is more or less about their attention span 

Don’t choose Diary of a Worm for your two-year-old with a one minute attention span.

But also, don’t choose a baby picture book for your four-year-old who has moved beyond that.

3.    Read often

The more they do it, the more they will like it.  The more they will see it as a part of life.  The more they will choose to do it on their own.

4.    Make time for it in their daily routine

Before nap time, before bedtime, in the morning, etc

I let my toddler choose between two books before he takes a nap.  We read his choice and then it is his cue that it is nap time.  This is a great procedure to use to help him sleep well, but I also do it so I am sure that no matter how busy the day gets, we at least read one book a day.

5.    Sit comfortably

This might mean something different to each child. My son loves to sit in my lap, but my daughter gets all squirmy and fussy if I put her in my lap. I have found that she pays attention better if she sits next to me, or if we lay on the floor side by side.

6.    Let them be in control of timing

Often we want to just get to the end of the book to say we accomplished something. But let them be in control of the pace of reading (this also helps with their attention span)

Let them turn the pages when they are ready.  Let them point out all of the animals they recognize on the page. When they are interacting with the book they are reading it before they are able to read words. 

7.    Be okay with reading again and again and again

This is how kids learn!

You know when you love a book so much you want to read it over? (like Harry Potter!) Well, it’s the same for toddlers.  I know it gets annoying (and honestly, I do skip pages sometimes) but think of it as a teaching experience.  Reach down in the depths of your grown-up maturity and read that book again with an energetic voice!

Happy Reading!

Hannah