When pregnant with Ben, I would look at all the sweet parenting magazine pictures (the ones with the plump, very still babies, who have no stains on their clothes) and imagine Ben and I cuddling together reading books. But then reality hit, and I learned that babies are more interested in exploring the Tupperware cabinet than reading books. And, any interest that young babies have in books usually consists of trying to tear apart the spine while ingesting small scraps of torn pages.
Being a bookish family, I’m not worried about my children not loving books. But, I did have to loosen up my expectations and creatively figure out how I could sneak in a book or two. Here is what I came up with!
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| My busy baby Grace reading books! |
10 Tips for Reading Books to Busy Babies
- Read when your baby wants to be held, not when he/she wants to play. Before bedtime or right after a nap works best for my kids.
- Let go of the reading rules. Babies don’t want to look at the pages in order. Sometimes they don’t even want to hold the book the right direction. Gently lead,but don’t stress about reading the book just right.
- Buy books that are meant to be used not displayed. I buy most of our board books from yard sales and thrift shops. Of course, I try to teach Grace to not rip the books (or eat them), but I love it that I can recycle them guilt-free when they are worn to pieces.
- Store books where they are easily accessible. We keep a small basket of our baby board books stowed in the living room, a bag of free kid’s meal books in the car, and the nicer books on a bookshelf in Ben’s room.
- Go to the library for preschool reading programs. The library is a wonderful resource to introduce your baby to the world of books. Our local library has two programs designed for babies where they read, sing, and toddle freely. Your library probably has a similar program.
- Make reading a quality experience not a mere educational activity. Cuddle, rock, and sing when you read to your baby before bed. If your baby is in a playful mood, encourage your baby to interact with the book (e.g. making corresponding animal noises or pointing at the pictures).
- Don’t insist on reading every word or looking at every page. If your baby is too young to understand the story, just point to colorful parts of the book and talk about the book rather than reading it. Realize that your baby may want a different book every thirty seconds.
- Board books with colorful illustrations, simple text, and interactive pages appeal best to young babies. (Watch my blog for post with a list of suggestions!)
- Don’t worry about whether your baby “understands” the book or not. Just your baby hearing the sounds of words, looking at pictures, and interacting with you will teach language skills.
- Don’t force it! A lack of interest in books today does not mean your child will refuse to read later. Try again a different day.
Update: For more information on how to adapt your reading styles to the developmental stage that your baby is at, check out this excellent series written by a speech pathologist via Inspiration Laboratories (Thanks to Trish for sharing this with us via comment!): Focus on Reading
Also, thank you Kim for sharing her great list with us at The Educator’s Spin On It!
Read part 2: Recommended Books for Busy Babies: Over 25 books!
Do you have any tips to add to this list? What books have your children enjoyed as babies? Check back later to see my busy baby book list!
I’ll just add one more: Start before you think your baby is ready. Even before they can look at the pictures or appreciate what you’re doing, the act of sitting and reading to your child helps develop a culture of reading that prepares them for later reading activities. When my daughter (now almost 3) was just weeks old, I would read children’s classics to her–Black Beauty, The Jungle Book, The Secret Garden. My son, now four weeks old, sits in my lap and listens while I read to his big sister. Hearing the sound of your voice is soothing to your infant, and when they grow up in a home where reading is the norm, they’ll be more disposed to viewing it as an enjoyable activity down the road.
These are great tips for reading to our little ones!
My friend who is a speech-language pathologist did a series on my site about reading to young children. She talked about how to read to kids based on the type of communicator they are.
http://inspirationlaboratories.com/2011/11/focus-on-reading/
Read in the language you feel most comfortable with. Read ANYTHING- newspapers, magazines, street signs.
My favorite series for toddlers is “That’s Not My…” We have monster and monkey at home. I ordered frog and train for the library. Touch and feel books are wonderful for young ones, because they are interactive without being easily broken like lift-the-flaps or pop-ups.
These ideas are all great! Thank you!
These are such great tips and so important to remember! Thanks!
I thought of another one, LOL. Sing it, don’t read it. There are lots of wonderful books just waiting to be sung, which happens to keep the attention of babies/toddlers longer. Sandra Boynton and Raffi books are great. My favorite book to sing is What a wonderful world by George David Weiss. Oh, and you don’t have to have an amazing singing voice to sing to your children, so sing loud and proud!
You are so right! We love our singing books too!
I absolutely love these tips! I am a book lover myself…it was so hard for me to let my son gnaw or rips at a book in the beginning because they were always available to him. I figured, though, he was experiencing the books in his own way. Now that he’s 20 mo. I get so excited when he pulls one down for me to read or pretends to read along! Thanks so much for sharing these with The Kid’s Co-op this week. Sharing on my FB page, too!
Thank you so much for the share! I am following you on Pinterest now and you are added to the children’s lit board!
Stopping by from Kids Co-op! Thanks for the great tips! I often get too into having to finish the story and or going in order and my 13 month old daughter wants none of that! Lol! And I also have noticed she takes interest in certain books. She’ll sit and look at anything with real animals in it!
My little one who’s 16 months old now just started really wanting to read books with me. I shared some stratigies that worked for us to make sure she had books in her life but on her level and interest as an active baby. Here’s some more tips http://theeducatorsspinonit.blogspot.com/2012/03/baby-time-tips-for-reading-books-to.html
Thanks, Kim. I checked it out. What a great article! I added a link to the original post. I’m glad I’m not the only one who struggles getting my baby to read.
Thanks for including us into your post! I love your newest follow up post too. I love seeing all of these sweet babies reading books!
Stopping by from the Kid’s Co-op. Thanks for linking up! What a fantastic list of ideas. I am an avid reader and began reading to my son at 6 weeks old (if I have any more I’ll start even sooner). As soon as I started reading to him at that young age, I noticed it was the only time he would sit quietly, and relax, and just be. He was entranced. He’s always had books avaiable to him and we make weekly trips to the libary which he adores. Now that he’s 3, he loves books (fills my heart with joy to see!) and we’ve just begun our journey on teaching him to read. So exciting! Thanks again for linking up to the Kid’s Co-Op. I’ve pinned this to the Co-op’s board on Pinterest. http://pinterest.com/zina/the-weekly-kid-s-co-op/
Thanks so much for pinning to the co-op board!
This is wonderful! It isn’t that often that you get to read about how to handle quiet activities with busy babies. When my daughter (just clicking to 10 months) doesn’t want to hold still, I just keep reading. I think them hearing and watching you read a book and enjoying it is just as important as them sitting with you.
I agree and think that is a great point!
[...] If you want to read more, check out my 10 Tips for Reading With Babies and Bethany’s 10 Tips for Reading With Busy Babies. [...]