There’s nothing quite like seeing your child pick up a book and read it to himself for the first time. And even though we've been known to tell our kids to putdownthatbookrightnow! when we're trying to get them out the door for school, we secretly love that kind of reading obsession. Even if your kid isn't paging through Moby Dick—or even Mo Willems—yet, you can foster that love of learning early.
So we've put together some of our top tips to help make reading fun, so your pre-reader will be on their way to becoming a serious book lover.
Related: How to get kids excited about reading: 8 expert, research-backed tips and tactics.
1. Read to kids at bedtime.
You've heard the advice read to your kids a million times, and for good reason. It works. Science is showing that talking to our babies in all kinds of ways increases brain development. The trick, of course, is that this is a prime chance for sneaky kids to stretch out that bedtime routine. Our tip: keep a small stack of books next to the bed with only short, bedtime-approved stories on it, and let each kid select one book. One book. (Knowing very well we'll probably give in and get to a second or third. Sigh.)2. Enlist friends and family to help build your library
Take advantage of any gift-giving occasion to add a book to your child's personal library at home. Birthdays, Christmas, Hanukkah, and the end of the school year are obvious options. But think about other times that present opportunities to learn from books —Thanksgiving, Easter, Fourth of July, the change of seasons. The first lost tooth. A move to a new school. Any new milestone, think books!
3. Create a cozy reading nook.
If kids have a place that's all theirs, they'll use it. So set aside an educational, cozy, and fun space for your child to sit and read. This chair from P'kolino is pretty enough to keep in a common space--I kind of like seeing the looks of pride on my kids faces when they sound out a new word. Or let them set the space up in their bedroom, where they can rearrange the furniture, choose the books that go there, or read to their dolls and stuffed animals. Be sure not to load up the space with too much though, or they'll get overwhelmed and move on to the next thing.4. Give kids their own kid-sized reading chair.
Even if you don't have space for an entire reading nook in your home, you can find a great chair for your kids that's just their size. Look for one comfy and sturdy, but lightweight enough that kids can move it around themselves. They're not hard to keep clean (phew). Also, it's nice not to feel like you live in a preschool classroom, and the P'kolino chairs are modern enough to fit in with the adult furniture.5. Put the books where kids can reach them.
This may sound obvious, but our homes are rarely kid-ready when we actually have kids! Find a low bookshelf with bright colors that kids know without a doubt is theirs. Then let them organize it the way they want to with their favorite books, stuffed animals — whatever makes it feel fun and comfortable to them. To keep things interesting, we like to stock up on some plastic bins and rotate the books we keep on the shelves every month or so.
