Reading with Babies and Toddlers {Part 2}

This is Part Two in a series about my experiences reading and sharing books with my son (Gorilla). Read Part One here.

When Gorilla was a baby, it was pretty easy to establish routines and read with him every day. But as babies transition into toddlers, they become much more active and independent. It is such an exciting time of developmental growth, but it can also make things like reading time (and really, any time) a little more tricky to navigate. Today I am sharing some of the things that have been working for us during these early toddler years as I continue to try to foster a love of reading and books within my son.

Keep the Routine

Routines help toddlers to feel safe and in control because they know what to expect. Reading books at bedtime is not an original idea by any means, but it's a routine that definitely works for us. We have read together before both naptime and bedtime since Gorilla was a baby, and so in the least we always have that time, even if we do nothing else with books throughout the day.

Follow Their Lead

Some days I try to initiate reading together as a part of playtime. Sometimes Gorilla will read with me for a long time, and sometimes he won't. Sometimes he will let me pick the books to read, and sometimes he will turn away all of my choices and want to pick his own. Sometimes he will sit on my lap to read, and sometimes he won't. All of this is perfectly normal toddler behavior, but sometimes the inconsistency can be frustrating to adults. In those moments, I remind myself to let him take the lead. If I try to force or control the situation, it won't be a positive experience for anyone. Some of my favorite reading moments have happened when I wasn't even thinking about books, and he initiated reading on his own. 

For example, I was doing the dishes one afternoon when I heard the soft pounding of little feet coming down the hall. Gorilla, about 1-year old, rounded the corner into the kitchen with a book in his hands. He walked right up to me, tried to hand me the book, and looked at me with excited, smiling eyes. I'll admit that for a brief minute I wanted to delay his request and finish the dishes, but really- how could I refuse? I turned off the water and we sat down right there on the kitchen floor to read the book together. 

Make Books Accessible

Part of letting him take the lead is storing our board books in places that Gorilla can access easily. We have books in various places around our house. The majority of his books stay in his bedroom, on either the bottom of the bookshelf or in a little bin on the floor next to the recliner. 

Let's be honest, this approach gets messy at times because he will often pull out a huge stack of books along with the one he decides to look at. 

But personally, I love walking into the room and finding him enjoying books on his own. I want to support that independence, and I don't mind cleaning up the books with him afterward.

Have Fun!
Reading does not have to be a sitting-still activity, or even a quiet activity. Toddlers will be much more engaged in books when the approach is playful and active. I was already in the habit of adding sounds or movement into his stories for extra sensory stimulation, and now it is so fun to see him trying out those same actions as he connects to the book. He will often anticipate a page before I even get to it by making the sound or  facial expression or action that I usually make.

Some of our favorite books that are great for silly sounds and movements include:

This book is so great for adding sound effects, as well as alternating a quiet and loud voice.

Here he is making an airplane noise and moving his finger across the page, copying what I do when I read it. 

Add train noises or swipe your finger across the page faster and faster as the train goes by. 

This book gives you actions to do, and it is fun to set the book down and try each movement out.
 We also love Llama Llama Zippity Zoom.

Gorilla started singing "La,La,La" all the time after we started reading this story. A fun book for sounds.

Sometimes it's also fun to get up and move with a story. A favorite book from when he was a baby, Hello Bugs!, often turns into a chasing game when we read it because he will run away laughing as I make silly bug noises with tickly movements.


Talk and Connect 
Comprehension is a crucial part of learning to read later on, and it is so easy to model and practice those skills now by talking about what you read. Sometimes I will stop and point to things on the page and repeat its name, or I will ask questions or notice connections between things in the book and something Gorilla is familiar with.

In Haiku Baby, Gorilla almost always stops on the page with the moon to point at the moon, then the whale, and the bird, and so I take advantage of the moment to say their names and talk about those things.

This is also a great way to encourage the development of language skills, especially since books are often exposing them to a wider variety of words and topics than day-to-day conversations. It has been so exciting to hear Gorilla say words for pictures in a book, and even more exciting when he uses them again in a different context. Although the book never actually says the word "hippo," I would always ask where the hippo was in Hide and Seek Harry at the Beach. After awhile, he started to say the word on his own while we read, and then one day he recognized a toy hippo that we have using that same word.

Use the Library
We do own a lot of books, and I enjoy having our own collection of favorites on hand. But I also love that our public library has an awesome selection of board books to check out. Sometimes we go to the library just to browse, but as a teacher and a parent I rely heavily on placing an online hold for books that I can go pick up in one quick trip.

There are so many great books out there, but sometimes it can be overwhelming to find them. I often use blogs or Pinterest as a resource for finding new books to try out. I also come across new book ideas from the recommendations that pop up while searching Amazon or my library's website. Libraries also often have book lists available that would have great ideas as well.

Happy Reading!