Young minds absorb knowledge faster than others. Hence, the more you talk and read to the toddlers, the more knowledge they can absorb. Even when you’re reading to your kids, their minds are always at work. Hence, reading to the kids from a very young age is desirable. Reading to your child at any age helps to develop the brain cells and boosts the intelligence level. Thus, you’ll find parents engaging their kids in sessions for community book reading in Edinburgh from a very early age.
You don’t need a large set of books to start a reading session for your kids. A pictorial storybook is enough to engage the attention of your kid. However, the process of reading is different for different ages. Reading to a baby is completely different from what you read to an older child.
However, to make the concept of community reading successful, make sure that you follow a few tips and be patient while the reading part is going on. It would be best if you concentrated on making the experience enjoyable. Otherwise, reading will seem a tedious activity, and the very purpose will be defeated.
How to make community reading interesting for kids?
Maintain consistent routine
Conducting community reading for one day or at long intervals will not serve the purpose. Try to engage your kids in the reading activity for at least 15 minutes every day. Try different books – both audio and normal. Read the same stories over and over again. Repetitive reading helps kids to build up their memories and absorb the facts related to the stories.
Be patient
A toddler or a baby will not sit through a long hour reading session. This is an instinct because they don’t have patience. However, the aim of the community reading sessions should be to make them sit for at least 10 minutes to learn through the process. Thus, it would be best if you were patient.
Make it enjoyable
Make the story reading session enjoyable and communicative. Children have their world of imagination. Stories help them create a world of imagination. Hence, community reading sessions must be made fun and enjoyable. Use expressions, songs and videos to make the story interesting. The reading tone of the story should be attractive as well. You can also engage them through role-plays.
Establish connections
Children love applying the connections of the stories to their own life. Hence, whenever you’re reading a story to a kid, they will try to apply the same in their own context. If they’re unable to relate to the stories, then the story reading session will not seem impressive to the kids. Hence, a community reading session is successful when the readers establish a connection with the stories.
ReadyGroofy is a social enterprise start-up organisation where community book reading sessions are conducted for children of all ages to provide literacy among the children of Edinburgh. We aim to use creative approaches like reading and play, listen and learn and storytelling activities to promote knowledge and literacy in children from a very early age. Check out our website for more details.