3 Tips for Reading Books to Children

When reading books to children it’s important to make sure they are given all the support they need. Some helpful tips to make sure your child learns to read effectively include:

1. Provide a good reading example

When reading to your child, make sure you read clearly, remembering to modulate your tone and place emphasis when needed. This is important as your reading voice provides your child with a vocal model from which they can learn how to pronounce words correctly and how and when to account for changes in tone and punctuation.

2. Be available to help or answer questions

Encourage your child to ask questions about books they are reading and provide them with detailed answers. Encouraging your child to ask questions about a book will help develop crucial comprehension skills that will come in handy when they are completing comprehension activities at school. Also, asking your child questions about the book either while reading or having just finished reading will help them to reflect on the text, draw inferences and develop opinions.

3. Have a variety of books available at home

Make sure that you have books at home for your child to read, including books of different genres – nursery rhymes, story books, nonfiction titles and classic titles. Making regular trips to the library and book store is essential to broadening your child’s reading material. The wider the variety of books your child reads, the more concepts and words they will be exposed to, helping to develop their vocabulary.

ABC Reading Eggs and ABC Reading Eggspress include a library of over 3000 ebooks. Your child can select from a range of genres appealing to children aged 6 to 12. Children also asked to complete a 10 question comprehension quiz after they have completed each reading book!