Reading with Children
Reading brings parents and children closer together
Reading gives parents an opportunity to spend quality time with their child and it can also be beneficial for your own mental wellbeing. Parents often put pressure on themselves to spend long periods of time reading with their child, however, research suggests that even 10 minutes of reading a day can have a dramatic impact. BookTrust, the UK’s largest children’s reading charity, notes that it is never too early to start reading with your children.
our top 10 recommended list
0 - 2 years
“There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.” – Walt Disney
BookTrust recommends
BookTrust’s recommended books for 0-1 years: CLICK HERE
BookTrust’s recommended books for 1 year olds: CLICK HERE
BookTrust’s recommended books for 2 year olds: CLICK HERE
Our ‘Top 10 recommended books’ for 0-2 year olds:
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
- The Baby’s Catalogue by Janet and Allan Ahlberg
- Where’s Spot? by Eric Hill
- We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
- Mr Grumpy’s Outing by John Burningham
- Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson
- The Odd Egg by Emily Gravett
- HUG by Jez Alborough
- Handa’s Surprise, Walker by Eileen Browne
our top 10 recommended list
2 - 3 years
“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” - Dr. Seuss, “I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!”
BookTrust recommends
BookTrust’s recommended books for 2 year olds: CLICK HERE
BookTrust’s recommended books for 3 year olds: CLICK HERE
Our ‘Top 10 recommended books’ for 2-3 year olds:
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
- Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats
- Where Do Diggers Sleep at Night? by Brianna Caplan Sayres
- Duck and Goose, 1, 2, 3 by Tad Hills
- A Little Stuck by Oliver Jeffers
- Up, Up, Up, Down! by Kimberly Gee
- The Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
- The 3 Little Pigs by Patricia Seibert
- We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
our top 10 recommended list
3 - 4 years
“You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax all you need is a book!” – Dr. Seuss
BookTrust recommends
BookTrust’s recommended books for 3 year olds: CLICK HERE
BookTrust’s recommended books for 4 year olds: CLICK HERE
Our ‘Top 10 recommended books’ for 3-4 year olds:
- The Tiger Who Came to Tea by Judith Kerr
- Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers
- Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson
- The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
- Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
- We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury
- The Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss
- I want my hat back by Jon Klassen
- Whatever Next by Jill Murphy
- A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler
Practical Pre-School Books
Practical Pre-School have put together a downloadable Planning For Learning through Books booklet, to help children busy with activities’ inspiration. Click HERE to download it.
David Walliams audio books
Listen to David Walliams daily audio book by clicking HERE.
BookTrust audio books
Listen and sing along to a number of audio books recommended by BookTrust. Click HERE to access.
Storynory audio books
From fairytales, myths and poems to classical stories, there is a full range of audio books on Storynory. Click HERE to access.
Reading with Children
Top tips
Reading should be fun! It's a time for closeness, laughing and talking together – and it can also give children a flying start in life and help them become lifelong readers.
Jolly Phonics Letter Sounds
Learning to tell sounds apart is a key literacy skill in the Early Years and a first step in being able to read and write.
As parents and teachers we do this orally – helping our children distinguish between sounds like ‘d is for dog, c is for cat’. Being able to tell sounds apart in this way is called sound discrimination.
Learning beginning letter sounds is the next step to linking a child’s oral language skills to written language – what they see and will attempt to write themselves. It is extremely important that, as adults, we model the correct pronunciation of the letter sounds. Saying the wrong sounds for each letter, sounding out words (segmenting and blending) extremely difficult for young children. Examples of this are:
‘muh’ instead of ‘m’ – try to sound-out the word ‘manner’, when the initial sound is ‘muh’ and not ‘m’.
‘buh’ instead of ‘b’ – try to sound-out the word ‘banana’, when the initial sound is ‘buh’ and not ‘b’.
‘tuh’ instead of ‘t’ – try to sound-out the word ‘tennis’, when the initial sound is ‘tuh’ and not ‘t’.
It is more difficult to ‘unteach’ the wrong sounds, once learnt.
A video, demonstrating the correct pronunciation for the 42 letter sounds in the English language, can be found by clicking HERE.
Want some more guidance?
There is no right or wrong way to read with your child, but if you would like some extra tips, BookTrust have put together a few top tips. Click HERE to read them.
You can also watch a short video to gain some top tips about reading with your child. Click HERE to watch the video.
