We all know the feeling of getting lost in a good book, when time seems to stand still and the world around us melts away. Reading and sharing stories with your preschooler creates precious moments that have a wonderful emphasis on connecting with one another. The invitation to enter a magical new world with the physical closeness of a very loved adult is extremely hard to resist.
So many things happen when a story is read to a child but the most important has to be the building of the bond between you and your child. When you read a book to your preschooler, you immediately engage in a shared activity and can be immersed into a whole different world.
Reading forms one of the most important foundations for listening, communication, and language development. The interactions between the storyteller and the listener are a perfect form of two-way communication, and your preschooler will be drawn into an exciting world where they can express their thoughts and emotions.
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When books are read out loud, a wealth of language erupts from the pages. In almost every book your preschooler listens to, there is likely to be at least one word that they haven't heard before. This new vocabulary is introduced in a safe environment where trust has been established and can be discussed in an open and honest way. All these lovely words can also be beneficial to holding conversations on a wide range of topics.
A superb book for introducing wonderful language in a hugely entertaining way is ‘Oi Dog!’. This book is a delightful rhyming book where a frog tries to change some rules about where animals can sit, – I'm not sure everyone agrees!
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When stories are read to preschoolers, a variety of new concepts can be introduced, such as the setting of the book, the characters, any problems encountered in the story, and the resolution. Preschoolers adore stories that can be read over and over again. You may become bored with reading the same book repeatedly, but this repetition is necessary. When a preschooler hears the same text and sees the same images, they begin to notice the structure and wording of the story. As a result, they can begin to recognise the sequence of events when reading new stories.[1]
Psychologist Lev Vygotsky believed that adults can scaffold their preschooler's understanding of early routines of book reading by encouraging them to turn the pages or describe the pictures they can see. The more practice a preschooler has with these tasks promotes an understanding which can lead to independent book reading. Vygotsky thought that children have actual and potential abilities, meaning that if a child has support from an adult, they are given an opportunity to achieve more, he called this the ‘Zone of Proximal Development’. Vygotsky was very clear in his theory of learning that any scaffolding must be in line with a child’s abilities, meaning that if a preschool child was learning how to look at a book independently and they were left with a dictionary to read, this would not be within the ability and therefore their learning would not be scaffolded.
A more suitable form of scaffolding would be to use books that have pictures. Illustrations help your preschooler to remember what happened in the story and provide them with a tool to use if they wish to start reading a story by themselves. You can support your preschooler by referring them to the illustration for an idea of what the text is saying.
When a child shares a story, they are automatically learning about print, letter recognition, language, story skills, and book reading conventions.[1] At this stage, it would be suitable to scaffold your preschooler's learning by pointing to the text and running your finger along the text in the direction it is read. In English, this would be left to right and top to bottom, and that we start reading from the front of a book.
It is a great time to introduce non-fiction books to your preschooler. Non-fiction books have a natural tendency to lend themselves to adults focusing on the vocabulary while their preschooler interacts with the photos and begins to comment and possibly ask questions. There is a key difference between the information in non-fiction and fiction books, this is that a non-fiction book is focused on vocabulary and a fiction book concentrates on locations, characters and emotions.[1] Non-fiction books are beneficial for understanding the natural world, scientific facts, our environments and how we live. As the information is factual, it presents incredible general knowledge to your preschooler.
Explore my world books are fabulous first non-fiction books for preschoolers. Here we have the example of Baby Animals. The photos are beautiful and the text is fun while informative.
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Preschool aged children can’t resist an engaging and entertaining story. So many books have a sense of adventure in them, inspiring your preschooler to embark on an adventure of their own. Books can spark the imagination while providing incredible information about the world around them.
For children of this age, knowledge gained through books can be invaluable. According to one study, once picture books have been read and discussed, preschoolers can absorb facts from them. If they are supported by an adult, preschool-aged children will also gain the ability to answer questions and justify their choices.[4] A great book for getting that imagination literally flying away is Bizzy Bear: Space Rocket. In this adventure Bizzy Bear jets off into space and you can join the adventure by sliding the moving parts and looking at all the amazing things Bizzy Bear can see from his rocket in space.
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Many stories are based on feelings and emotions. Reading is a great tool for teaching your preschooler what feelings such as happy, scared, and excited mean. Books engage children cognitively and emotionally and the words and illustrations draw them into a world where sensitive topics can be addressed in a safe environment. Fiction creates worlds where we can engage in the emotions of the characters and preschoolers can start to think about how characters may feel, and then eventually, be able to describe how they themselves feel.
Your preschooler is now capable of storing information they receive about emotions in their brain and the more the stories are read, the stronger these connections become. This early learning is further supported with the use of illustrations as your preschooler will begin to connect that seeing pictures of smiling characters would suggest the characters are happy, whereas seeing tears suggests the characters are sad.
Books are incredible for supporting cognitive development. They bring up concepts such as past and present which naturally provide the use of tenses and therefore build new vocabulary. When language like this is learned, it can be transferred into everyday conversation and descriptive discussions.
Many picture books lend themselves nicely to mathematical principles like counting and problem-solving. Within drawings and text, the concepts of preposition, shapes, direction, and size are frequently displayed.[3] Preschool-aged children are now more able to associate numbers they hear in a story with themselves. If they hear the number three, they might say “I am three,” even if the story is about Goldilocks.
Here are two completely different books that introduce mathematical concepts. Spot the Dot is an interactive book that invites children to find different coloured dots on the pages. The text is simple and the pages include tabs to pull, lift and spin.
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A second example is the hilarious Dinosaurs Love Underpants. In this book, much language is introduced about size, pattern, shape and colour and it is a good one for engaging your preschoolers’ ideas and thoughts.
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Story characters can be a particularly fascinating way of encouraging preschoolers to use their cognitive thoughts when trying to solve problems within stories, because children make sense of problem circumstances by imagining themselves in the situation of the character in the book.
A story they will find hard to resist is Poo in the Zoo. Children typically love toilet humour and they may only recently be toilet-trained themselves. This book is hilarious and will get you all giggling away.
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Now is a great time to introduce slightly longer stories. Have moments where you pause in reading to allow your preschooler time to join in or notice the illustrations. Always remember, your preschooler will learn so much from sharing books with you. In every story time, they have valuable opportunities to explore their imagination, curiosity and to learn about storytelling and reading.
References:
[1] A. Van Kleeck, S.A. Stahl, E.B. Bauer (2003). On Reading Books to Children Parents and Teachers Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
[2] M. Nikolajeva (2014). Reading for Learning. Cognitive Approaches to Children’s Literature. John Benjamins Publishing Company
[3] P.A. Ganea, L. Ma, J.S DeLoache, (2011). Article: Young Children’s Learning and Transfer of Biological Information from Picture Books to Real Animals. Child Development, September⁄ October 2011, Volume 82, Number 5, Pages 1421–1433