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Benefits of Reading To Your Children If you are a parent who admits that you don't read to your children enough, or if you feel that you are just too busy for this activity, there are several reasons for which you should read to your little ones: 1) Learning to read. If you need just one reason, this should be it! All parents want their children to learn to read and by reading to them you are giving them an early start. 2) Learning new words and language skills. Think for a second -- if you are reading a book about cats and the word "feline" is in the text, chances are that your child will begin to know that "feline" is another word for "cat" -- even without you specifically saying this. 3) Developing their imagination. Young children will listen to the words that you read and they will imagine them in their minds. Later, they might think back to the story and imagine even greater tales involving the characters, places, and feelings you read about. 4) Learning about the world around them. Books can expose us to locations and situations that we may never experience ourselves first hand. 5) Learning about moral concepts. Many stories teach about honesty, service, kindness and choosing right from wrong. Enjoying a good book together can end up teaching your child these valuable concepts. 6) Feeling close to each other. Since reading is a calm and soothing activity, it gives parents something to engage in with their children without spending a lot of money or even a lot of energy. SOURCE: www.babyuniversity.com

Activities to Encourage Language Development Share an Experience When parents talk about an incident and discuss anecdotes about themselves or their children it ensures good communication, understanding and interaction between parents and children. The way conversations take place has a huge influence on the richness of language development. The tone parents use and the body language that accompanies it, develop the ability of how they manage and express the children’s feelings. For solid communication to develop parents and other adults have to send messages of “you matter” and “what you say is interesting and important”. Children also need to be with and communicate with children older and younger than them. Talk about Photographs Look at photograph albums. The best ones are the oldest ones. Talk about what kind of clothes people wore then, what they did together and how you spent your childhood. To cultivate interesting conversations with children parents have to learn how to ask appropriate and sincere questions. When talking about incidents and experiences help children by asking ‘what’s happening’, ‘what next’, ‘what if’ etc and be open to their ideas and decisions. We learn to talk most effectively when we are not put under pressure to perform. We need to be with people who are tolerant and welcoming in our efforts to put ideas, thoughts, feelings and relationships into words and signs. It is the same with children as is with adults. Children can only learn to increase their vocabulary if they are with people who offer them new words during the conversation. Help your children enrich their understanding of new words by: 1) Naming. That’s a ball. 2) Explaining. Balls can be thrown and played with. 3) Talking about feelings. You like playing with the ball, don’t you? 4) Describing. The ball is yellow and round. It bounces as well. 5) Talking about what you just did. You threw the ball in the air and I caught it. 6) Talking about the future. I will roll the ball towards you and you try and catch it. SOURCE: Bruce, Tina, Developing Learning in Early Childhood, London: Paul Chapman Publishing, 1988

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