image credit: reading session, via flickr

One of our first posts on this blog was entitled Reading Aloud to Kids: What’s the Big Deal Anyway, in which we outlined just a few of the many, many reasons why it’s so important for parents to make shared parent-child reading a priority. Today we thought we’d share just a few more ways in which a story time routine can help develop your child’s pre-reading and language skills, just in case you still aren’t convinced. Some of these skills are so obvious that it would be easy to overlook them, but mastering these skills is actually essential for learning to read.

*Books teach fine motor skills. Shared parent-child reading helps children learn the proper way to hold a book and turn the pages. Many children’s books are also specifically designed with flaps and tags to help your child further develop his fine motor skills.

*Reading aloud to children teaches them to read from left to right (or right to left if you’re reading to your child in Arabic or Hebrew) and top to bottom. This seems quite obvious to us experienced readers, but if you had never seen anything like a book before I’m sure you wouldn’t know where to begin either. I recently read a guest post from a reading specialist on a blog called Chronicles of a Babywise Mom about this very subject. Susanne had some great ideas about how to reinforce the fact that we read from one direction to another: “You can create a fun pointer to help make this activity more fun. You could use a magic wand or spoon, or any object your child might find fun. Finger puppets also work great for this activity. Keep it fun. Keep modeling good reading by pointing to the words.”

*Books reinforce the connection between language and written words on a page. Children as young as 8 months old begin making associations between objects and words, so around that age they should also begin to understand that the words you are reading correspond to the words on the pages of their story books. This skill is especially reinforced by reading the same books over and over again, allowing children to make the connection between the words you are saying and the printed words on a page.

*Reading teaches rhythm and rhyme. Many studies have shown that children who are exposed to rhythm and rhyme have an advantage when it comes to learning to read and spell. There’s a reason why Dr. Seuss’ books are such classics. In addition to the fabulous story lines and great illustrations, the rhythm and rhyme of these texts are especially stimulating for young children who are just beginning to develop language skills.

*Books help children discover the world around them. Most of us don’t live in the jungle, so a book about jungle animals is a great way of introducing this new concept to your kids. Fiction books can also be used to help develop a child’s imagination and story telling skills.

Of course these are just a few of the many, many benefits of reading to and with your children on a daily basis. Just 15 to 20 minutes a day of reading time is all it takes to develop these skills and, more importantly, a love of reading that will last a lifetime. Happy reading!