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Expert Advice, Strategies and Resources for Raising Readers:

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  • Newborn

    0 to 4 mo

  • Infant

    4 mo to 1 yr

  • Toddler

    1 to 3 yrs

  • Preschool

    3 to 5 yrs

  • Beginner

    5 to 8 yrs

  • Elementary

    8 to 11 yrs

Infant
4 Months to 1 Year

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Infants learn as you

read, speak, sing, and chant together. As you talk and sing, your infant hears the sounds of language. These words and sounds eventually become part of their vocabulary. Read to your infant every day, and over time, their attention span will grow, along with an enjoyment of stories and the spoken word. Your infant learns so much as you share books, including how to hold a book and turn pages. Every story, rhyme, song, and chant helps build a solid foundation for a lifetime of literacy.


Why read to your infant?

Infants between four and twelve months are primed and ready to engage and learn. This is a stage of your baby’s life in which fine and gross motor development improve, along with their vision.

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Receptive language (understanding what they hear) is better developed than expressive language (being able to respond). Your infant’s social and emotional reactions also blossom as they interact with others. Because infants learn by hearing, watching, and doing, books and songs are a natural pathway for learning.

  • Your undivided attention lets your baby know how special they are, and that reading is important.
  • Books provide vital one-on-one time. The sound of your voice and being together make reading pleasurable.
  • Reading to your infant helps develop important skills such as listening, learning language, and understanding tone and expression.
  • Your infant will begin to imitate you by turning pages, pointing to pictures, and vocalizing in a way that sounds like language...before their first word!
  • Reading (and talking about what is read) expands vocabulary, which is essential as your infant learns to listen and speak.
  • Every reading experience you share leads to another and builds a pathway to a love of books and stories.
  • If children associate reading with pleasure, they are more likely to enjoy independent reading when older.

Top 10 Tips for infants

  1. Read, sing and chant every day as your infant continues to develop language.
  2. Because your infant is able to understand more than she/she is able to say, books and songs are a natural pathway to learning.
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  1. Reading together lets your infant know how special they are and that reading is important.
  2. Reading to your infant helps develop important skills such as listening, learning language and understanding tone and expression, which will be important both in and out of school.
  3. Choose short, colorful books made especially for infants.
  4. Shorten/modify or adapt books to hold your infant’s attention
  5. Pointing at objects and turning pages is great fun for infants.
  6. Make reading exciting for your infant by using different voices and varying your expression when reading aloud.
  7. Infants love rhythm and rhyme so read, dance and sing together every day.
  8. Take the opportunity to read to your infant whenever you can. Reading is not just for bedtime.

How do you read with infants?

  • Don’t expect to read the whole book. Your infant is learning to listen and will slowly build up the ability to stay focused on a book for longer periods. You can adapt the book if you:
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    • shorten/modify the text based on your infant’s attention span and interest.
    • point to objects and name them (“I see a chicken. There’s a ball. The sun is yellow.”)
    • ask your older infant to point to objects you name on the page.
    • substitute your infant's name or someone they know into the story.
  • You make reading exciting and encourage interaction when you:
    • read with expression.
    • use different character voices when appropriate.
    • ask where things are on the page.
    • help your infant turn pages or open flaps.
    • guide your infant?s hand so they can feel different textures.
  • Appeal to your infant’s natural enjoyment of rhythm and rhyme every time you chant, dance, sing, and share lullabies and nursery rhymes.
  • Books open up a world of new words and ideas. Your child will begin to make sense of new ideas in a book if you point and talk about what you see and hear.
  • Make reading a daily part of your routine and use this time to bond with your infant.
  • Keep books in places where they can be easily grabbed (diaper bag, car, etc.)
  • Don’t limit stories and books to bedtime. Read:
    • on a bed, the sofa, the floor, on the bus, at the doctor’s office, etc.
    • when you both are passengers
    • while your infant is snuggled up in a sling or baby carrier
    • as you wait (for appointments, in lines, in restaurants, etc.)
    • any time you have a willing infant and time to read


Infant Book Reviews

Infant

Title: Touch and Feel: Farm

Author: DK Publishing

Illustrator: By the author

Why We Love It:

Why We Love It

Simple, full color photos of common farm animals with different textured surfaces for touching and stroking make this an interactive delight for …more

Browse All Reviews Buy
 

Infant

Title: Tomi DePaola’s Mother Goose

Author: Tomi DePaola

Illustrator: By the author

Why We Love It:

Why We Love It:

This version of Mother Goose offers plenty of rhythmical and/or rhyming verses so appealing to young children. As you continue to read …more

Browse All Reviews Buy

Tags: baby, baby shower gift, board book, first book, folklore, infant, newborn, nursery rhyme, poetry, tomie depaola

 

Infant

Title: Night Night, Peter Rabbit

Author: Beatrix Potter

Illustrator: adapted from the author

Why We Love It:

Why We Love It

Infants enjoy books as much with their mouths and hands as they do their eyes and ears. And this soft cloth …more

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Tags: baby, baby shower gift, beatrix potter, board book, classic, cloth, first book, infant, newborn, peter rabbit, rabbit, soft book

 

Infant

Title: Where is Maisy?

Author: Lucy Cousins

Illustrator: By the author

Why We Love It:

Why We Love It

Infants love lift-the-flap books and Where is Maisy? is one of the best. Lovable Maisy appeals to young children and will have …more

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Tags: activity book, baby, baby shower gift, board book, flap book, infant, maisy, mouse, newborn, preschool, toddler

 

Infant

Title: Clap Hands

Author: Helen Oxenbury

Illustrator: By the author

Why We Love It:

Why We Love It

Babies love looking at both babies and faces and this book features both on every page! Helen Oxenbury’s soft round babies might …more

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Tags: baby, baby shower gift, board book, first book, helen oxenbury, infant, multiracial, newborn

 

Infant

Title: Close Your Eyes

Author: Kate Banks

Illustrator: Georg Hallensleben

Why We Love It:

Why We Love It

Sometimes just getting your child to settle down for the night requires a book like Close Your Eyes. Join Mother Tiger in …more

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Tags: baby, baby shower gift, bed time, board book, fear, first book, infant, newborn, sleep, tiger

 
More Infant Reviews


What types of books are best for infants?

Because most infants haven’t developed the attention span needed for enjoying entire picture books, choose infant-friendly books that have:

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  • bright, simple pictures
  • familiar activities and objects (toys, animals, vehicles, baby faces, etc.)
  • familiar characters (Spot, Maisy)
  • lots of rhyme, rhythm, and repetition

The types of books infants especially enjoy touching include:

  • touch-and-feel books
  • chunky board books sturdy enough for little hands
  • cloth/textural books
  • wooden books
  • indestructible (non-tearing paper) books
  • personalized homemade books

Check out Go Reader Go book reviews to find books that can help launch your infant?s lifelong love of reading.

Remember! It is never too late to begin reading to your child! Start a lifelong love of reading together...today.

Get fresh ideas, book recommendations and expert advice on raising a lifelong reader.

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