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.

3. Reading together lets your infant know how special they are and that reading is important.
4. 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.
5. Choose short, colorful books made especially for infants.
6. Shorten/modify or adapt books to hold your infant’s attention
7. Pointing at objects and turning pages is great fun for infants.
8. Make reading exciting for your infant by using different voices and varying your expression when reading aloud.
9. Infants love rhythm and rhyme so read, dance and sing together every day.
10. Take the opportunity to read to your infant whenever you can. Reading is not just for bedtime.

• • 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

• 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.