Reading with children aged 3-5 years

Children learn a lot about reading long before they go to school. They learn from the world around them from seeing labels and notices in the supermarket, or road signs. They are interested in print.

Children are natural learners. As parents, you don't have to teach them. The most important thing you can do is to let them see that you enjoy learning. If they see you reading, they will want to copy you. 

Phonics are important

When children learn to read they have to learn to listen to the separate sounds of words. Then they learn that the sounds of words are made with letters. Next they start to work out which letter or letters stand for which sound. This is phonics. It's a very important part of reading.

Reading is more than just phonics

But reading is much more than just matching letters and sounds. When you read a story together, your child will be finding out about how stories work. When children start to read themselves, they will use their own experience to understand what they read.

They will be able to guess which word would make sense. They will begin to learn that in English, print goes from left to right.

Sharing rhymes

Children love rhymes. You may have heard your child making up nonsense rhymes. Learning nursery rhymes will help your child to notice the separate sounds in words. This will help with reading later on. 

Play rhyming games with your child. Make up your own to go with the everyday things you do, This is the way we brush our teeth. Make silly rhymes for your child's name, Bing Bang Bolly, your name's Olly.

Sharing books

Books are fun and can help your child learn lots of new skills and new words. Don't just save them for bedtime. Take books out with you to the shops and on journeys and make time to share stories and sing songs and rhymes during the day.

Here are a few ideas on how to share books with your toddler:

• Choose a quiet place so there are no distractions from TV and radio.
• Sit the child on your knee or beside you and share the book.
• Choose a book which you like the look of and which youll enjoy reading.
• A book which you find boring will also bore your child.
• You may feel nervous or silly reading aloud, but remember your child is no critic. It's spending time together with a book that counts and the more you practice, the better you'll become.
• First look at the front of the book and say the title. Even at this early age, your child will learn how books work that you start at the front and have to turn the pages for the story to keep on going. They may want to hold the book and turn the pages themselves.
• When you talk to your child about what's going on in a book, give them time to respond. And don't only ask questions to which the answer is either yes or no.
• Point to the pictures and relate them to something your child knows. If there's a picture of a dog, talk about a dog that you know. Your child will soon learn to do this too and this helps your child build up a stock of familiar words.
• Follow the words with your finger. You are not teaching your toddler to read but they will begin to understand that those black squiggly things are important because they are telling the story.

Most of all enjoy yourself. Sharing books is great fun and it's the ideal opportunity to share a cuddle at the same time.