365 Days of Reading: Tip #12 - Nonfiction Books for Babies

Even babies can benefit from seeing different book formats, so don't get stuck in a rut with nothing but simple rhyming books on the bookshelf (although these are great, too, in their own way!).

Nonfiction books for little ones should still maintain the format of older kids' reference books while replacing the text with simpler language that relies heavily on illustrative support. Look for books with chapter headings, a table of contents, photographs of real life, maps, informative drawings or diagrams and picture glossaries.

Also, boys often tend to prefer nonfiction reading over fiction, poetry or drama, so observe your son's interests and get some great reference reading started when he's young.

Here are some great ones! The Eyewitness series is for a bit older audience but your younger child will love to look at the highly detailed pages and point out the things that he recognizes:

365 Days of Reading: Tip #11 - Counting???

For my brother, who asked about counting! :-)

Whatever you want to 'teach' your child, avoid making it into a lesson. Your baby doesn't need to know much right now other than that he is loved and his needs are met. Instead, choose books on the topic that are eye-catching and interactive. Books that he can touch, point to and that you can talk to him about are best!

Here are some books I love that will help those math-minded parents share their love of numbers, even with a very young child:

365 Days of Reading: Tip #10 - Engage the Senses

When your baby is very small, it may seem as if she can't really 'do' anything. But her five senses are busy all the time taking in new information about the world around her. Different types of books can help you engage her five senses.

Sight - For about the first 6 months, baby's eyes can best detect images in black & white. Choose books with black & white silhouettes, black & white photography or high contrast line drawings.

Smell - There are now books that include scratch 'n' sniff spots on the pages! Choose books that have a variety of smells, both familiar and unfamiliar. Let baby smell the real thing if you have it in your home!

Taste - Once your baby is ready to try solid food, begin reading books that feature new foods. Food-based alphabet books or books about gardening or farming will give you a huge variety of foods that you can let your child taste as you read, or after. (Remember to always wait 3 days in between trying new foods to test for allergies.)

Touch - Babies love to use their hands and skin to feel new textures. Choose books with cloth pages or board books with fabric worked into the illustrations.

Hearing - Your baby will most likely love singing and music from the start. Choose books that include song lyrics or onomatopoeia.

365 Days of Reading: Tip #9 - Something for the Boys

In order to grow their love for books & reading, boys often need literature that they can connect to their real world lives and interests. If your son shows an interest in trains, then by all means, load up on train books! This will engage him, motivate him to learn new vocabulary and help him develop his stamina for reading.

Also, don't limit the way you present the activity of reading. For many kids, it is just as FUN, if not more so, than playing with toys; but as parents, we often think of reading as merely a soothing activity, a quiet activity or a bedtime ritual. Don't limit yourselves or your children this way! Present reading in the same "fun", exciting light as you do other shared activities.

Boys also love to be active, so find books for them that they can act out, sing along with or that can be followed with an interesting outing. Example: f you read the sing-a-long book (see Tip #3) "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", follow it up with a trip to the planetarium. If you read a book that features personified animals, follow it up by making some of your own puppets. Books that include their own name are also favorites for very young boys.

Boys who have not yet developed much stamina for seated reading will also benefit greatly from environmental print (see Tip #8).

365 Days of Reading: Tip #8 - Environmental Print

When thinking of ways to grow your child's language skills, remember that letters and words can be found everywhere in our environment. When you take your child on outings with you, talk to him about everything you see and narrate your shared activities. For example, at the grocery store, show him what you are buying and read the label to him.

There are also ways to work letters & words into your child's daily surroundings. If you have hardwood floors, an alphabet rug can provide some cushion as well as a jumping-off point for talking about letters and sounds. A Name Train (see below) is a wonderful keepsake to display as well as a reference for the first letters that most children come to recognize - those in their own name. Picture frames with engraved names or labels also make great environmental print for your baby.

365 Days of Reading: Tip #7 - Stocking Your Baby's Bookshelf, Part 3

When looking for books for baby, don't forget about the library! The books there are FREE. What could be better than that?

When you search for a title on Google Books, you can either choose to preview the book, purchase the book or find the book in a local library.

Many libraries also have story times for babies, and even if your baby is still tiny, he can benefit from listening to the story as well as the language exchange among the adults you will encounter there.

My advice is to purchase a few favorites for your baby, and use the library to keep a rotating stock of novel stock of rotating titles. This will keep you BOTH from getting bored!

Here are some books we have currently on loan from our local library:

365 Days of Reading: Tip #6 - Stocking Your Baby's Bookshelf, Part 2

HauteLook is another website where you can find surprisingly good deals on high-quality children's books. You might be surprised, but HauteLook is NOT just for clothes & make-up! There is a whole section just for kids, including toys, puzzles and books.

Random House has held several events on HauteLook, and they're not the only publisher you can find there. Another perk of HauteLook is that you get the best of the best there - all brand new, all high quality, popular books. It's a lot easier to shop for great books there than on other discount sites.

Here are some of the books that are currently featured on HauteLook's Random House event!

365 Days of Reading: Tip #5 - Stocking Your Baby's Bookshelf, Part 1

When you are expecting a baby, it's easy to go crazy spending thousands of dollars on 'stuff'. But once baby arrives, you will soon realize how the money and the clutter can add up!

To save your sanity, create a wishlist on a website such as Amazon and fill it with classic and contemporary children's books. Then, when caring friends & family ask what kind of things baby needs or would like, you can send them a link & let them choose. It will cut down on toy clutter, help with noise reduction (imagine a play room filled with VTech toys - egads!) and you can save your money for the college fund.

Also, don't forget - books are the gifts that keep on giving! Many books that appeal to babies continue to be favorites all the way up through early elementary school. Here are some examples:

365 Days of Reading: Tip #4 - Position Your Baby to Read

The title of this post is so lame, but I couldn't think of anything better! Sorry! :D

There are several different positions you can use to read to your baby.

• Cradle your baby in one arm, and hold a book in the other arm. This works well with small board books with sturdy pages that can be turned single-handedly.
• In a sitting position, pull your knees up toward your chest. Lay your baby vertically on your thighs so he is facing you (his feet will be kind of propped on your stomach). Hold the book with one hand and turn pages with the other. You can also use your free hand to point out interesting text or pictures in the book. This works well with larger books or books with lots of illustrations that you want to discuss. 
• Sit your baby in his bouncer or swing, then sit or lie next to baby and read that way. This gives you two free hands to handle the book. 
• During tummy time, lay down next to your baby and flip through a book together. This works best with soft cloth books, since there are no sharp or hard edges in case baby becomes fatigued and needs to lay his head down.
• A wonderful way to read books before bedtime is to lay down on your bed together on your backs. (Never leave your baby unattended on an adult bed, of course!) Hold the book over you so you can both share in viewing the text & pictures together.

365 Days of Reading: Tip #3 - Singing? Yes, That's Literacy, Too!

Ok so Hurricane Irene kind of threw me for a loop, and I am just now getting back into my routine! I missed several days of posting BUT...I think I'll just pick up where I left off instead of scrambling to do a bunch of posts in one. So here we are at Tip #3!

Singing is a great way to build your baby's language skills - they listen closely when you use a sing-song tone, they love to smile back at you as you sing a cheerful tune, rhymes help them to learn about sounds and it introduces words into your daily 'conversation' that you might not normally use! Some of my son's favorite books as a baby were simply illustrated versions of songs.

There are lots of books based on songs to choose from, but I especially liked this series of interactive storybooks that will get your little one's hands moving, too:

365 Days of Reading: Tip #2 - Good Readers Need Good Eyesight

I started thinking tonight about my pledge (to myself) to do 365 consecutive posts with literacy tips, and wondering how to distribute that among different age groups. Most kids start reading around age 5 or 6 (some earlier, some later, of course), so if I'm writing tips on how to help your child become a reader, then that means most of my tips should apply to kids from birth to age 5 or 6. So that means about 60-70 posts for each year...anyway. Suffice it to say that I decided to stick with newborn & baby tips for a few more posts!

In my last post, I mentioned a way to engage your baby's developing eyesight through exposure to high contrast, graphic illustrations in books. Eyesight, and the inherent ability to properly track print, is essential to good reading skills. Did you know that some studies suggest that as many as half (or more) of struggling readers have issues due to poor eyesight? It's true! (Click here for a related study in the journal "Vision Research".) Tana Hoban has created a series of dramatically illustrated books that engage your baby's eyesight with the two colors that he can initially detect: black and white! Look through these images with your baby and talk to them about what pictures you see and where baby sees these things in daily life. The high contrast illustrations and the conversation will help your baby's eyesight as well as his oral language skills (and these are BOTH keys to reading print later!).

365 Days of Reading: Tip #1 - Reading to Your Newborn

Sometimes I go through phases where I don't update as often as I should or would like to. So today I am going to start daily posts with tips for helping your child become a reader! These posts will be called "365 Days of Reading" and I will do my best to vary the age groups to which they apply. Here we go with Tip #1: You might think that it's silly to read to a newborn baby. All they do is snuggle, eat, sleep & poop, right? Well, take advantage of all that snuggle time and read longer books to them with eye-catching, high-contrast illustrations. This will help to develop their eyesight AND their attention span. Robert McCloskey has several GREAT books that fit this type!

Zoozical

by Judy Sierra

Something for the preschool crowd!

Follow the Line to School

by Laura Ljungkvist

This literary walk through a school day will get kids excited for the upcoming year!

The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School

by Laura Murray

More back-to-school fun!

Bailey

by Harry Bliss



Kids will giggle at Bailey's antics as he heads to school for the day! This is a great book for back-to-school. I will be posting more back-to-school themed books today and in the coming weeks, so stay tuned, teachers, kids & parents!

The Little Engine That Could

retold by Watty Piper



We borrowed this book from our local library last week and my son is COMPLETELY obsessed! I have to read it to him at least 20 times per day in order for all to be right with the world.

Oh the Thinks You Can Think

by Dr. Seuss



This book was recommended by a friend as another toddler favorite!