We understand that not all families have the same amount of experience with reading together. And that’s okay! By exploring the tips and suggestions below, you will be on your way to making reading aloud at home a fun habit enjoyed by everyone.
Make Reading Fun
Set aside a regular time to read together, making sure to select a book that everyone can enjoy.
Create a comfortable, distraction-free environment so you can snuggle up and get into the story together.
Use different voices, make sounds, and vary your pacing as you read. Encourage curiosity and questions about the book. Above all else? Have fun!
Did you know?
Young children learn more from their families than in their school.
Each year, children spend 900 hours in school vs. 7,800 in their home and community.
Reading aloud to your children is the single most important thing you can do to help them succeed.
The family is a natural learning environment. Share your words and your stories with your children.
If every child were read to daily from infancy, it would revolutionize education in this country.
Richard W. Riley U.S. Secretary of Education, 1993-2001
THE IMPORTANCE OF
Literacy has a significant impact on a child’s future success. Studies have shown that reading aloud to children helps them listen better and longer, build bigger vocabularies, and feel positively about books and learning. Reading to children also strengthens the emotional bonds between the adult reader and the child, providing positive adult-child connections that are essential to a child’s psychological health and academic growth.
Scholastic’s Kids & Family Reading Report (seventh edition) is a national survey with findings that support key principles Read to Them emphasizes, such as the importance of parental involvement and children reading for pleasure outside of school. Here are a few of the report’s key findings:
More than half of children ages 0-5 (54%) are read aloud to at home 5-7 days a week. This declines to one in three kids ages 6-8 (34%) and one in six kids ages 9-11 (17%).
When it comes to being read aloud to at home, more than eight in 10 children (83%) across age groups say that they loved or liked it a lot—the main reason being it was a special time with parents.
More than seven out of ten parents of children ages 6-17 (71%) rank strong reading skills as the most important skill a child should have, and more than half of kids (54%) agree.
Three out of four parents (75%) wish their children would read more books for fun, and more than seven out of ten wish their children would do more things that did not involve screen time.
Half of all children ages 6-17 (51%) are currently reading a book for fun, and another one in five (20%) just finished one.
Nearly two out of three children (65%)—up from 2012 (60%)—agree that they will always want to read books in print even though there are ebooks available.