Story time is often an important part of a family’s routine, it may be a bedtime story or an afternoon book, but it is easy to miss how important story time can be in supporting a child’s language development. Reading stories together with young children can help build vocabulary, comprehension, early phonological awareness, communication, narrative, and emotional language skills. Below are some of the ways that joint story reading can support communication.
Building Vocabulary
Books foster a range of different words and phrases and can assist children in expanding their vocabulary. It is also fun to discuss the pictures in books with children to support a visual connection of a word and it’s meaning – like looking at a beautiful insect with big wings and hearing the word “butterfly”!
Enhancing comprehension
Story time can nurture a child’s ability to understand and process information. As children listen to stories, they can learn to follow a narrative, which in turn can support their ability to sequence events, understand cause and effect and predict outcomes (which are all building blocks of coherent and organized language). Comprehending many different words in familiar and unfamiliar contexts can enhance critical thinking skills and are essential for reading and comprehension later in life.
Supporting early phonological awareness, phonemic awareness and literacy skills
Children learn early phonological awareness skills in many different ways and formats, one of the best ways for children to learn these precursors to literacy skills is through reading with adults! Books that are filled with rhyming words and phrases are great for supporting early phonological awareness skills. Books can support the identification of sounds, syllables and rhyming patterns. Children are also exposed to phonemic awareness skills throughout books! As children listen to stories they grasp the early fundamentals of literacy such as grammar, syntax and sentence structure. These skills are essential for reading, writing and academic success in years to come!
More than just reading!
Story time can be an amazing time to bond and share time that is focusing on exploring and engaging in an enjoyable activity. A love for reading associated with warmth, comfort and support from a parent or caregiver can foster a love for reading as well as a strong emotional bond. Reading can boost confidence, enthusiasm and imagination supporting many different skills and development!
Our top 5 tips for story time
1. Choosing books – try to choose books that are suitable and engaging for your child – we love the SPOT books for young toddlers as they are filled with pictures and are engaging with flaps and movable parts (we also love that there isn’t a big focus on words)! Try taking your child with you to the shops to choose a book, or if this isn’t possible, provide a choice of two books at story time for your child to choose from!
2. Engage with the story – Changing your gestures, facial expressions and voice can support story time and help your child’s comprehension of what is happening and the different elements of the story! It can also help bring the story to life and support concentration and attention to the story time!
3. Make the story time collaborative – Allow your child to take control of the story time – if they point to a picture or continually flip back to a specific page, talk about it! Provide language around what is interesting them or holding their attention – this will better support language can enhance how enjoyable story time is.
4. Create a reading routine – If you can, establish a reading routine, it can be really tricky to fit different activities in around your day especially with the demands of work and other family commitments, but putting aside 5-10 minutes to complete a story whether it be before bed, or just after lunch time can make a big difference in a child’s life!
5. Visit the library – In and around Australia, most of the public libraries complete story reading groups and activities using a range of different books and suited to many different ages – engaging in these sessions can be a fun way of learning language and engaging in the community! The library is also a great resource for finding new and engaging books for children – it can also support independence as children can choose books that they find interesting!
At Therapedia, we have provided some of our favourite books for story-time and language – these can be found in our online store!
Happy Reading!