Reading Aloud to Kids:
The 12 Benefits of Reading Books Out Loud
to Children of All Ages
©2015 Health Realizations, Inc. Update
Reading aloud to children is one of the most important things you can do to ensure their future success, and more and more Americans seem to be jumping on the read-aloud bandwagon. While only 78 percent of families read to their pre-kindergarten-aged children frequently (three or more times a week) in 1993, this increased to 86 percent in 2005, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and is important to continue increasing for the sake of your children.
Kids of all ages (and adults, too) benefit from being read to, including even babies and toddlers.
"Children are never too young to have stories read to them," says Nancy Verhoek-Miller, a specialist in early childhood education at Mississippi State University.
The benefits are so profound, and kids form so much of their intelligence potential during the early years of their life, that experts recommend reading aloud to your child as soon as he or she is born, and continuing indefinitely.
Why Read to Your Kids? Here are 12 Important Reasons
"The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children," a Commission on Reading report found.
In fact, reading is so important that a non-profit group called Read Aloud America is traveling to different schools to promote literacy, encourage a love of reading in adults and children, and increase children's prospects for success in school and life.
Their Read Aloud Program (RAP) brings together kids and families at host schools to stimulate their interest in reading, decrease television viewing, increase family time spent in reading activities, and connect the values of good books to everyday life. Although the program is currently only offered in Hawaii, you can gain the same benefits from reading to your kids at home.
Here are 12 of the key reasons to start (or continue) reading aloud to your kids today.
- Build a lifelong interest in reading. "Getting kids
actively involved in the process of reading, and
having them interact with adults, is key to a
lifelong interest in reading," said BeAnn
Younker, principal at Battle Ground Middle
School in Indiana.
- Children whose parents read to them tend to
become better readers and perform better in
school, according to the National Center for
Education Statistics.
- Reading to kids helps them with language and speech development.
- It expands kids' vocabulary and teaches children howto pronounce new words.
- Reading to toddlers prepares them for school, during which they will need to listen
to what is being said to them (similar to what they do while being read to).
- Reading to older kids helps them understand grammar and correct sentence
structure.
- Kids and parents can use reading time as bonding time. It's an excellent opportunity
for one-on-one communication, and it gives kids the attention they crave.
- Being read to builds children's attention spans and helps them hone their listening
skills.
- Curiosity, creativity and imagination are all developed while being read to.
- Being read to helps kids learn how to express themselves clearly and confidently.
- Kids learn appropriate behavior when they're read to, and are exposed to new
situations, making them more prepared when they encounter these situations in real
life.
- When read to, children are able to experience the rhythm and melody of language even before they can understand the spoken or printed word.
Editor's note: Below are recommendations from this article which are for general public. I would like to add a few recommendations for books that can be read to children that have a Sikhi element:
My Guru's Blessing: These are dual language books that you can read to your children which will imbibe spiritual values and Punjabi language. Click here to find these colorful and wonderful books for young children. You can also find many other comic books that will be enjoyable for slightly older children.
Journey with the Guru: Told in a way that your children will relate to and understand this series of books follows the life and journey of Guru Nanak. Click here to find out more about these high quality books that your children will remember.
SikhNet Audio Stories: Over 100 stories your children can either read or listen to. They are all available to freely download and come with at least one easy to print image for your children to color in. Click here to browse through all the stories.
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Top Recommended Read-Aloud Books Want to read aloud with your kids but not sure what to read? Here are some of the top picks out there for kids of all ages. | |
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Toddler Pre-Kindergarten / Kindergarten 1st/ 2nd Grade 3rd/4th Grade Wishworks. Inc. by Stephanie S. Tolan (2011) 5th / 6th ~ 8th Grade 9th -12th Grade |
Sources
Read Aloud America
National Center for Education Statistics
Evanston Courier Press
Mississippi State University
Reading is Fundamental
