8 Best Tips for How To Read Books to Babies for Language Development
One of the top recommendations new parents are told is the importance of reading books to children for language development, but what isn’t always mentioned is how to read books to babies in order to get the most out of it. While reading to your baby is going to be beneficial no matter what, there are several easy strategies you can use that will help maximize your baby’s language development, and ensure that your baby is getting the most out of story time.
Here are my top 8 tips for how to read books to your baby to help their language develop. Read to the end for a bonus tip!
Instead of reading with your baby’s back to you, read face-to face! Achieve this by using a boppy, resting your baby against your propped up legs, having another caregiver hold baby on their lap, or sitting face-to-face.
1. Read to your baby face-to-face.
Reading to your baby face-to-face, rather than your baby sitting with their back turned to you (i.e. when they are sitting on your lap), instantly enhances book reading for several reasons:
Your baby can see how your mouth is moving while you say the words, to help them learn how to say the words
Your baby can see your facial expressions, which will help them stay engaged, as well as have increased understanding and connection to the words and story
You have a better view to see what your child is looking at in the pictures, so you can comment on what they are interested in
Point to pictures while saying key words and describing the pictures, rather than reading all of the pre-written text.
2. Talk about what you see in the pictures while pointing.
When parents are told to read to their babies, they usually do just that - read the book to their babies! But especially with younger babies, it is not necessary to read all of the words written in the story. In fact, it can be more beneficial to simply describe the pictures, and say a few key words while you point to whatever you are talking about. This can help your child stay engaged longer, help increase your baby’s understanding of the words (make sure to label objects and actions in the pictures), as well as work on their pointing skills as you model it for them. As your child’s attention span grows, you can incorporate the “real” story that is written in the book!
Interact with the pictures, such as knocking on the door, “knock knock knock!”
3. Interact with the pictures.
By interacting with the pictures, you help the story come alive for your child, which can help increase their attention, engagement, and understanding. What does this look like? Knocking on doors in the pictures, pretending to pick up a drink and drink it, pick up food and eat it, pick up a ball and throw it, make your fingers walk up a ladder and slide down a slide, touch something hot or cold, pop bubbles in the picture… the options are endless! Comment on what you are doing, such as “knock knock knock,” “let’s drink,” “eat apple, crunch crunch,” “up up up, weeee,” “ow hot!,” “brrr cold,” and “pop pop pop!” Make it a routine each time you read certain books, and soon your child will be anticipating and then imitating your actions, and even your words!
4. Make sound effects.
Rather than just saying the words while you read the story or narrate the pictures, make sound effects for animals (e.g. rawr, meow, woof, moo), vehicles (e.g. beep, honk, vroom), and other environmental sounds in the book (e.g. sounds for eating, drinking, vacuuming, squishing, when someone is sleeping “shhh” or cold “brrrr”). Babies often imitate sound effects before words, so this is a good opportunity to model plenty of sound effects in order for your child to work towards imitating them, and then eventually making them on their own!
Making sound effects and varying your tone of voice will increase your baby’s engagement in book reading.
5. Vary your tone of voice.
Talking to babies comes naturally to some, while to others it’s a whole new experience to figure out! Reading to a baby is not the same as being called on to read out loud in class back in the day (i.e. baby’s don’t want a monotone story!). By varying your tone of voice to emote what is happening in the book, it will increase your baby’s engagement and understanding of the story. This can include using different tones for characters when they are excited, upset, angry, happy, scared, confused, or whispering, and can also include using different voices for characters in the story!
6. Read repetitive stories.
Stories that are repetitive are great for learning. By hearing words over and over again in a story, it helps solidify your child’s learning. With stories that have repetitive phrases, it causes predictable language that your child will begin to anticipate. This means that once your child is starting to say a few words, you can try leaving off the last word of one of the repetitive sentences, and see if your child can fill in the last word! (Learn more about cloze phrases here).
Here are some of my favorite repetitive books for babies:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown (Author), Clement Hurd (Illustrator)
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Helen Oxenbury (Author), Michael Rosen (Author)
Five Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed by Eileen Christelow
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? by Bill Martin Jr. (Author), Eric Carle (Author)
Are You A Cow? by Sandra Boynton
The Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen (Author), Dan Hanna (Illustrator)
Pete The Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by James Dean (Illustrator), Eric Litwin (Author)
Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes by James Dean (Illustrator), Eric Litwin (Author)
7. Read the story again and again!
Repetition is great for babies, that’s how they learn! By reading the book again and again, your baby will learn to understand the words and the story (here’s the research to prove it!). Children are also much more likely to attend for longer if they are interested, so if your little one keeps choosing the same story, go ahead and read it again!
8. Refrain from asking your baby many questions during the story.
Asking questions is a great what to check for comprehension and other language skills, but when babies are still learning to talk, it can feel frustrating for them to be asked so many questions that they are not yet able to answer (e.g. “What’s this?” “What’s the boy doing?” “What does the cow say?”). Instead, stick to the strategies discussed above, including describing pictures, interacting with the pictures, and using sound effects to encourage your baby’s language. You can start to ask some simple “where” questions once your baby is starting to point (e.g. “Where is the doggy?”). It’s best to wait to ask questions that require a verbal answer until your child is starting to say a variety of words, or imitating frequently so you can give them choices or the answer to imitate if they can’t answer on their own. It’s also best to stick to the Three Statements to One Question Ratio, so you’re not overloading your child with questions. If you do ask questions before your baby is talking, model the answer for them after you ask the question (e.g. “What does the cow say? …Moooo”).
Bonus tip!
Read lift-the-flap books.
Lift-the-flap books can help pique your baby’s interest and make them more engaged in the story, as it makes it more interactive for them. Apply the same strategies from above, such as interacting with the pictures (e.g. knocking on doors), making sound effects, and reading face-to-face. Here are some of my favorites:
Spot Goes To The Farm by Eric Hill
Toes, Ears, & Nose by Marion Dane Bauer (Author), Karen Katz (Illustrator)
Baby Loves Summer by Karen Katz
Where is Baby’s Puppy? by Karen Katz
Tuck Me In by Dean Hacohen and Sherry Scharschmidt
Open the Garage Door by Christopher Santoro
Happy reading!
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