John and I value the importance of reading with Scarlett. They say apples don’t fall far from the tree and they are not wrong on this one. Our daughter loves reading. She is literally obsessed with books. I suppose this is partly due to the fact that we started reading to her since she's a wee bubba. We have been reading a lot at home with her and tend to make it really fun when we do. We try to make it very interactive, funny, making up sing-a-long rhythms, make animals sounds and being silly with her just to capture her attention and she absolutely loves it. There's always lots of giggles when we read, both parents and child. Its so fun!
We learn that with little children, especially toddlers, everything has to be fun and exciting. Getting the right sort of books helps too. At this toddler age, selecting the right books is essential. Toddlers have very short attention span and they like to exercise their new found independency hence would tend to flip the pages themselves so board and flap books are great for this. Although I must warn you that the expiration date for a flap book doesn't last very long, especially when they enjoy it alot. And since they have short attention span, books with a one to two liner are most appropriate as with a long story book, you’ll find they lose interest pretty quickly and would scramble off mid reading looking for something else to do.
Sing-a-long books are great too and very captivating. Since toddlers tend to love music and songs, sing-a-long books are definitely amongst the favorite. You could put on silly loud animated voices and sing with them and be all goofy. This ALWAYS works. Scarlett LOVES this. John reads and sings to her in his silly voices all the time and she enjoys it. I learn that when it comes to kids, there’s no such thing as dignity. They are left at the door when we get home every day LOL
We also found out from daycare that Scarlett does the same with them too. She would spend hours on end at the book shelves rummaging through the books and fetching them books for them to read to her. I couldn’t be more proud.
We are quite lucky in Australia that we are able to get good cheap children’s books here. And because of this reason I have been buying a lot of books over time without breaking the bank account. I can say that Scarlett has her own little library at home. I have sort of started collecting them ever since I was pregnant. My mother and sister in laws also love giving her books and most of Scarlett's favourite ones were given by them.
It’s Ironic because as I was working on this post, I was reading on My Little Bookcase and they had an article or should I say blog post they wrote about 'Reading tips and how to choose the right books for Toddlers'. And what they wrote, they pretty much summed up what I have said above! And they also recommended a whole range of books for Toddlers and I spotted a few books that I’ve bought for Scarlett myself. So go and have a read and hopefully it would give you an idea or two about what books to get for your bubba!
Nevertheless, here are a few of Scarlett’s all time favorite:
Who doesn't love Spot! There's a whole range of Spot series out there and it's easy and fun read for Toddies
One of the classics - Dear Zoo. This was the first flap book given to her by my Sister in law. She learned most of her animal sounds from here as we made animal sounds as we go along. Awesome book although I must say the book is now very very used. All the flaps have gone missing :)
Another classic - Peter Rabbit touch and feel book. Very interactive and has lots of texture (fur fabric) throughout the book where kids could touch and feel while reading through the story. Very fun.
We bought this book at the bookstore on an impulse. I was paying for my book at the counter while Scarlett was screaming her heads off in her stroller. In need to, lack for a better word, shut her up, I grabbed the nearest kids book I could find, paid for it and gave it to her to stop her cying. It worked! And who knew it turned out to be one of her favourite too. She too, learned her animal sounds from here.
Three little kittens who lost their mittens is brilliant! Old time classic! Great book and Scarlett loves it when we put on animated voices when reading this to her. Lots of giggles.
My sister in law gave her this book too. John reads this alot to her and when he does he puts on his silly voices which is mighty hilarious. I always laugh alongside Scarlett when he reads this. So fun!
The wheels on the bus - Need I say more? Thanks to my Mother in law! Awesome sing-a-long book!
A good book to start with first words. Scarlett has not utter any word from here yet but she has made alot of animal sounds instead. When we point to the duck, she would immediately go 'Cla Cla Cla!' her interpretation of 'quack quack quack'. Too cute!
Hairy Maclary series! A classic kiwi children's book. A gift from John's Aunt Heather. There's a whole range of series of Hairy Maclary books you could pick. We had only recently started reading this book without her running off mid-way.
Hre's a short video clip I took of John reading a book to Scarlett. It's not a sing-a-long book but John made it up because Scarlett enjoys it. The things we do as parents!
Happy Reading!
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