Yes I know, World Book day was AGES ago, however it has been a little busy here at Little Dreams Chelmsford and Colchester! The lovely Sarah from Little Story Shapers has put together the following blog for us, and it is too good not to share!
World Book Day is a wonderful day to celebrate with your little one but it doesn’t need to be all about dressing up or buying expensive costumes. Instead, World Book Day is about igniting that love of reading, making books come to life for our littles ones and enjoying some special bonding time together.
Books!
At Little Story Shapers, we celebrate books every day in class! We sprinkle ourselves with pretend imagination dust and jump into the wonderful world of story books. By giving stories an extra dimension, making the words jump out of the page, exploring it with all our senses and allowing our little ones to physically act out the story or have the world created around them, we nurture a love of books.
A love books is so crucial for our children because this is the first step to them learning to read themselves. If our little one’s love books, they’ll want to learn to read, they’ll have that desire, and passion for reading. If you’ve got a child that isn’t interested in books and reading, they’re less likely to want to pick up a book and start to learn to read themselves. So you’ve got a challenge from the beginning. Whereas if they love books, they’re going to be curious as to what the words say.
From a very young age, children can learn stories off by heart without actually reading but they get the sense that they’re reading and so there’s that amazing feeling of achievement. We can then build on that with their phonological awareness, which we explore in our older classes, and start introducing those letters and early reading skills.
The Benefits of Reading
With a background in primary school teaching, I’ve seen first-hand the impact that reading and talking to your child has one your child. When they first start school, it is very noticeable because the children who have been read to have been exposed to so much more vocabulary and have a deeper understanding of language.
The more words that children know, the easier they are going to be able to communicate their wants, needs, desires, knowledge and their ideas. Strong language skills under pin so many elements of learning. It also helps regulate their emotions, because they’ve got those skills to be able to talk about how they’re feeling.
Social skills are improved as they can communicate with their peers and make friends as well as improving their critical thinking skills and enhancing their creativity.
Lets get started TODAY:
It’s never too young to start reading to your baby. Check out these top tips for how to read to your little one so you can start reading straight away:
- Act out parts of the story to allow the words to come alive and jump out of the page.
- Read books that appeal to your child’s interests or a milestone they are working on to help make it relatable.
- Use books with flaps, feely sections, buttons or interactive elements to make books more engaging.
- Use funny voices to give your little one a chuckle!
- Make up stories so that you are in charge of the content and can tailor it to your child.
You can access the full guide which explains each of these tips in more detail and gives you book recommendations and extra advice.
Simply click the link to access your FREE GUIDE which can be located under the Parents section of Little Story Shapers website along with a whole host of other resources for you – 5 Top Tips for Engaging your Little One in Books
At Little Story Shapers, we nurture a love of books. We start your little ones reading journey early through our interactive, sensory storytelling and drama activities.
Each week we bring a new story book to life and our little ones take part in an immersive, interactive journey into the make-believe worlds of stories using sensory props, songs, sign language and heaps of imagination.
Classes are designed to support your child’s developmental milestones. It focuses on the importance of reading, builds their communication skills and provides you with the opportunity to bond together.
Our classes are warm and welcoming allowing you as the parent to get to know other Mums and build a support network.
Little Story Shapers have classes across Essex in Braintree, Witham and Chelmsford. Find out more about the classes here or follow Little Story Shapers on Instagram or Facebook.
Read more blogs on how to improve your little ones sleep here.
