Earlier we discussed the best types of books for the youngest of readers: sturdy, visually appealing, and with a sensory component. As your baby grows beyond infancy and early toddlerhood, you can branch out your reading to draw your young preschoolers further into the wonderful world of books. If you’re lucky enough to have a preschooler who already enjoys books, you can take these tips to expand their reading horizons. If your child is more interested in playing than reading, then apply these tips to help pique your child’s interest!
Tip One: Choose Topics that are of Interest to your Preschooler
Got a kid who loves trains, cars, and anything that goes? Fortunately there are many, many books featuring vehicles as main characters!
I Stink, Kate and Jim McMullan
Perfect for little ones who look forward to garbage collection day, this silly book features a bit of gross-out humor (moldy meatballs, puppy poo, year-old yams) within a simple story, A-to-Z learning and a dose of garbage-truck burps.
Bus Stops, Taro Gomi
Filled with sweet, simple illustrations, the story features simple look-and-find lines that youngsters will delight in finding. Bus Stops takes the reader from the beach to bedtime, and is a great interactive and calming storing.
Cars Galore, Peter Stein
A fun, rhyming storing is coupled with zany illustrations will captivate any little one with a fascination for all things wheeled.
Tip Two: Search out Simple Plots
As your child grows older, look for stories with simple plots. For a two- or three-year old, plots start quite simple but build both expectation and familiarity, providing more satisfaction with the conclusion.
Little Gorilla, Ruth Bornstein
A little gorilla grows…and grows…and GROWS but is no less loved along the way.
It’s a Little Book, Lane Smith
You may laugh along with your child as a diapered donkey and gorilla explore a curious item, “a little book.” Donkey has some inventive ideas about what the book can be used for, but Gorilla know best: books are for reading!
Spot’s First Walk, Eric Hill
Complete with lift-the-flaps surprises, Spot’s First Walk takes young readers along on Spot’s journey, which comes to a very satisfying conclusion: a reunion with Mom.
Tip Three: Start Showing Sight Words
It’s not necessary to teach sight words until a child has fully mastered their alphabet, but selecting books with easy-to-distinguish words now will set your child up to absorb some sight words in the future. Their familiarity with a favorite book that is read to them often will help them begin to associate written words with pronounced sounds.
Hop on Pop, Dr. Seuss
A classic! A dose of wicked humor and rhyming couplets makes for a great first sight words book. Your child may be able to memorize some of the text, and may eventually follow along and “read” it with you!
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