An Age-By-Age Guide
Ages 0-1
All children, regardless of age, like to be read to and it’s never to be early to nurture a love for books.
Choose Board Books.
Don’t worry if your child wants to chew the books, soon the pictures will catch her fancy.
Let Her Feel.
Get some textured books and let her run her fingers over the pages. It stimulates her senses.
Go For Faces.
She’ll like looking at people’s faces. Interest her with such books.
Nursery Rhymes.
Get playful and silly and read nursery rhymes with expression.
Talk, Talk, Talk.
Talk about everything in her world and introduce words in a fun way.
AGES 1-2
Your child’s vocabulary is expanding fast just by listening to you talk and read to her.
Make Stories A Part Of Her Routine.
Snuggle up in bed every night with a book. Soon she’ll associate bedtime with story time and will refuse to sleep without a story.
Read It Again.
Children like to listen to the same story and may even ask you to read it again.
Point To The Pictures.
Refer to the pictures and say the words. You can even make it personal by adding your child’s name.
Bring It Along.
Keep her favourite book in your bag ready for those waiting times in the bus, car or store.
Read Her Squiggles.
When she writes, read her scribbles like words and give her sense of creating words in print.
AGES 2-3
Your child is learning new words at amazing speed. She’ll soon string words into sentences with surprising ease.
Make Frequent Library Visits.
Make it fun to return books via the book-drops, and get her to pick what she likes.
Storytime Fun.
Also check out story time schedules at the National Libraries at www.nlb.gov.sg. There’re also wonderful storytelling sessions at Borders bookstores. Your child will enjoy listening to stories with a group of kids.
Get Books With Rhymes.
It helps her become aware with phonemes and build word families. Let her form words that end with ‘at” and see how many she can form.
Select A Favourite Character.
It’s perfectly fine to pick books related to TV shows. Does she like Barney? Then, capitalise on her interest and read Barney stories.
AGES 4-5
Your child is making connections everyday between stories and the world around him.
Keep Books With In Reach.
Let him build his own library at home with his favourite collections. Sort them into categories such as Disney books,Ladybird books, and let him take pride of his books.
Treat Him To A Story.
Did he share his toys with his friends today? Then reward him with an extra story at bedtime. This encourages a positive attitude towards books.
Make A Book.
Become a scribe for your child and put a book together, with his own writings and drawings and staple them together. Let him be the author and see him beam with pride.
Read Everything.
Read comics, poems, magazines, children’s books or even instructions on toy boxes and engage him in the world of print.
THE BOOK LIST
We asked Arati Anand, age 7, to pick her list of favourites for budding readers. These are her picks.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. A beautifully illustrated
tale of a caterpillar which eats its way through the book as it becomes
a butterfly.
Duck on a Bike by David Shannon. Beautiful colours, wonderful drawings and repetitive words make this a big hit among preschoolers.
Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman. The illustration in this Caldecott Medal winner are adorable and makes a very entertaining read for children.
Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild! by Mem Fox. Written by an internationally acclaimed author, this delightful story is about a child who is a handful.
Big Al by Andrew Clemnts Yoshi. An endearing story about friendship.
Ruby The Copycat by Peggy Rathman. A hilarious read with very fun and colourful artwork.
When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang. This Charlotte Award winner makes an excellent talking point about emotions and feelings.
The Gruffalo’s Child by Julia Donaldson. This sequel to the story, “The Gruffalo” will enchant any child and make her want to read it again and again.
