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Babies, Toddlers and Preschoolers

Sharing Books with Preschoolers

What are the benefits of sharing books with Preschoolers?

Reading with your child helps to lay the building blocks for independent reading later on and is a wonderful experience for parents to share with their children.

  • Shared reading promotes bonding and communication
  • Children learn important skills such as how to hold a book, turn pages and reading words from left to right
  • Books expose children to a wide variety of ideas, words and concepts
  • Spending time with you and books helps to build a lifelong love of reading

How do you share books with preschoolers?

  • Ask your child to tell you about the pictures and make predictions about what will happen next
  • Encourage your child to retell parts of a favorite story or one that has been read several times
  • Allow your child to participate by selecting the book, turning pages and offering repetitive phrases
  • Use expression and vary tone to bring the book to life
  • Draw your child's attention to print by examining unique, large or expressive fonts

Choosing Books for Preschoolers

Look for books that have . . . 

  • predictable stories and plots
  • silly books that play with words
  • simple information books
  • stories that are easy to retell
  • themes that are interesting to your child
  • topics about the world around them
  • alphabet, numbers and counting