10 Reading Benefits Grow Children Strong Mentally and Emotionally Amy Smith, October 17, 2017March 5, 2023 10 Reading Benefits That Strengthen Children There are many reading benefits your child will experience but not ALL of them are educational benefits. Reading out loud to your children plays far more of a role than just entertainment! Have you ever taken the time to think about what those benefits are? 1. Stimulates Children’s Minds and Imagination It has been said that a human cannot create an image in their head without once seeing it before. Everything we see and hear helps build our library of photographs in our minds. A child can take the faces, the stories, and the objects they see and hear about and put them into another story. Reading books gives a child the ability to imagine and learn! 2. Gives Children a Better Understanding of the World Life inside your child’s bubble isn’t the only life out there. As parents, we are to shelter our children from being exposed to the “bad things,” but not everything away from their home should be hidden from them. By reading books, your child can learn about different cultures, hobbies, jobs, foods that you may cook, and even animals that may not live in your hometown. Explore the world and what it has to offer through books. 3. Gives them a Good Foundation for Learning to Listen Listening is a forgotten character trait. Many people are more interested in being the center of attention; therefore, “listening” goes out the window. Reading books with your child is one of the best non-confrontational ways to encourage your children to be good listeners! 4. Helps Develop Language Skills Age-appropriate books will broaden your child’s vocabulary. Since most children’s books have illustrations, it is easier for a child to grasp what the words mean! 5. Provides a Positive Bonding Experience Many parents, like myself, read to their children with their child either on their lap or sitting beside them so they can see all the pretty pictures. The gift of time, especially when mixed with physical contact, allows for an intimate time between a parent and a child. 6. Opens Communication on Life Topics Books can be a great conversation starter when a child is dealing with struggles. 7. Creates a Routine Children may not act like it, but they need and want structure. Structure makes a child feel secure. If they know that every night before bed, they get a particular time reading before bedtime, prayers, hugs, kisses, and getting tucked in, it will help them feel more secure and more loved. 8. Calms Children Before Bed Creating a positive mindset immediately before bed gives a child peace and happy thoughts to go to sleep leaving less room for bad dreams. 9. Teaches Them Cause and Effect Almost every story has a cause-and-effect teaching moment within it. When your child makes a wrong decision, the consequence is negative. Explaining cause and effect can be difficult for a child to grasp, but when you compare it to a storyline, they will better understand how the decision caused a reaction. 10. Begins and Masters Letter Recognition and Phonics A lot of parents think their child will only look at the photos. Wrong. Their little minds are hungry for learning at the early stages of life. Children soak in a lot by observation. Learning their letters, numbers, and even beginning to recognize certain words, will happen if you read to your child daily… primarily if you are pointing them out as you read. I try to move my finger below the words as I read so that my daughter can put the word together in her head with the sound. There are a BUNCH of children’s books out there. Here are a few fun books that we are enjoying! Broadway Baby The Sound of Music – My Favorite Things Written by Walter Foster Jr. based on the song by Rodgers & Hammerstein Words to the song “My Favorite Things” broken down onto different pages throughout the book with illustrations to match each of the “favorite things” gives you a chance to get to know your child more. Ask them what some of their favorite things are. This board book is also great for little ones to stretch their vocabulary. Broadway Baby The Sound of Music – Do Re Mi Written by Walter Foster Jr. based on the song by Rodgers & Hammerstein I have a hard time reading this book without exaggerating the words into a song. To this day, I still LOVE this song from my childhood. Children can read, sing, and learn about musical notes. ABC Color Written by Walter Foster Jr. Learning colors is something all children take pride in but this book will push your child to learn some of the advanced color names. They won’t even realize their advanced learning but will take great pride once they have mastered these color names. Color names such as mauve, lavender, scarlet, turquoise, and fuchsia are among the many color names included in the book. A color for each letter of the alphabet is represented so they are learning the letters of the alphabet, as well! GOA kids Goats of Anarchy – Polly and Her Duck Costume Written by Leanne Lauricella Sometimes helping a child understand the hard things in life can be difficult for us as parents. For me, assisting children in adapting to their new homes when they come into foster care is something I strive to succeed at. This is one of those resources that I am thankful I have found to be able to share with children as they come into our home scared and feeling out of place. Polly, the goat, finds herself in a home full of ducks. It is a story of finding love, acceptance, a family, confidence, and real friendship. Great book for any child struggling with the need to feel accepted but especially for foster and adopted children! I Love a Book Written by Joe Rhatigan This is a great book to excite your child about reading. It encourages children to know that reading is FUN! The colorful illustrations will keep your little ones gazing at the pages, anticipating the next page. Give the gift of reading to your child today and check out these books and more from Quarto Knows! Share on FacebookTweetFollow usSave Parenting Tips Reviews Bookschildren's booksEducationquatro booksreading
For fun play and learning Broadway Baby The Sound of Music would be just wonderful for all of my grandchildren.
I have grandchildren that definitely would like the amazing GOA kids Goats of Anarchy all of the time.
My 5 year old granddaughter has gone through a lot lately. Divorce and some very, very inappropriate behavior by the babysitter’s husband. She is starting counseling this week. Books help her relax and forget for a moment what she has been through.
I am a huge bookwork and have been ever since I was a kid, I give thanks to my dad for that! Now that I have three littles of my own, I definitely want to have as much reading time as possible with them!
I think its so important for all parents to know that reading is so so important, even if you only have ten minutes, read to your child. @tisonlyme143
I think reading to kids from the beginning will start an open door for them to enjoy reading for the rest of their lives. It can take them places they never imagined and let them learn about fiction and all the other mysteries they can find in a book.
I watch my grandchildren on a regular basis and reading has been part of the routine from the beginning. I can’t imagine not having our reading times and books.
I agree that it is important. Especially learning to listen, then the cause and effect. I really think children need both of these under their belts so-to-say before they even attend school outside the home. I know teachers appreciate it when children can listen all the way through without disrupting the class on a certain subject. Then if children know cause and effect they won’t be surprised if something doesn’t go their way because they weren’t behaving properly in class.