Books, books, books... fairy tales, novels, fantasy... How many of them have there been in our lives and how many more will there be? Some people read to occupy their time, while others just love to read. Why do children need to read?
For as long as I can remember, I have always read books. In childhood it was fairy tales and numerous stories and adventures, now it’s classics and other similar literature. At first I read because I had to, for grades. And now I don’t understand how you can live without books. I was never forced to sit in front of books and read constantly; rather, on the contrary, they asked me to take care of my eyes (but this didn’t help much, I’ll tell you a secret).
Reading is important and necessary. Many mothers start their children while they are still in the womb. This is how we try to instill in children a love of books and influence their future development. After birth, we read before bed so that the child falls asleep faster. For children who cannot read yet, this is an opportunity to learn how to communicate with other children. Reading aloud teaches you to correctly formulate phrases and correctly express your thoughts, so after reading, be sure to ask your child to briefly talk about what he heard and learned new.
Eternal source of information
Reading is an important skill for obtaining information. Without reading books, we will not know, for example, when Ivan the Terrible was born, what DNA is, or why it rains. The book opens up a new, still unknown and huge world for the child. If children see books and reading as a source of information, then all the knowledge accumulated by humanity will be open to them.
It is important that the child gets acquainted not only with domestic, but also foreign literature. You can start with simple fairy tales. Grimm, G. Andersen and the adventures of J. Swift and M. Twain. This will help in the future to realize oneself as part of a big world that does not end with the boundaries of home and school.
Personal development
Reading provides an excellent opportunity to feel like not just a child or a student, it gives you the opportunity to try on the role of any character you like (for example, Tom Sawyer, Dunno, etc.). The child develops logical thinking: even adults, when reading a book, always try to guess - how will it all end? Even a simple riddle will increase children's confidence in themselves and their abilities. Why isn't it an important achievement? But how interesting it is to come up with the ending yourself at the beginning of the book, and then compare whether it’s true or not? I have friends who, as children, wrote their own endings for the books they liked, if they were somehow dissatisfied with the existing one. And it's not as bad as it might seem. The child builds his own logical chain and shows his vision of the world of the book and the world of the hero.
From books, children learn how important it is to help not only their parents, but also other people. Learn to respect people, animals and the environment. Books enrich a child’s vocabulary and instill correct speech skills.
Reason for mutual communication
Reading is not necessarily a solitary process. You can read a book with your child and have a general discussion, this way you will teach your child to clearly express his thoughts, listen to the opinions of others and develop communication skills with other people. You can invite other guys to such an event and arrange something like a mini-club for book lovers. This form of introduction to books cannot but interest a child.
If you want your child to read, set an example for him. If he sees that there are books and magazines in the house, then he will know that you value reading and will follow your example. The main thing is that there is no need to force reading, otherwise the child will perceive the process as hard labor, a punishment from which he wants to get rid of quickly. After such measures, your child is unlikely to want to continue reading for himself. After all, first of all, a book is still entertainment and endless hours of pleasure. It should be perceived as a pleasant activity, a source of interesting and useful information, and not an imposed necessity.
For the modern world of technology, where the Internet is everything, the ability to effectively use Internet resources and evaluate the reliability and value of the information found there is of paramount importance. Therefore, reading skill is so important, which develops the ability to think critically.
Don't worry if your child reads the same book several times. Children feel more comfortable when they already know the end of their favorite story and can tell it by heart. Reread your favorite books with your child, but slowly offer him new options.
What does it take for a child to love reading?
For initial reading, children need to have 5 skills:
- – be able to listen and recognize intonations during oral reading (expressive reading);
- – correlate what is written in the book with the sounds of oral speech;
- – know and understand as many words as possible;
- – understand and extract meaning from what you read;
- – be able to read quickly and accurately.
And finally, I would like to say: be sure to read with your child, discover new fairy-tale worlds with him and immerse yourself in the world of children's literature.
It would seem that what is difficult about reading? Each of us has been able to read since the age of five, and until now we have coped well with works of varying complexity. However, not everything is as obvious as it seems at first glance. Have you ever noticed that even if a book was interesting, you still can’t remember the name of the main character a couple of days after reading it?
The ability to read is not only about putting letters into words, it is about comprehending the meaning of what you read. Regardless of what you are reading - a scientific book, a work of fiction or an article on the Internet. Therefore, effective reading needs to be learned. We offer you 10 tips on how to read books correctly to get the effect you expect.
- Don't try to embrace the immensity
It often happens that, having happily bought several books, we put them on the shelf and never open them. And then we buy more and more books with beautiful covers, adding to the endless list of unread things. How to read books correctly? Don't buy too much at once. Better take one or two and finally read them. And don’t deceive yourself by buying expensive albums with high-quality illustrations - practice shows that for most people such books pointlessly gather dust on their shelves, remaining unclaimed.
- There's no need to finish a boring book
Some people think that not finishing a book you have started is a bad omen. Some people think that this is disrespect for the author. But there are so many interesting things in the world! Don't waste time on something you don't like - it will only reduce your motivation to read. Give the book, for example, 50 pages. Or 70. If you still don’t get the taste, put this one aside and take another one.
- Prepare to Read
It is always important to know who is writing the book, what it is about and why. Even if it's a tabloid detective story. Don’t be lazy and read information about the author, abstract, and a couple of reviews. If this is specialized literature, it would be a good idea to study the contents and afterword - they usually summarize the results and draw conclusions, which will help you decide whether you need the information presented in the book.
- It's okay to not like paper books
Not everyone likes paper books. A dislike for books and reading is not at all an indicator of low intelligence. There are many alternative formats, for example, you can always listen to a book (audiobooks). Preference can also be given to articles, codecasts, and thematic mailings.
- Use a pencil when reading
Want to learn how to read books correctly? The main rule is to use a simple pencil when reading. They talk about this at school, but not everyone follows the advice of literature teachers. When you “read with a pencil,” the process is more thoughtful and effective. You highlight the thoughts you like, comment on something in the margins, as if talking with the author, and not just swallowing his monologue. And thus you pass the text through yourself, highlighting the most important, interesting and useful.
- Reading less than 30-40 pages at a time is pointless
30-40 pages is about a chapter. A chapter is a more or less complete thought. If you read 5-10 pages and stop, you lose the logic of the story, and the rest of the chapter may become less clear to you. Try to read at least 40 pages at a time - this will not only help you read the book before you get bored with it, but also understand it as deeply as possible.
- Don't get stuck on one genre
Do you like detective stories? Great, but don't read 10 of them at once. Because the first couple of books will bring you pleasure, and the rest will seem bland because you are fed up with the monotony of the plots. Do you prefer non-fiction? Books on business or psychology? Alternate them with fiction or biographies of famous people. This will not only diversify the reading process and expand your horizons, but will also prevent you from getting tired of one genre, even your favorite one.
- Share your impressions
The best way to formulate your opinion about a book is to write about it. A special blog and an account on any social network are suitable for this. Your favorite quotes and comments in the margins will help you in writing your own review. You will evaluate the work again, remember your impressions, develop them - this will help you better remember what you read, and discussing the book with other readers is also very pleasant. And also - you will never forget what and when you read. At the end of the year it is interesting to take stock.
The following follows from this rule:
- You can always re-read your reviews
To remember details of a book or your emotions at the time of reading, for example. This is especially true for scientific literature.
- Discuss what you read
Discussion is not only a way to better understand the author, but also a great opportunity to learn how to formulate your thoughts competently and cogently. It is quite possible that after discussing the book you will discover something new in it that you yourself did not pay attention to.
I have often wondered: what are the benefits of reading together with a child? What is its main advantage? And the answer was right there on the surface. It is at the very foundation of our existence - it's all about love. It turned out that simply by reading aloud to your child, you can acquire and give love in huge quantities. And it's so simple! Although, I will not hide, at first glance it was thought that this was an incredible and titanic work. You touch a baby with your skin, you feel his skin on yours, you absorb the baby’s smell, and he, in return, absorbs yours. But this is the main component, especially at the early stage of child development. From an early age, a child begins to understand what your warmth and love means. Reading together, as it were, connects us with each other, binds us with bonds of love. A huge world opens up before a child when you sit with him like this, hugging him, holding his little hand in your hand and quietly reading a book out loud to him.
I often remember how much children enjoy chewing, eating and playing with books. Many of my friends began to scold the child, immediately take the book from their hands and threaten to no longer give them a beautiful book worth several hundred rubles. What is the child’s reaction to such statements? Yes, he immediately began to whine, and from above, dad also shouted at his new “hysteria.” And nothing surprising. This reaction is quite predictable. Mom took the most amazing and educational thing - a book! Where does the child then get the desire to pick it up again if he was just scolded for it? And if you think about it, the child still doesn’t quite understand what exactly he has done wrong to the book and to you personally.
Instead of scolding, rejoice! The child uses one of the best and available tools for learning books. Using your lips, tasting and smelling everything. This is all part of an early exploration of books (and the world around us). It's not that hard to be patient! Soon he or she will turn the pages on their own and respond to books with genuine joy, wonder, laughter and curiosity.
And so we moved on to curiosity about books, to looking at pictures and content. And then a question immediately arises. What books should my child read? The question is not an easy one. I go into a bookstore, and on the shelf in the children's section there are simply countless books. You can get lost - this one is beautiful, and the one with funny pictures, and the other one is replete with all kinds of musical and holographic material. And only from your own experience and having read a lot of literature on this issue, you understand that the child loves to celebrate the musicality of the language of rhyme and poetry. And in this regard, Russian folk nursery rhymes, ditties, and Pushkin’s fairy tales (for example) are very useful and very exciting for the child himself. My child immediately picked up on everything that was happening and began waving his arms, smiling back at me. We must not forget about the Russian classics of children's literature. Try reading Marshak, your baby will rejoice with you, and you will remember your childhood. Children love to learn, they love to open the hidden doors of books, in which they can reveal something new, something that gives clues. These are the first steps towards the correct perception of books in adulthood.
And don’t forget, kids love pictures. Illustrations are one of the most important components of books. And here new nuances were found. Did I know that the pictures in the book should be large, the animals, for example, should look as natural as possible (the bear should not look like a robot or a creature of unknown nature). And a picture that is not overloaded with details is perceived much better by a child than a book covered in 3D details for 1000 rubles. In addition, it is best for the baby to perceive the illustration and the content separately. For example, there is a bear on one side, and a funny poem about it on the other. There are such books. And they are easy to find.
I once learned that children are able to distinguish a huge number of natural shades, starting from the age of three months. I went to the same bookstore (and sometimes you can order it online) and bought cards with different shades of colors. And even if I didn’t understand their name, everything was signed there. This activity turned out to be so exciting and fun for the child that already on the second day she began to repeat the name after me, albeit not ideally. I call, and she repeats. We had a lot of fun together when we spent time like this. I didn’t spend a lot of time on this, and it’s probably not worth it. The main thing in reading together is to be systematic and not overloaded. Just 3-5 minutes a day. But every day. From a psychological and pedagogical point of view, this is very important. And the child develops comprehensive thinking, organization, and acquires new knowledge.
It is difficult to sit down your hyperactive child, and also to read. He can’t even sit for 5 minutes, so how can this miracle be performed? Surely many of you have had this problem. And the solution is quite simple and not at all unique in its essence. At one point I just realized - why should I fight with my child if I can play his own game. And everything went like clockwork. We began to turn the process of learning and reading into a game. Remember yourself when you were young and you will understand how much you didn’t want to sit in one place, you wanted to run, because you had more than enough energy, and a boring and uninteresting activity distracted you from the process more than it brought benefit. So how is my child different from me? Together you will be distracted and this seemingly tiring moment (but inside you realize that it is important) will be filled with love and care. And then everything can turn completely different.
At first we just looked at the pictures. Then they remembered what was drawn on them - whoever remembered the most details. Then they read individual words and looked for them in the picture. Then suggestions, - and so on... use your imagination to the fullest! Illustrate sentences or paragraphs or poems yourself - with surrounding objects. Draw (be sure to do it together). Demonstrate movements and sounds to each other...
My baby began to enjoy spending time with her mother and with a book more and more. And she herself, more and more often, began to ask to read.
OK. How did I decide when I should start reading with her? There are a lot of different opinions here, a lot of techniques known throughout the world. Let’s say that in Soviet times Zaitsev’s technique was very widespread. Who believed that a child should be taught to read from the age of two. But this is only suitable for kindergarten, for group use. I learned that a child’s brain begins to perceive information from the age of three months. And most of the knowledge acquired before the age of 3 is stored for life and develops certain abilities of the child. And at the same time, I didn’t start fanatically throwing away all the necessary and unnecessary information, a million books, etc. Let's remember what I said in the paragraph above. Well, if you are not sure that it works, that the information is really perceived, that the baby really understands what his mother is trying to read, tell and show him. It's easy to understand. For several months we read, played, learned. And when the game ended, she asked her on the street, in the store, at home - where is the bear or where is the tree, and where is “ovau” (that’s what she calls the oval) and the child consciously showed or tried to pronounce sounds, words... and soon clearly name objects, colors, etc.
And finally, a few useful rules:
When reading aloud to your child, try to hold the book at eye level with the child.
The book should be simple and understandable - it should not contain complex words or incomprehensible figures of speech.
Hold the book at arm's length
Don’t babble, but pronounce all sounds clearly, watch your diction
After reading or completing a task, be sure to support your child (how to do this in the video training)
Read with feeling, intoning, fun, funny, interest the child
That's all. Try and please your child, discover for yourself and for him the incredibly colorful and interesting world of books! And remember how much love and happiness you give to your baby.
Lively communication with a book that the baby “reads” with his mother is a significant step towards the development of his imaginative thinking and intelligence. A good book generously fills a child’s need for new information and gives him new experiences that will stay with him for life. With the help of the printed word, parents can find the shortest path to their child’s understanding of what kindness, generosity, nobility, and true friendship are.
Introduction to books from 0 to 5-6 months
Getting acquainted with a book is possible already at a very tender age (from 0 to 5-6 months), and it is better to start with children's poems and songs: babies feel poetic and musical rhythm very well. Not yet understanding the meaning of the words, they are already able to adequately respond to their rhythm and intonation of the mother’s voice: if the mother’s words sound playful and cheerful, the baby smiles; If mom speaks in a serious voice, he also becomes serious. This is how the baby develops vital emotions.
Toy books from 6 months to a year
From 5-6 months, the child begins to actively use his hands - he likes to touch various objects, shake them, and taste them. The time has come for the baby to become acquainted with toy books, which help develop his tactile memory and fine motor skills, which in turn stimulates the development of speech. A child can touch such a book, using his fingers to examine the material from which it is made, taste it and look at the pictures. This is how the baby gets his first experience with a book.
The illustrations in such books should be large, bright, preferably with different textures and, if possible, “talking”. For example, when you touch it, a cow begins to moo, and a dog begins to bark. And the mother should help the baby learn to “communicate” with them correctly: take the baby in your arms, leaf through the book together, look at it, press the sounding devices together and rejoice. Children under one year old are able to concentrate on a book for only a few seconds, so you can buy several bright books for a child of this age. They should be within the baby’s reach, then he will be happy to reach from one to the other. If you notice that your child's interest in books has cooled, remove them and offer new ones. After some time, the baby will be happy to look at the “old” books again.
Toy books can be with or without text. The text, in turn, should be small and rhythmic - for example, in the form of small melodious quatrains. They must be read in a chant manner and with well-defined intonation.
There are many such books on the book market now. When choosing them, among other things, you need to pay attention to whether the hygienic requirements for such publications are met. First of all, look at the material from which they are made - it should be safe for children, durable and, preferably, washable.
Books from 1 to 2 years
At the age of one to two years, more and more new words appear in the child’s vocabulary. The baby has to systematize them, comparing them with specific objects and remembering them in his own way. In order for a strong connection to form in the child’s mind between an object and its “name,” this chain must be repeated many times: “the object is its name.” And here again a smart, kind book comes to the rescue.
At this age, many children especially love books about animals. While studying them, a child may fall in love, for example, with a cat and for some time will not notice other animals depicted in the book at all. He will happily turn over the pages of his books again and again, looking for cats in them. This kind of “love” can be used to broaden a child’s horizons - for example, tell where the cat lives, what she eats, what her habits are. This is how the child develops his first conscious interest in the book as a source of positive emotions and new knowledge.
It’s time for a one-year-old child to learn short, simple fairy tales with endless repetitions - “Kolobok” (“I left my grandmother…”), “Turnip” (“We’ll pull, we’ll pull”) and others. Repetitions help the child better imagine what is happening and learn the meaning of what he heard.
At the age of up to 2 years, illustrations continue to play an important role - visual images and words gradually become one whole for the baby, and this is the basis for the development of visual-figurative thinking. Drawings from the first books help to form in the child an accurate idea of the world into which he has come. That's why books for this age should be well illustrated. And adults need to help the child connect the picture and text together. When purchasing the book itself or a collection of fairy tales and poems, pay attention to their artistic design. Books for children should contain a minimum of text and a maximum of illustrations. The most important requirement for drawings in books for young children is that the picture be large, colorful, picturesque, and most importantly, understandable to the baby. If the baby does not understand what is shown in the illustrations, he will lose interest in this book.
For example, when mom or dad read the text, they look at the illustrations for the text and ask the child questions like: “Who is drawn here? Do you remember we read about him just now?” You can buy a puppet theater, then you can read the text and at the same time show the characters of the fairy tale. For the same purpose, you should add books with three-dimensional pictures to your baby’s first library. While the baby's ears are listening to a fairy tale, his mobile fingers open and close the door of the hut, roll the bun along the path, and stroke the fluffy back of the fox. You just need to make sure that the baby’s actions correspond to the text being read at that moment - then the baby will better understand the content and will not lose interest in the reading process itself. Also watch the expression of his eyes and facial expressions. A child’s emotions will tell you a lot: what surprised, pleased, or scared him. After such activities, an observant mother will be able to draw some conclusions about the character of the growing child (how sensitive, fearful, receptive he is, etc.).
When you sit down with your child to read a book, do not forget to first create an atmosphere appropriate for this activity - nothing should distract the child’s attention from reading. To enhance the emotional perception of the text, sometimes you can play quiet classical music - select it in advance so that it matches the intonation of the work being read.
A child aged one to two years can look at a book for 10-20 minutes, but do not force him to do this, otherwise you will develop an aversion to books.
Reading from 2 to 3 years
A two-year-old child continues to master the world through imitation, so reading at this age should be accompanied by an image of the action taking place on the pages of the book. For example, mom opens her palms wide and moves her fingers, showing how a butterfly flies in, then puffs out her cheeks importantly and spreads her arms - clumsy Toptygin hobbles through the forest. In this way, a three-dimensional picture is built in the baby’s mind: he hears what his mother is reading to him about Teddy Bear, sees his image in the picture, and, in addition, with the help of his mother’s movements, learns what clumsiness is. Afterwards, the baby himself will try to portray the clubfooted Bear - at this age he really likes to be a “repeater”: jump like a bunny, wave his tail like a mouse, and break a testicle, and then cry over it like a grandparent...
By the age of three, the baby already speaks quite well and turns into a real why - questions pour out of him like from a cornucopia, including while reading. While reading a book, explain to your child all incomprehensible words and expressions, but do not overdo it. There is a funny example: a mother, who was explaining to her child what “tskotukha” is, went into such wilds that the child fell asleep without waiting for his favorite fairy tale. Read the text several times - children love it. When there are fewer questions, there is an opportunity to work on the content of what you read.
Coloring books and books in which images of objects are inserted directly into the text increase the child’s motivation to read: going from picture to word, the baby will try to “read” on his own.
At the same age, it is appropriate to explain to the child how a book is structured - why a cover, binding, and title page are needed. You can say that a book, like a person, has its own passport - the title page, its own style of clothing - format, a “talking cover” that tells us about the author of this book, about the title. Ask your child to describe in words what the picture on the cover is about and use it to guess what the book is about.
Children of this age love to reread their favorite fairy tales several times. Every time before your child starts reading, offer a different fairy tale, even if you are sure he will refuse. At this age, the child is overwhelmed by a crisis of contradictions, so you can achieve your goal by the opposite method: if you don’t want it, you don’t have to, then I’ll read to a doll or a bear. In a second the child will say: “Read to me too!” Children under the age of three, or even four years old, listen mainly to the melody of the text, poetry, and they do not reproduce the storyline well. And they learn to respond to text by looking at you. Therefore, show your emotions correctly and do not be afraid to read “The Cockroach” by K. Chukovsky to the little one: from the height of your life experience, this is scary for you. But for a child, this poem is nothing more than a cheerful performance with a cheerful rhythmic pattern. Children at this age do not complete the logical chain and do not think, for example, about what will happen to the wolves if they eat each other.
Children's books from 3 to 6 years old
In the period from 3 to 6 years old, a child quickly grows up, and his books grow up with him. Fairy tales by Pushkin, Andersen, Ershov, Volkov, Bazhov, and Russian folk tales are suitable for this age. To prevent your child from getting lost in literary events and images, ask him to retell what he read - everything in order, from the very beginning. This will develop his memory and logic.
A children's book is a harmony of text and graphics, text and extra-textual information. Don't forget about illustration. At this stage, it will serve as a practical guide in communicating with the book. The drawing should be designed for long-term viewing; the child returns to it more than once. The text next to the picture makes the latter “readable”. Looking at illustrations in parallel with reading helps to better perceive what you read.
At this age, a child can already perceive a work of art only by ear. For better perception, the baby should read it. And in order for children to accumulate not only information about characters and events, but also learn to connect the content of a book with its design and vice versa, you should definitely immediately after reading review each book you read with your children according to all the rules:
- first, the mother reads the text to the child “eye to eye” and does not show the pictures;
- Then we look at the cover together, then slowly turn the pages;
- we think about what is shown on the cover, distinguish between illustrations and inscriptions;
- We demonstrate the order of reading the inscriptions from top to bottom, highlighting the author’s surname and the title of the book among the inscriptions on the cover;
- We correlate the author’s surname with the child’s personal reading experience, and the title of the book with the picture on the cover
- follows expressively, correctly placing accents. If it’s difficult for you to do this right away, practice first.
By the age of 5, some children begin to read on their own, but this should not be forced - as a result of scientific research, it has been proven that until the age of 6, a child mainly develops the right hemisphere, which is responsible for aesthetic development, and only then the left hemisphere (mathematical ), which is also responsible for reading.
Parents who want reading to remain one of their child's favorite activities for life should take into account the following important points.
Firstly, one should take into account the psychophysical characteristics inherent in children of each age group.
Thirdly, instill in your child a caring attitude towards books. It’s good if the family initially treats books with reverence. At the very least, books should be kept in a specific place. The child should be taught from a very early age that a book should not be torn, it must be read or examined carefully - it is “alive”, it tells us many fascinating stories. You can introduce a tradition at home: “invite” each new book into the house as your most dear guest, “seat” it in a place of honor on the bookshelf among other book friends. Look at the illustrations for the new book, guess who or what the story will be about. A new book should be read only when the child is emotionally ready for it. Fourth, do not read hastily with your child, turn reading into a kind of ritual. The child can take a position that is comfortable for him - most often babies climb onto their mother’s lap. Place it so that you can see the baby's reaction. For the first time, read “eye to eye” without being distracted by the illustrations. Explain to your child that the book does not like to be interrupted. Then look at the pictures and ask your child questions about them, try to find out whether he understands what is being said, or if something is not clear to him. Be sure to explain what the child did not understand and read the text again.
Fifthly, in order not to discourage a child from reading, never force him to read, and do not look at the clock - be guided only by whether the baby is interested or not. Never shame your child (especially in the presence of strangers) for the fact that he has not picked up a book for a whole week - this can cause him mental trauma. A win-win option, as in many other situations, remains education with love: leafing through your favorite books in an embrace with a child, reading, distributing roles with dad, you can achieve a much greater effect than excessive severity and prodding.