Five amazing tips to encourage reading habit in kids

On my recent visit to my hometown, I attended a workshop on children conducted by the British Council. The theme was learning through fun. The events that followed were storytelling sessions, scrabble, draw and tell- unleashing imagination through illustrations. It amazed me to see that children were unaware of the incredible talent they possessed. The excitement of kids in storytelling or sketching their adorable characters from stories was a pure joy to watch. The council designed all the activities to strengthen a natural inclination for books in children.

Reading at an early age stimulates that part of the brain that helps in enhancing language skills. However, it is observed that in the initial years of school most children are not comfortable in reading books, but once they are asked to narrate stories or draw pictures, they unwind themselves. This is a way to say"hello" to books, a beginning of interaction with books where the role of adults is only to introduce kids to books and ignite a spark of reading........whatever they wish to.😊

Five amazing tips to encourage reading habits in kids/How to develop a love for reading?

Slow and steady wins the race. It takes time to build a rapport with books. Five amazing tips can really help with this challenge:

Start early

 I remember reading bedtime stories with songs and actions to my toddlers. Fairy tales play the best part to expand the imagination. But the narration must be interesting to arouse curiosity and boost imagination. Stories like "the magic pot", "the princess and the frog,"" Cinderella " are all-time favourites.

Role of pop-up books

 The bedtime routine, if constantly followed, brings children closer to books. Some day or other, they would definitely want to have a feel of fictitious characters or the objects described during narration. Here comes the role of pop-up books; the first touch of books with a lot of pictures. Let them handle these books. Their experience to flip 3-D illustrations, move hands over a butterfly or a boat or gaze a castle becomes a repeated process. The excitement is such that it leads to the turning of pages again and again and rereading. The kids might initially tear pages to hold the object of their desire, try to scribble through, but at least get familiarised with the concept of the book. These books are a treat to visualization and imagination. They are perfect for preoccupation and training kids to cling to one place and focus. What more could parents want?😊

Reading should be fun

Now is the time to clap for kids when they start reading of their own. For school going kids, stories must be informative with moral lessons. Comics, libraries, workshops, storytelling sessions play a vital role during this phase. Let them have fun with books and explore all options. Leave stories midway and ask them to complete .....fill in the blanks. They will contemplate and boggle their mind to come out with a new version. Encourage them to read from wrappers-biscuit, chips- new information leads to inquisitiveness and certainly new questions for parents.

Share each other's favourites

During leisure, adults must share treasured stories and vice versa the kids must be encouraged to narrate their choicest picks with actions. This will be the transfer of thoughts verbally, employing gestures, facial expressions and movement of finger, hands, and legs. This not only improves communication skills but also enhances vocabulary. It is a pleasure to visit one's childhood memories when kids are sharing stories of their superheroes or reading one's favourite authors.

Timeless journey of books

Selection of books and translations

There is immense satisfaction in being a spectator when kids choose a book of their interests. However, guiding them to select age-appropriate books is necessary. The universality of books cuts across the boundaries of countries and cultures. There are a plethora of translations of children's books from other countries. I remember reading Russian translations and admiring the works of Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy.

As responsible adults, we have to cultivate excitement of reading books at an early age. Also, see that it steadily converts into a passion and continues to adulthood. With increased internet penetration, e-readers, smartphones, and computers have made the content easily accessible and books are losing out to new instruments of knowledge dissemination. Despite that, we cannot imagine a world without books because bonding with books is such that we can sleep while still holding them on our lap.
Please share your suggestions...