Reading is one of the fundamentals of learning and development. Getting into the habit of reading from an early age is important and contributes to well-read adults later down the line. Parents sometimes worry about how to encourage their children to love reading, so here are six ways to help make reading fun for your children.
Why is it important to encourage children to love reading?
Before we get into the ways to encourage children to enjoy reading, let’s first talk about why it’s important to do so. One of the best ways to acquire knowledge is by reading. A child who loves to read can open doors of imagination and creativity. It encourages the love of learning, develops children’s brains, increases language skills and much more.
Here are 6 ways to make reading fun for your children
1.Read to them
Start reading to your children from the beginning. Even if you think they don’t understand, just read. Children love when their parents give them attention, talk and read to them. Make it a habit to cuddle in a cosy spot and read fun books to your babies, no matter how young they are. Babies understand more than we think. Besides, the more we talk to them, the more they learn and increase their vocabulary and understanding.
2. Make a reading corner for them
Make reading a fun task by creating a fun and cosy reading corner. Make a “I Love Reading” poster and stick it on the wall, put a comfy chair or couch and a simple or colorful bookshelf or basket. Rotate books as they read them and make it as their little personal library. Creating a designated reading spot for your children will motivate them further to want to explore books.
3. Get them into the habit of reading
Get your child into the habit of reading everyday as soon as they start reading words. You can even start with books that have a word per page and increase as they get better at reading.
4. Visit the library often
Get a library card for your children and visit at least once a week. At the library, get as many books as you can and make it a good selection of diverse topics. Creating such a routine will make them yearn for discovering more fun books and increase their love for reading.
5. Take their interest into consideration
When creating collections of books either by buying or getting them from the library, take your children’s interest into consideration. Get them involved in looking for books they love and help them select the ones that involve their interest. Get ideas and suggestions from family and friends if possible.
6. Get them reading apps
In addition to reading physical books, another way to encourage your children to read is by getting them reading apps. It could be audio books with or without text. Hearing stories being read to them is almost like you reading to them, but this time, without limit. It pushes them to use their imagination to picture the story, which would in return increase their creativity. That’s why at Curious Mumin, we focus on providing fun, authentic, engaging and diverse selections of audio books for Muslim children.
Conclusion
Books can be your children’s best friends if you create a space for them to enjoy and thrive in learning. With so many things distracting children and reducing their attention span, it’s more crucial today than ever to encourage our children to love reading.
