The Importance of Books at Home

Enjoying books and reading stories from a very early age is crucial in the development of children. Reading aloud and sharing stories with your child is a great way to spend time together, whilst also helping to promote your child’s language, literacy, brain development and to encourage their imagination.

Did you know:
”Children growing up in homes with many books get 3 years more schooling than children from bookless homes, independent of their parents’ education, occupation,
and class.”

Key facts:

• Reading a variety of books exposes children to a wide range of language features and vocabulary.
• Listening to stories assists in the development of literacy skills and language development.
• Creating a ‘reading culture’ and having a wide selection of books present in the home enhances a child’s educational attainment.
• Increasing the number of books in the home, even by one title at a time, has a great impact on a child’s learning and boosts their attainment in the first few years of school.

Home Learning Bags:

22 Street Lane Nursery supports the links between Nursery and Home learning, we encourage all parents to engage with every step of their child’s learning journey both within the setting and at home. To support home learning 22 Street Lane Nursery have created ‘home learning bags’.

Each bag has been carefully designed to support your child’s development in different areas of learning. Home reading is one of these areas. Our ‘story bags’ focus on activities such as song, rhyme and story time.

Our ‘story bags’ aim to help your child:

• Become familiar with sounds, words, language and the value of books.
• Stimulate curiosity, help brain development and spark their imagination.
• Learn the difference between ‘real’ and ‘make-believe’.
• Develop early literacy skills like the ability to listen to and understand words.

If you would like to borrow a ‘home learning bag’ for home please speak to your child’s key person so that they can arrange this.

Tips to help children enjoy books:

• Get comfortable! – Snuggle up together somewhere warm and cosy, whether it’s in bed, on a beanbag or on the sofa. Make sure your child has somewhere comfy to read on their own too.
• Make the most of rhyme and repetition – Books and poems with rhymes and repeated words or phrases are great for children to join in and remember the words.
• Be interactive Discuss what’s happening in the book, point out things on the page, and ask your child questions.
• Say how much you enjoy reading Tell your child how much you enjoy reading with them. Talk about “story time” as the favourite part of your day.
• Enjoy bedtime stories – Read with your children at bedtime as often as you can. It’s a great way to end the day and to spend valuable time with them.