Tips to Make Your Kids Fall in Love with Books

There might be many articles already dwelled on this topic. However, I encourage myself to share some of my real-life experience in making my daughter loves books. Hopefully, it is useful.

Find attractive books

Books are available in many forms nowadays and various kinds of materials. Singing books or read aloud books where you can hear the book talk or making noise when certain button in the book is pushed, and also picture books are usually attractive for preschoolers. Older children will usually love pop-up books or lift-the-flap books. You can even introduce books to babies. Books for babies is rather different, it has no word in it, just pictures in cheerful color and usually made of plastic, fabric or board paper. My daughter loves her fabric books very much because it feels so soft and she can even make a hat out of it. The book gives my dauther the feeling of joy in touching and turns the pages open and shut.

Books, books, books everywhere

Make the book available amongst your children's toys, in bed, in the stroller, in the car, in the living room, and even in the bathroom. Make book only an armed reached from your children. A plastic book in the form of animal always accompanies my daughter when she is taking a bath. It made the bathing activity more fun and the book can make her stay in the bathroom as long as necessary so I do not have to have her running all over the house with shampoo still all over her head.

Be a book lover yourself

It sound easy, but finding time to read for your self and showing your children that you are a passionate reader yourself is rather tricky sometimes. Commitment is the most important. Please dedicate some of your spare time to read with your children. Make reading a daily habit in your family. If you and other grown ups in your home loves book, your children will eventually be a book lover themselves.

Read aloud with your kids

Book reading before bedtime is one of the cherished moment between me and my daughter. Do read with passion, use different tones, different voice, and different faces when you read to your children. Let your children decide which book to read and let them turn the pages.

Play a poetry CD

I happened to buy a CD containing a collection of poems for children. Surprisingly, my daughter loves it. In a few minutes I saw her trying to mimic the reader of the poems. Soon afterward, she asked me to read her books with rhyme, after digging her collection of books; I find Winnie the Pooh weather story book series. She just loves it very much hearing me reading the rhyme of the books.

Built your own library at home

Teach your children to treat books with care. Dedicate a room or some space in your home to keep your children's books collection and yours. If your children treat the book with good manner, they will appreciate what is inside it.

Let your kids pick up their own books

When you visit a library or go to bookstore, let your children pick their own books. Do not discourage them, even if they choose comics books or some literary serious book which you think is too difficult for them. Off course you have to ensure that the book chosen is appropriate. Do not forbid your children to choose books which interest them because reading should be fun, although you may encourage them to pick other books.