The Importance of Books in the Early Years

On Thursday 5th March the children at ABC Pre-School, along with many other children across the UK and Ireland, celebrated World Book Day by dressing up as their favourite book characters.

World Book Day was launched in the UK and Ireland in 1997 and has become a yearly staple in many schools and nurseries. On it’s conception dressing up for World Book Day was intended as a fun way to help children foster a love for books and reading, however over recent years what was once intended as ‘fun’ has become more of a ‘trial’ for parents. High costs and time restrictions to create or source costumes has left many parents feeling stressed and overwhelmed and the true meaning of World Book Day has been lost along the way. As a result, many schools and nurseries have decided to ditch the costumes and have found alternative ways to celebrate the day.

At ABC Pre-School we decided that we would dress up this year. But whether you choose to dress up or not what should not be lost is World Book Day’s true intention which is to promote reading for fun.

While our Pre-School aged children may not yet be able to read, books are vitally important for early childhood development. Fostering a love of books from an early age boosts communication, language and cognitive development, improves attention span, enhances mental wellbeing, sparks imagination and provides a source of comfort and escapism. Early reading has been proven to strengthen brain development and improve academic performance later in school. Children who read for pleasure often exhibit better mental well-being, have better focus and fewer behavioural problems.  

Top tips to foster a love of reading in your child

• Establish a reading routine: Create a set time each day where you read aloud and enjoy books and stories with your child. Not only will it help your child to foster a lifelong love of reading, but it is a good bonding experience for you and your child too!

• Create a reading space: Set up a cozy reading space with pillows, blankets, cuddly toys and low shelves or boxes to make books easy to access.

• Let children choose: Allow children to pick their own books based on their interests. Even if they want to read the same one repeatedly, you may be bored silly, but this is what they have chosen!

• Make stories come alive: Use silly voices and use props such as cuddly toys and puppets to make characters come alive.

• Read everywhere: Keep books in your bag for long journeys or times where you have to wait, visit book shops and libraries.

• Connect to real life: Labels and signs are reading too, point these out when you are out and about in your daily life. Whether you are in the supermarket or at the farm, it all counts!

• Model reading behaviour: Let your child see you reading for pleasure. Books, kindles, magazines and newspapers all count!