Benefits of Reading to Children
According to Raising Children, an Australian website, reading and storytelling with babies and children promote brain development and imagination, develop language and emotions, and strengthen relationships.
More specifically, reading to a child can
- help a child get to know sounds, words and language, and develop early literacy skills
- learn to value books and stories
- spark a child’s imagination and stimulate curiosity
- help develop a child’s brain, ability to focus, concentration, social skills and communication skills
- help a child learn the difference between "real" and "make-believe"
- help a child understand new or frightening events, and the strong emotions that come with them
- help a child learn about the world, their own culture and other cultures.
The Raising Children website provides numerous helpful suggestions related to creation of the reading experience for children: https://raisingchildren.net.au/babies/play-learning/literacy-reading-stories/reading-storytelling.
All of these specific observations intuitively make sense. Surely, the time spent reading with a child can strengthen a personal bond and communication channel between the reader and the child simply by engaging in the personal interaction of reading and exercising oral communication.
Bonding and communication might further be enhanced by discussing topics that arise in the context of story-telling.
Reading together is another variation on the same theme that might emphasize language skills.
I have never met a child who does not enjoy listening to a good story.
Perhaps, some adults might enjoy the benefits of listening to a good story read by another adult with the same bonding and communication benefits described above that relate to children.
For the purpose of facilitating the reading experience for children, I have written The Tale of a Turtle Who Learned a Good Lesson and The Untold Tale of Grandpa Salamander to provide an opportunity for parents, teachers, caretakers and children to communicate and interact with each other by reading together and discussing topics suggested as the stories unfold.