Helping under-threes develop a love of books

Children need an enthusiastic mediator if they are to develop a love for books. Opal Dunn explains how to help under-threes build a solid foundation for literacy.

Parents and carers often feel overwhelmed by the size of the 'books for babies' sections in shops and don't know what to select. Choosing is difficult as most books are more suitable for walking, talking toddlers than for babbling babies.

Selecting books

Babies and toddlers need books to fulfil their potential and satisfy their innate desire to find out about their world. As boys' brains develop differently from girls' their interests differ; boys tend to prefer information books.

Book types include:

• Storybooks with rhyming or narrative text
• Information books
• Rhyme/song books introducing one rhyme/song or a selection
• Novelty books with interactive features - flap up, full tag

Photographs or coloured artwork are used as illustrations. Research on what younger babies see is ongoing, but it is evident that contrasts, and photographs of familiar faces and objects, are easily recognised during this period. Babies of five to six months giggle when they recognise themselves in the mirror and pore over homemade photograph books of their family and pets.

When selecting books, look at the illustrations carefully as this is what conveys meaning to babies and toddlers, and what makes them remember a book. If the text appears too complicated they may appreciate the rhythm, but understanding will depend on the way the adult talks about the pictures.

Taken from 'Page by page', Opal Dunn, Nursery World, 2 September 2004. From www.literacytrust.org.uk