In part one of this two-part blog series, we went over some basic themes parents can consider when it comes to helping reinforce their child’s reading skills. Reading development is one of the most important areas for children of all ages, and a combination of quality classroom learning plus strong reinforcement at home will put your child on the path to success.

At Smart Kids Development Center, our child care services include preschool and kindergarten classes where reading is one of the most constant and focused themes. What are some other ways that you as a parent can help promote and encourage strong reading habits and development? Here are several more to consider.

Let Your Kids “Catch” You Reading

As many parents are well aware, your children — especially at a young age — will often mimic many of the behaviors you take on. So if you let them periodically “catch” you reading a book, magazine or any other written document, it shows them reading is a common and fun activity you can enjoy. It also helps reinforce how important such activities are for self-enrichment and building knowledge.

Create a Specified Reading Area

If you have space in your home for this to be possible, you might also consider creating a reading nook. It’s the perfect place to have your child read to themselves, or with other children if you have purchased multiple copies of the same book so they can do so together.

Having this area set aside will help assure your children know reading is an activity that deserves special attention, and it will also give them their own personal space to return to for some alone time. You can also organize this area to have books, reading lamps and other things that are conducive to being a good reader.

Work Reading into Day-to-Day Life

Finally, there are numerous ways you can incorporate reading or language themes into your child’s daily life, including in ways that they won’t directly connect to “learning” or classroom themes. A few examples:

• When you’re shopping, bring your child with you and play a game with them where they read food and product labels to you. Based on the content, you can quiz them on some of the words they’ve already seen before so it helps reinforce learning.
• When cooking with your child, point out items you’re using and read off their labels together. When reading longer ingredient lists, have the child break it down into parts so they recognize how one part is being used to create a more complex product.
• While driving, have your child look for signs or signals that start with each letter of the alphabet in turn.

You can also make up your own activities here — the possibilities are endless.

For more on how to promote and encourage reading development in children even while they’re outside the classroom, or to learn about any of our child care programs, speak to the staff at Smart Kids Development Center today.