We’re a young parent with two young children and we read books three to four times a day for their naps and bedtime routines. It was even more when they were in the first few weeks of life when they need to nap seven to eight times a day. It’s safe to say that in the first five years of their life, we would already have read more than ten thousand books for them. You can explore book titles to read to your baby here.
It’s not the same as the first few times we’ve read it and I’m pretty sure your child zones out, too, when they have already memorised each line in their core memory. So you can say that when reading books to your children, you’ll need to spice it up to keep them interested again and again.
The good news is, that there are a number of ways to read books to your children and it doesn’t need to be reading all the time. We’ve rounded up a few variations on how to look forward to story times.
1 / Sing it, rap it, jazz it up
Did you know that there are popular books that can be sung as well? When we were reading Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton, we were initially rapping it for fun then discovered that there’s a real song version out there in the video-verse.
You can also sing Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See by Bill Martin Jr. in a country-inspired tune and the popular We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen.
2 / Draw it, paint it, illustrate it
Unleash the inner artist in you by surprising your child with a painting-slash-storytelling version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
It’s quite easy to do this if there are simple characters and linear storyline wherein you can reuse the same background over and over again, to be able to catch up in the storytelling pace. In this book, they’ve painted it in such a way that when the caterpillar comes out of the cocoon, it literally became a beautiful butterfly right before the children’s eyes. Amazing!~
3 / Flannel Board Storytime
One of my favorite ways to tell a story to children is by using felt prints on a flannel board. We’ll usually do this while waiting for parents to pick-up their children at the early learning center and by that time, it’s really late and they’re usually tired from all the playing outdoors.
We’ll gather everyone together and sit at the carpet in the piazza, do some games, eat late snack and go through the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar using printed felts. The felt prints stick in the flannel board and children can also hold them after each story scene when the felt parts are no longer needed.
4 / Story Stones
Similar with felt prints, we can make story stones to make the characters pop out of the books and more real to children. It’s easy to make them at home using flat, smooth stones and decoupage.
Simply print some characters, cut them out, and apply decoupage on top. If the stones will be placed outside, make sure that you use a decoupage that is weather-resistant.
5 / Nature Finds
I love telling stories and what more when I can bring in some props for children to touch and explore with their senses. One of my favorite books with my toddler is Stick and Stone, which is a book about finding friendship and strengthening it despite adversaries and bullies. For this story, I’ll have a smooth stone, a stick, and a pinecone with me.
I love to cap bedtime stories with a song and you can explore here our favorite hits.
Another story that is visually stimulating with props is the story about The Three Little Pigs. Even if I don’t have the pegs to represent the pigs, what’s really important is to have some straw, sticks, and stones ready. You can also demonstrate how to make simple houses or structures based on these materials. While reading the story, you can huff and puff and blow the houses down to illustrate to children how these materials work. That’s a good engineering book right here. See more of this in our expert advice at The Genius of Play.
Get ready for smoother days~!
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