The holiday season is gift-giving time for many families with young children. While we often spend a lot of effort deciding which toy a special child might enjoy, books are also a wonderful gift for that child! Here are some ideas for you about matching books with children’s ages and a fabulous list of suggestions from Reading Rockets.
Give babies a book they can sink their teeth into. Board and cloth books are perfect for babies to handle, throw, or chew on. They’ll have fun and you can easily clean them.
For young toddlers age 12 to 24 months, try sturdy board books they can carry around, books with photos of children doing familiar activities, bedtime-themed stories, and books about saying good-bye and hello. Find books with only a few words on each page, engaging visuals, and simple rhymes or predictable text.
For toddlers age 24 to 36 months, consider books that tell simple stories, rhyming books they can memorize, soothing bedtime books, as well as books about counting, the alphabet, and shapes or sizes. They’ll love animal books, vehicle books, books about playtime, pop-up books, and pull-the-tab books. Touch-and-feel books and books with humorous pictures and words will also be a hit.
For preschoolers age 3 to 5 years, choose books with simple text that they can memorize or read, counting books or other “concept” books about things like size or time, and simple “science” books about things and how they work. Engage little readers with books about things in which they have a special interest. Stories about children who are like them and who are very different, stories about making friends and dealing with the challenges of friendship, as well as books about going to school will help them to mentally prepare for entering kindergarten.
The list of Imagination Library books mailed in 2017 may give you some ideas. And do take a look at this annotated list from Reading Rockets. Just looking at the titles and reading about the books will make you want to head out to the library or bookstore!
Happy shared reading and Happy Holidays!