Top tips: Encouraging reading at home
Research tells us that one important thing that parents can do to help their child’s education is to share books with them. This can help to develop a lifelong passion for reading and enjoyment of stories in their earliest years.
Parents will have a range of experiences of early reading and formal schooling and this may affect their confidence towards reading with their own child. To develop parents’ confidence and help promote reading in the home, see our tips on encouraging reading at home.
Top tips for encouraging reading at home
- Story telling sessions: Invite parents to join your storytelling session so they can see how you tell stories. Mix up your storytelling activities so parents can see stories indoors and outdoors and witness different storytelling options and activities. For example, dressing up and re-enacting a favourite story. This will help them to realise stories don’t always have to come from a book. Remind them that it’s possible to tell stories on a walk home from nursery as well as snuggled up at bedtime
- Stay and play: Invite parents to ‘stay and play’ sessions and model storytelling with children in a relaxed environment, where they can gradually build their confidence. Provide lots of books and story props around the room so that parents can have a go in a safe and relaxed environment. Ensure the practitioners are confident story tellers so parents have the best role models to observe
- Recorded stories: Record practitioners telling stories so parents who find reading daunting can share a story together with their child. If you have parents or staff members who speak other languages, ask them to record the story in their language so that all parents have a choice of languages to choose from
- Sharing library: Create a selection of books that parents can take home to enjoy together. Ensure there is lots of variety and that books are representative of your family groups, including dual language books where possible. Think about including special interest books that you create with the children, recipe books, story sacks or story stones and audio CDs
- Further learning: Display information on free local courses that support adult reading or literacy classes and signpost parents to them if they express an interest. You can find out about courses from your local college or adult learning centres. These can range from beginners’ access courses right up to taking a formal qualification. Ensure you provide information of any required financial outlay and any funding support so that cost is not a barrier to parents choosing a course.
Look out for our ‘Making reading fun at home’ next week, which will provide top tips for parents to try out with their child at home.
NDNA products to support you with this tip
Creative Storytelling in the Early Years – Online course
Disclaimer: Activities with children must always be risk assessed, including for allergies or choking. Children must always have adequate supervision. Resources and materials must always be appropriate for children’s age and stage of development.
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