Are you a parent of a child under 12 months or are you expecting a baby in the not too distant future?
If so, I would like to introduce you to Burnside Library’s Baby Chat and The Little Big Book Club.
Baby Chat is 30 minutes of songs, rhymes and finger plays for the Under 2s, 10.30 am – 11.00 am every Monday during school term. Best of all it’s free and bookings are not required.
The Little Big Book Club consists of a free early literacy pack for all babies aged 6-12 months. Simply present “Your Child’s Personal Health Record” (the blue book) to staff at the Information Desk. There is also a fantastic website with book suggestions for children aged 0-5 including monthly selections, visit www.thelittlebigbookclub.com.au.
Books to share with your children…Some personal favourites of mine:
Wibbly Pig series – Mick Inkpen
Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see – Bill Martin Jr
Families – Odette Ross
Hug – Jez Alborough
Dear Zoo – Rod Campbell
Owl Babies – Martin Waddell
Cuddle time – Libby Gleeson
The way I love you – David Bedford
The very hungry caterpillar – Eric Carle
We’re going on a bear hunt – Michael Rosen
Time for Bed – Mem Fox
Possum Magic – Mem Fox
Where’s Spot? Or any other Spot book- Eric Hill
Who Sank the Boat? – Pamela Allen
Green Eggs and Ham, Cat in the Hat or anything else by Dr Suess
Guess how much I love you? – Sam McBratney
Peace at last – Jill Murphy
Books for parents
These books offer tips, reading games and booklists:
Reading Magic: how your child can learn to read before school and other read-aloud miracles – Mem Fox (2001, Pan Macmillan, Australia)
The Reading Bug…and how you can help your child to catch it – Paul Jennings (2003 (Revised 2008) Penguin Books, Australia)
Reading with babies, toddlers and twos: a guide to choosing, reading and loving books together – Susan Straub and KJ Dell’Antonia (2006, Source Books, US)
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Books from Birth: My own experience and advice for other parents
As a children’s librarian I was keen to introduce my son Lachlan to reading straight away. I even read some Dr Suess to him in utero! Introducing a baby to books is such a privilege and can be so much fun.
My advice to parents is to start as soon as you can! You don’t have to wait until your baby is 6 months old even though this is often the age mentioned to start reading to your child. Parents may find reading to a child younger than 6 months frustrating as the child loses interest in the activity faster than an older child. However, reading to your very young child isn’t about finishing the book - it’s about the bigger picture of making literacy fun, so let go of the goal and savour the experience! Don’t expect every reading session to be perfect – there will be times when baby will get bored or want to pull the book away from you and put it into her mouth. Whether she’s tasting the book or using it as a hat the main thing is your baby’s happiness so she comes to associate reading time as a positive experience. Your baby loves the sound of your voice from before birth and talking to your baby regularly is a major part of early literacy. Reading makes talking to your baby natural and easy.
Read with expression, make eye contact and interact with your child, animatedly discussing the pictures as well as the text. Perform, don’t be shy, your baby is a captive, non judgmental audience. Bounce and tickle and sing as you pore over the pages. Make reading time playtime.
Australian author and children’s literacy specialist, Mem Fox suggests that if everyone caring for children read aloud a minimum of three stories a day to the children in their lives, we could probably wipe out illiteracy within one generation. Lachlan and I aim for the three, but often it’s just one or two and some rhymes – I believe every bit counts though and that it’s important to keep story time fun for both parent and child. There is no point trying to get through three stories if you are no longer having fun, it’s much better to sing a few songs or simply chat to your child instead.
So what shall I read with my baby? Anything! Read what you enjoy. Read what your child enjoys. Reading is fun not a chore and it’s not just about reading high-quality literature. Maybe choose some favourite stories from your childhood. Have fun before you have to bow to your child’s requests.
Choosing board books with minimal text is great option for babies under 6 months old. Some favourites of mine and Lachlan’s are Mick Inkpen’s Wibbly Pig series (we even have a Wibbly pig soft toy which serves as a lovely puppet for story time), Families by Odette Ross and Hug by Jez Alborough.
Have several different sized and type of books available for your child to explore. Tiny board books are great for your baby to handle and to throw in the nappy bag for when you are out and about, but they don’t contain stories and illustrations with as much beauty and depth as other picture books like Mem Fox’s Time for Bed and Sam McBratney’s Guess How much I love you? which are gorgeous bedtime stories suitable for any age.
Choose books with rhyme, rhythm and repetition like Bill Martin Jr’s Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?. Flap books are popular with babies. Try books in Eric Hill’s Spot series and Rod Campbell’s Dear Zoo.
Babies love photos of faces especially faces belonging to other babies. There are plenty of board books around which show baby faces, I have even come across an Anne Geddes one. You can also make your own book of familiar faces for your child by using photos of your child and family in a small photo album.
Cloth books, which may be cuddly and squeak, enable babies to learn the format of a book. A favourite cloth book of mine is Lamaze’s Discovery Farm, as the only words this book contains are animal sounds I share this with Lachlan by singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm while we “read”. This leads me to emphasise that songs and rhymes are as important in early literacy as stories. Lachlan is now quite a mover and shaker to music, songs and rhymes, thanks in part to attending Baby Chat at Burnside Library.
Now that Lachlan is 19 months old, I am overawed at how this foundation of early literacy experiences I’ve provided is already paying off. He quite often takes a book of the shelf and sits down on his couch to “read” it, he exclaims over the pictures, describing out loud what he is seeing. He has even started to read-a-long with me with some of his favourite books. Stories at bedtime continue to be a very special time, especially now that I am back at work and Lochie is in childcare, I swear that some great bedtime stories combined with music can be an invaluable part of a bedtime routine that help them sleep longer at night. I recommend The Wiggles’ Go to Sleep Jeff book and CD pack. The CD is narrated by Jeff and includes two original lullabies by The Wiggles, designed to send you to dreamland as well as your child!
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