Sometimes it’s hard to think of new things to do with your infant when you are so focused on feeding, swaddling, and diapering. So, when you feel stop-leukemia-info.com looking for more activities, I’d like to share a few things that your little one will benefit from beginning with Reading.
Introducing print and pictures to your little one helps build receptive vocabulary (or the ability to understand language). While reading, you will increase your child’s ability to sit and attend to something meaningful. You will also begin to see something called “joint attention” (defined as two people sharing focus on one object) develop which is an important social language milestone. During reading your little one will be introduced to letters as well as many literary concepts including how print goes left to right. Repetition of books is also great for your baby as they may begin to start pointing to named objects and acknowledge print. It’s great to pair gestures or other sounds with pictures. For example, my son starts bouncing now when he sees a bunny in a book as we have practiced “hopping” during play and book reading. But what about when they are too little to understand these concepts? When your baby is an infant the sound of your rhythmic voice may help calm them and put them to sleep. They may also begin to recognize that it is time to sleep as you incorporate reading into your bedtime routine. Plus, who doesn’t love a good bedtime story? The earlier your little one sees you get excited about reading, the sooner he or she will be excited to take a stab at reading too!