- On Friday we pick out 5 books. These are the 5 books we picked out last week:
- We then read each of those 5 books at least once a day for the next week.
- On the next Friday, we pick out another 5 books and repeat the process.
We both love this part of our daily routine and it only takes about 10 minutes to read all 5 of our books. I love it because I get to snuggle with my Izzy (who is not very snuggly at all) while we work on language skills and he gets to learn whatever the book is teaching him. He loves it because, as I said, he loves to read! I also like that we do the same 5 books everyday for a week because I think it helps the concepts in the books to stick with him better. Plus, the more we repeat the books, the more he likes them.
Some of the benefits I have noticed by doing the 5 books program (as we will hereafter call it) are:
- He has learned how to turn the pages in books on command and often plays with his books by himself and will sit there flipping through the pages like he would if he were actually reading them.
- In addition to learning to turn pages, he has learned how to be nice to books, even if they aren't board books.
- He has developed the patience to sit through a whole 10 minutes of story time.
- He now asks us (through silent baby motions of course) to read to him.
- And as I have mentioned several times now, he loves to read! As you can see in the pictures below...
Reading is so important and even if you don't use our 5 books program, Izzy and I highly encourage you to make it a regular practice with your little ones if you haven't already. And if you are in need of some good baby/toddler book recommendations, here is a list of Izzy's top 10 favorite books:
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
- Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr.
- Colors
- Fingers and Toes
- Moo Baa La La La by Sandra Boynton
- One Sheep, Blue Sheep by Thom Wiley
- Peek-a Who? by Nina Laden
- Clifford's Animals Sounds by Norman Bridwell
- Who's Hiding? by Orli Zuravicky
- 1,2,3 in the Sea by Sue DiCicco
Do you have any fun tricks you use to read to your little ones? Do your little ones have any favorite books? If so, let us know. We are always up for more reading! :)