What are the benefits of reading for children?

Children who read frequently and who are read to regularly, improve their reading skills; it is definitely a case of “practice makes perfect”.

Other benefits of this enjoyable pastime include:

• 1. Bonding – Reading provides great opportunities for you and your child to spend time together and take time out during otherwise busy days. Children feel secure when they are being read to, and showing your child a positive attitude towards books and reading helps children to view literacy in a positive way.
• 2. Language development and vocabulary expansion – Research has shown that babies who are read to and talked to score higher in language skills than babies who are not. American paediatric studies suggest that this link extends throughout childhood into the teen years and that those verbal interactions between parents and children such as reading and talking, may promote higher language and IQ scores all the way up to the mid-teens. Children learn new words as they read and, subconsciously, they absorb information on how to structure sentences and how to use words and other language features effectively in their writing and speaking.
• 3. Improvement in listening skills – Children need to concentrate in order to comprehend when they are being read to, in other words they need to pay attention and listen. When they are listening, they are more likely to sit still and this develops a longer attention span.
• 4. Cognitive development – Reading is a much more complex task for the human brain than watching television, for example. Reading strengthens brain connections and builds new connections; this helps to build skills such as problem-solving and reasoning.
• 5. Development of imagination and creativity – Books and stories open up a whole new world to your child; many stories go beyond the real world and employ fantasy elements that get children thinking outside the box. They use their imagination to “see” what a character or place looks like. Often children already have vivid imaginations, so reading serves to further feed their creativity.
• 6. Social and emotional development – Reading to children can teach them how to cope with difficult or stressful experiences and provides an opportunity to talk about real-world situations in age-appropriate ways. As children develop they begin to imagine how they would feel in that situation and this helps them to develop empathy. Reading teaches children about the world around them and helps them to model what happens in various situations. By reading a variety of books, children can learn about people, places, and events outside of their own experience and develop the skills to deal with something new. Reading also has a beneficial impact on a child’s mental health as they can explore their emotions and vulnerability by observing a feeling or situation from a distance through the story in a book.
• 7. It is fun – As children develop a love of reading and/or being read to they become immersed in the stories, they can laugh at every funny anecdote, get excited as the story unfolds and be surprised by plot twists and turns

Work Cited

Johnson, Eve. “Why is Reading so Important for Children? | Benefits, Learning, Skills.” CPD Online College, 12 August 2021, https://cpdonline.co.uk/knowledge-base/safeguarding/reading-for-children/. Accessed 17 September 2024.