What Young Kids Can Learn From Children’s Books
Nowadays, children don’t often read for fun. They’re almost always watching television shows, playing video games, or using their smart devices. In fact, Pew Research Center observes that the percentage of children who read for fun is at its lowest point since the 1980s. Only four in 10 children said they read on their own and about 16% of children said they hardly ever read books.
This can be a little alarming – especially if you consider how great books are for children. Books are a great source of knowledge that can teach children real-world skills. As such, reading should be encouraged for children to learn more about the world and themselves. As we posted in our previous blog post, Lisa Caprelli has been traveling across the USA to spread the importance of reading in various schools. Through this, children can be encouraged to dive deeper into reading and to learn from each book they read.
5 Reasons Why Children Should Read Actively at a Young Age:
1. To Advance Their Creative and Intellectual Learnings
Books can increase your children’s knowledge. Aside from just being entertained, they also gain educational lessons from it. Case in point, Dr. Seuess’s Hop on Pop is designed to help children learn words, spelling, and phonics. It encourages readers to decode words and to embrace their love for reading — even if understanding the words might be hard on their first try.
2. To Believe in Their Own Unique Strengths and Abilities
Children can learn how to have faith in their own abilities. Take Kelly Barnhill’s The Girl Who Drank the Moon. It shows the importance of togetherness and what believing and motivation can do. In trusting their strengths and believing in their abilities, they can right the wrongs in their world. It is a fairytale that will help children value their own strengths and believe that they have the power to direct their lives.
3. To Embrace Their Talents and Sense of Self
Books can teach children to be more accepting of the things that make them who they are. Books such as Lisa Caprelli’s Unicorn Jazz teach children how to embrace their uniqueness. The unicorn in the story represents kindness and she is all about accepting what makes her unique. When children can appreciate their uniqueness, they can be happier and more confident about themselves.
4. To Encourage Their Passions
Books can also help encourage children to have hobbies and to pursue what they want in life. Take another of Lisa Caprelli’s books, Unicorn Jazz Eye See You. It continues the previous theme of embracing each other’s uniqueness. But more than this, it showed the characters encouraging each other to pursue their passions. In the book, they pursue their love for singing. But your child might aspire to be a dancer, to be a rocket scientist, or to even be a writer.
5. To Stay Bold and Curious
At a young age, children need to stay curious to help them be more observant. Exploring their curiosity also supports their growth and their sense of discovery. Steve Jenkins’ series of non-fiction books like The Shark Book, Tiny Monsters, Move!, and Apex Predators help children understand the world around them better. Books like these will encourage curiosity and offer answers, too. These types of books give them a chance to form their own hypotheses and to make more knowledgeable opinions.