Reading aloud to babies and toddlers »

When can I start reading to my baby?

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Many parents probably wonder whether and from when they can already read to their little baby, even though the baby can't yet understand what is being read. The answer is: From about three to four months you can already read or tell your child the first stories. Even if the content is not yet interesting, reading aloud already has many benefits for babies:

Promote language development:

Even if babies cannot yet understand what you read to them, many babies listen attentively to the voice. For this reason you can already start reading aloud now. In this way your child learns the sound of their native language and can more easily imitate it when they later begin to speak themselves.

Practice concentration:

Of course, small babies cannot yet concentrate when you read them an entire story. But even short tales help your baby learn to focus on something. To support your baby, you can use different pitches and tones and make your voice sound especially interesting.

Calming:

Even if in the third or fourth month the first sleep routines may already have developed, it is still difficult to make reading aloud a bedtime ritual for babies. Nonetheless, you can use reading to calm them. Since your child already knows the parents' voices from the womb, it can relax more easily at the familiar sounds.

Picture books:

Even small, colorful leporellos or fabric picture books can be 'read' to your baby. The colorful pictures and shapes capture your baby's attention and you can tell them little stories about them. This also supports their language development.

Reading aloud for babies and toddlers

Your own magazine:

Since at the beginning what matters most when reading aloud is that your baby hears the sound and melody of your voice, you can also read texts from your magazine or a book for adults to them. This has the pleasant side effect that you can also read texts that interest you yourself.

Picture books:

Colorful pictures with clear, simple shapes are already interesting for babies. If they hear your voice telling them what is shown in the pictures, you can show your baby early on that there is a connection between the pictures and words. You can also be inspired by the pictures to invent a short story.

Your own stories:

If you don't have a book to hand but want to tell a story while walking or cuddling, you can simply comment on what you are doing, make up a short story, or repeat something you already know well. Familiar fairy tales or rhymes are particularly suitable here.

No pressure to read:

If your child does not want to be read to at the moment or is too restless, you should not force reading aloud. Because your child should perceive stories and being read to as something positive and not lose the desire for it. This way you can already ensure that your baby will likely want to reach for books later on.

Growing up with stories: A lot of fun for toddlers

The older your child gets, the more important the content of the stories becomes. You can now direct your toddler's attention to reading not only with your voice but also with what is written in the book. Because this way children can not only cuddle with mom and dad but also discover their own heroes. Therefore pay attention to your child's preferences. If they are especially interested in animals, you can surely excite them with zoo stories or a book about the farm. Little princesses and princes will probably dream best after reading a fairy tale. When your child is old enough, they will prefer to choose for themselves what you read to them. For this reason it makes sense to keep the books in the children's room always within easy reach.