Little Reading Coach

Last week I discussed literacy in the first year, so today I want to share some information for toddler literacy. In preparing for this class, a lot of my research for toddlers overlapped my baby research information. Many of the same materials we use with babies can also be used with toddlers.

This post is for parents and early childhood educators on literacy in toddler years (from my Facebook class). It includes toddler development information, stages of learning and book suggestions.

Young Toddlers (12-24 months)

• Books with children doing familiar things
• Books about daily routines/customs

Toddlers (2-3 years old)

• Simple rhyming books that can be memorized
  • Kids this age can say 150-300 words so they can recognize those used in rhymes
  • It helps them learn sentence structure and expressing a complete thought
• Books about counting, shapes, colors, and size
  • Kids this age can distinguish the difference between sizes and colors
  • Foundational skills are developing at this age (numbers and letters)

Motor Skills

• Gross Motor Skills– larger movements
  • Crawling, running, etc.
• Fine Motor Skills– small movements
  • Using fingers, toes, lips, and tongue
  • These are skills that can be practiced with books

Potty Training

• Many parents say this is the most stressful part about having a toddler. It’s important to talk to talk to your toddler about going to the bathroom and use books to help him or her get familiar with going potty. 

New Siblings

• Some children have a rough adjustment to welcoming a new sibling. You can help ease the transition by including your toddler in discussing the new baby and by reading books about family.

Special Interests

• By two years old many children have a special interest. This can be animals, trains, trucks, ballet, etc. Make sure to have plenty of texts to reflect your child’s interests. 

Strategies

• Talk or sing about pictures. This helps with comprehension skills. Some examples include:
  • Who or what is in the picture?
  • What are it/they doing?
  • What color are they? Etc.
• Show children the words.
  • Point while reading
  • Books with labels
  • Feel free to spell the words out as well
• Ask Questions.
  • While reading ask comprehension questions that include why, how, and what. Focus on feelings and actions from the story.
  • Encourage your child to ask questions while reading.
• Let child tell the story.
  • By around 2 ½ or 3, children can memorize a text. Use this to their advantage by letting them “read” stories they memorized so they can embellish and make it their own.
    • This helps with creativity and processing skills.

For more information on toddler books, feel free to follow my Facebook page or check out Usborne Books and More.