collaborative guest post
There are so many ways you can help your young one to embark on their quest of understanding and reading stories. In a recent blog post, nursery chain Kiddi Caru explains how important reading is for your child, as it’s proven to help parent and child bonding, as well as assisting in developing cognitive and language skills, and increasing social and emotional development.
It’s clear that there are many benefits to reading with your child, but sometimes introducing books into your little one’s life can be a challenge. So, to try and help, we’ve put together a list of different ways you can get creative with some fun book-inspired ideas.
Read on to find out more.
Baking
Whilst it’s important to read stories with your children, reading recipes as you bake can be a great way to encourage your child to read without them sitting in front of a book. You could make treats inspired by their favourite books, like the chocolate cake from Matilda, or Turkish delight, like the ones in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. You could even create a Very Hungry Caterpillar salad, with a cut-up cucumber body and tomato face. The possibilities are endless, and it’s a great way to stay story-focused whilst exploring other activities and continuing to bond.
Puppet-making
An innovative way to encourage storytelling is through getting crafty and making puppets. You could utilise lollipop sticks or wooden spoons to hold. What about even cutting out the cardboard from a cereal box for your little one to paint, stick and colour in to create their favourite character. Make two little finger holes by the feet and you have a brand-new finger puppet. Then, you can act out the story that the puppets are from as you’re reading it, or use the characters to allow your little one’s imagination to run wild and create their own ending.
In fact, if puppets aren’t quite your cup of tea, using teddies and dolls to act out the story could help your child to visualise what’s going on, immersing them into the world and allowing them to make changes to the story if they wish.
Create a sensory tub
Another great way to keep the magic of reading alive is by making a sensory tub. If you take your child’s favourite book and an open box, you can use everyday objects to create elements of the world in which the characters reside for your child to feel and explore. You could even make an edible sensory box, with fruit and sweets resembling elements of the story for them to eat and enjoy.
For a sensory tub inspired by The Gruffalo, you could go outside and grab some grass, perhaps add some pebbles, twigs to make trees, and a printed-off cut out of the Gruffalo and his friend the mouse to complete the story. If you’re feeling extra adventurous, you could add blue slime to create a river, and perhaps even some soil so your little one can truly explore the textures of the woodland.
Take your book out and about
You could just simply decide to go out and about and read a book in nature. If the book is about stars and space, then why not lie on a blanket outside and wrap up warm whilst you stare into the galaxy and get lost in the adventure? Or, you could put on your wellies and go on a bear hunt whilst reading We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.
You could even visit some storybook locations such as Ashdown Forest in Sussex, where you’ll find a map that guides you along the paths of AA Milne’s Hundred Acre Wood, where you can follow in the footsteps of Winnie the Pooh himself, enjoying a game of Poohsticks from the iconic Poohsticks bridge.
