Reading books together with children is among the most important daily routines that we can build. There is plenty of research that proves the benefits of reading to children. Children love the sound of language, and they love looking at pictures with their parents and other caregivers.

However, apart from simply being enjoyable, there are plenty of other reasons to read to children.

Reading builds children’s vocabulary. Reading also helps children understand the directionality of text - simple things such as English is written from left to right, and from the top of the page to the bottom. You turn pages from right to left to get to the next page of text etc. Children begin to understand that words on a page have meaning, that words have spaces between them etc.

But also, reading helps children understand more about the world. It teaches them about things and people who are different to them, and helps them understand situations that they have not yet experienced themselves.