The Scientifically Proven Benefits And Tips For Reading To Babies and children.

The Answers To Your Why, What And When Questions About Reading To Infants.

I hope you had a chance to read my main blog on Reasons & Benefits of Why You Should Read To Your Baby, where I use cute little characters I called  "Happy Snappies". to explain what's going on in a baby's brain. In this supplemental blog,  I have listed some tips and scientifically proven facts and benefits to help you understand more about the importance of reading to your baby. Firstly, this insightful short, 4 minute, Video I found is worth watching. It explains what the happy Happy Snappies do.

How reading has a lifelong impact on your baby's development (the science).

1. Establishing routines: If you get the routine down early, there will be no tears and trauma at bedtime as it will be a race up the stairs to get teeth brushed and PJ's on, ready for another epic bedtime cuddle and story.

2. School Success: If you read from infancy, your baby will be king of the school jungle as your little genius will have developed strong language and communication skills.

3. School Readiness: Reading helps your child become accustomed to listening and focusing. (I could have done with a little bit more of that skill when I was a kid)

4. Reading aloud stimulates language skills, cognitive thinking skills, and enhances memory. Ah Yes! The Happy Snappies I told you about in my "Reasons to Read" article are all working away to make this happen.

5. Reading books aloud can also help build a child's vocabulary. The sooner they have the words to tell you what they need, what's bothering them, how they feel or just having a giggly chat, the better. The more words parents use when speaking to an 8-month-old infant, the greater their child's vocabulary size at age 3.

6. Reading aloud helps children bond with their parents. As I said in my "Reasons To Read" article, it's the feeling your baby gets when it experiences the sound of your voice, the beat of your heart and the warmth of your embrace that bonds you together forever.

7. It boosts brain development: The happy Snappies working their magic 24/7/365

8. It supports basic speaking skills: Think of how accents differ around the world. A baby can only speak by learning to listen and replicate the sounds they hear. The more they hear, the more they speak.

9. It supports lasting literacy skills: It's like riding a bike. Once they learn, they will never forget how much fun it is to read.

10. It helps to shape social and emotional development: Now we are getting to Adam's message of love, hugs, kisses and kindness.

11. It encourages your baby to look, point, touch, and answer critical thinking and problem-solving questions: Like how did Adam get to the moon in his space rocket?

12. Builds listening memory: That's those Happy Snappies at it again.

13. Reading feeds their imagination, curiosity and appetite for Knowledge: It brings a whole new meaning to the expression "Eats Books."

14. It teaches them about the world around them: Particularly if you read them Adams World of Wonders, of course.

Tips for Reading with to your Baby 

• Number 1 on the list is, of course;  Read Before you Sleep or When you were born
• Read every day. Get the routine down early.
• Read with emotion. Hugs, kisses and tickles work nicely here
• Pick sturdy books. Suitable for chewing on if they can't rip the pages
• Plan a particular reading time. For me, it's definitely at bedtime, so they go to sleep happy after I tell my kids I love them.
• Ask questions and talk about feelings as the child grows. Good time to reference the story you read to spark a conversation about how they feel about things and how things are going in school. This is how you will get to know what's bothering them.
• Cuddling while you read. It helps your baby feel safe, warm and connected to you. The Adam's Cloud Way is the only way.
• Read with expression. The kids love this, so make your voice higher or lower where appropriate, or use different voices for different characters.
• Don't worry about strictly following the text. Stop once in a while and ask questions or comment on the pictures or text. ("Where's the kitty? There he is! What a cute black kitty.") This was a massive part of the early day in our house where I asked the kids to point out the characters and objects and make the animals' noises. A loving memory of their cute little voices mooing away.
• Sing nursery rhymes, make funny animal sounds or bounce your baby on your knee — anything that shows that reading is fun.
• Babies love — and learn from — repetition, so don't be afraid of reading the same books repeatedly. Ah, so that's why the kids always want an Adams Cloud book read to them.

What Books To Read To Your Baby?

Set your baby's Happy Snappies on fire with an Inspired by love Gift Box of books from Adams Cloud. Full of hugs, kisses, kindness, friendship and happiness, it's the one-stop-shop for all you need to read.

References and bibliography

The research and scientifically proven benefits of reading to children in this blog were drawn from many sources, including the following.

• Early childhood brain development has a lifelong impact.
• The Benefits of Reading to Babies
• Reading to infants benefits both baby and adult, new research finds
• Reading Books to Babies