Transform Story Time into Learning through Interactive Book Reading

Interactive book reading is a fun way to build a child’s engagement and interest. It is particularly about helping your child be an active listener and a participant in the storytelling process. While they are having fun, they are also helping develop crucial components of their language and literacy. 

Why interactive book reading is important

Interactive book reading is a great way to teach language and literacy in an engaging manner. It is important because it sets your child up for success early on. Some of the benefits include:

·       Teaches decontextualized language which is language that describes something outside of the present context, meaning a child can talk about things like the past and future and make up imaginary stories rather. 

·       Helps with decoding: This skill is important in reading and requires taking apart and sounding out a word that a child has never read before to figure out what word it is.

·       Builds understanding

·       Promotes interaction

All of these skills are crucial for your child, especially as they go into school. 

According to research, interactive book reading in which the adult asks open-ended questions, creates opportunities for the children to participate in storytelling found that those children learned much more vocabulary and were able to apply what they learned beyond the book.¹

How to Practice Interactive Book Reading With Your Child

The goal of interactive reading is to lead to your child interacting with the book through conversation. You can do this by encouraging interest in reading and story time, and helping your child understand what is being read to them.

The Hanen Centre recommends reading repetitive books, non-fiction, and simple storybooks for preschoolers. Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham or the Biscuit series are great examples of simple books with great storylines to follow along. 

Interactive reading can incorporate a lot of the verbal routines and communication temptations tips we shared. Let your child lead the way. If they have a favorite book, or insist on reading the same 3 books, that’s okay! Let them pick what they want to read and let them participate in the process of reading. Make them be an active participant by allowing them to flip through the book, point to pictures, or even tell their own version of the story. 

Other ways to participate in interactive reading:

·       Wait-don’t say anything and watch what your child does.

·       Act out the story. 

·       Add language by highlighting the important words. Don’t just focus on the nouns, but add adjectives, actions words, location words, and really anything else to help expand your child’s vocabulary. 

·       Don’t just read the words, talk about the pictures and what else is happening on the page

·       Bring up the words they learned outside of the story time context. 

·       Make a craft to go along with your child’s favorite book. Let their finished craft take part in the story the next time you read it to them. 

• In-Text Citations

  1. Wasik, B. A., & Bond, M. A., “Beyond the pages of a book: Interactive book reading and language development in preschool classrooms,” Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, no. 2 (2001): 244, https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.93.2.243.

• Sources

  Lowry, Lauren, “Sharing books with Preschoolers the Hanen Way,” The Hanen Centre, accessed on April 12, 2022, http://www.hanen.org/Helpful-Info/Fun-Activities/Sharing-books-with-Preschoolers,-the-Hanen-Way.aspx.

  Şimşek, Zeynep & Işıkoğlu, Nesrin, “Effects of the Dialogic and Traditional Reading Techniques on Children's Language Development,”Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences. 197, (2015): 754-758, 10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.07.172.

  Wasik, B. A., & Bond, M. A., “Beyond the pages of a book: Interactive book reading and language development in preschool classrooms,” Journal of Educational Psychology, 93, no. 2 (2001): 243–250, https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.93.2.243.