Reading Stories to Kids - Bring Read-Aloud Fairy-Tales to Life

Most kids adore listening to stories about princesses, fairies, dragons and other mythological characters from far-away lands. It also stimulates their imagination, and helps them build linguistic and analytical skills. If you learn some strategies for reading aloud, you can easily engage them in the adventure and make it a special family time. Reading stories aloud is a great way with to bond with your kids and build a close, warm relationship with them.

Reading tales aloud to your kids while they are young brings lots of benefits. First of all, it develops their vocabulary and their verbal communication skills. If you do it regularly, you will soon find that they are able to find their words more easily and communicate better. Secondly, exposing them to make-believe creatures and places nurtures their imagination and creative thinking. Studies have proven that children who are read to every night are generally more creative when compared to others. Furthermore, it develops their analytical abilities and problem-solving skills. If you make these moments as pleasant as possible, it is very probable that they will acquire a passion for reading, which will last after they can read by themselves.

Let's not forget about the treasures of bonding with your family and how wonderful it feels to spend some cozy and meaningful moments with your children. Many parents nowadays have plenty of other responsibilities apart from childcare - including work, social obligations and so on. All of these pressures determine them to spend less time with their families, and often have to hire a nanny to take care of their children while they are at work. If you can only spend a few hours a day with your family, it is only obvious that you try to make the best of it.

One of the most significant things is to choose the right tales. This depends on your kid's age, interests, and what you are trying to convey. If you want to teach them something, you may pick a story that illustrates that idea. Make sure the plot is not too intricate for their age, but not too simple and straightforward either. Consider the things your child finds most interesting and try to choose a story that fits these interests.

Before you start reading, you could improve your reading aloud skills just a little bit. Practice changing your voice along the way to fit the mood you are trying to create. Also, think about what you want your children to learn from the story, and prepare some questions for them. You can ask questions at the beginning, during or at the end of the story. Read the story once before reading it to them to check if there are any words that they might not understand. Adjust the language to their age. You may also decide to take out some sections entirely if they are too long or too difficult to understand.

There are a few things you could do to make sure you are all having a good time. First, make sure everybody is comfortable, and the kids are not sleepy or hungry. Look at the cover with your kids and ask them what they think the story is about. Try to build the appropriate atmosphere. Allow them to ask questions and make comments along the way - otherwise they may not understand and end up getting bored. You can ask questions yourself to stress some parts that you think are meaningful. Also, little ones love pictures - so you can show them some pictures once in a while. It helps them picture the characters of the story. You can also ask them what they think is going to happen - it engages them in the story even more and motivates them to think.

Once you have begun reading, you will see it is much less complicated than it sounds. Most of these reading aloud strategies are pretty intuitive. You will often engage in the action yourself, and creating that special mood will be much easier. And the rewards that reading stories aloud brings to your children and your relationship with them are certainly worth the effort.