by Kathy Stemke

Created on: September 02, 2008   Last Updated: September 07, 2008

Learning language skills starts at birth. Children are naturally interested in mimicking sounds and words. In fact, children develop much of their capacity for reading in the first three years of life, when their brains grow to 90% of their adult weight. When parents sing, talk and read to their kids, brain cell links are strengthened and new ones are formed. These links are the basis for the development of all language skills. Therefore, you should read to toddlers as often as possible. Teach them the alphabet, letter sounds, and some simple sight words. Then teach him to blend sounds together to make words. Because a toddler has a short attention span, you need to keep the practice sessions very short and full of fun.

Reading aloud to your child helps him to learn the correct way to read. By hearing you read the words on the page and sound them out, he learns that letters make words, and words make sentences, and sentences are how we communicate with each other. Communication is very important in how a person relates to the rest of the world. Reading aloud to your child encourages interpersonal communication, which is vital to a child's development.
There are many activities that will make reading fun, and help to keep the toddler engaged in reading.

1. Use musical instruments to create suspense, or silliness. This can bring a story to life as well as keep each child engaged. You can even have them make simple shakers with beans or rice inside a can. They can use it at different times. For example: shake the shaker when you hear the word ______.

2. Have the children act out what you read. If the character walks to the store, they should be able to walk in place as they reach a door and open it and grab some groceries. This should be fun and can help on those days when it's raining and their energy levels are high.

3. Use a prop bag to illustrate parts of the story. If your reading "Miss Spider's Tea Party," you might have a rubber spider, silk butterflies, a tea cup, and a handkerchief to wipe the spider's tears away.

4. Ask your child questions about the story. Reading comprehension is one of the hardest things to teach a child if it doesn't come naturally to him. In order to comprehend something, you must be paying attention to it. Help your child to develop his ability to comprehend stories by asking him questions either about what he thinks is about to happen or what has already happened. This develops critical thinking, which helps later in life in making

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