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A love of books is the most precious gift that you can give to a child. It is also something that you must, to truly give completely, yourself possess.

It is unknown how children actually learn to read, but it is clear the the more they enjoy books and see them as relevant the more progress they make. If you merely tell or teach a child to read it will be more difficult for them to discover the love of books that can be enjoyed and shared together with someone whom truly loves books too.

If a child hears you reading aloud from birth, or before, as babies in the womb can hear the tone of the gentle voice of someone reading, they can enjoy books and get comfort from hearing someone read to them from even before birth. After birth read to your baby, if you have older children include them in bedtime stories, encourage older children to share books with the baby.

As well as hearing stories, even newborn babies are fascinated by images around them, making sense of the world around them. As newborns sight is not as focused as older children therefore, highly contrasting images, such as black and white patterns and pictures help babies focus on images and it has been observed from a few weeks old a baby with indicate the images which they like more. There are many books and toys available in black and white or you could make your own. This is invaluable in allowing the newborn to discover their world.

Always make sure there are various examples of language in a child's environment, this could be in the form of board books, posters and pictures on walls, labels on objects such as doors, windows, cupboards to allow the chid to regularly connect words to objects. Provide toys that are language rich, blocks with letters, alphabet games, and play mats with both images and words.

Have words and letters all around the home, in the bedroom have posters or pictures on the walls, and always have accessible books in a bookcase or toy box that a child can freely read. If a baby is in a cot provide board books or cloth books that stay in there. In the bathroom you can have letters that stick onto tiles, sponge letters or allow the child to write' in the condensation on a mirror. In the kitchen have fridge magnets, display pictures, alphabet charts at child height. For school aged children print the keywords which they are learning and regularly read them together. In the living room have accessible books that a child can select freely.

Even in the garden you can use language, if you

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