How to encourage children to read and to love books

Ever since I can remember, I'm crazy about books. Often I hear the story of how, at the age of three, I used to sit, crossed my legs, took a picture book (holding it upside down) and then I would say, "Reading, reading .... and here's where the story ends!"

I seem to have managed to encourage this love with both of my girls. Maybe it's because I read a lot during pregnancy and used to lay the book on the belly :)))))

Here's how their reading corner looks like:

Originally it was a dice table, its top plate can be removed, and below there are two vessels. In the summer, we used it for water games, and over the winter it got completely new purpose.

I think The Little is definitely one of the youngest visitors of our great library, and currently she is most interested in throwing as many books as possible, off the shelves. Luckily she is so cute (objective Mom!) so the librarians still forgive her. Although there is one giving us significant looks.

Where and how to get affordable books

 

Once a year, at the Spring Fair, our library sells written-off books at a bargain price, which is a great source for supplying the home library, since they sell books in a really good condition. Purchasing second hand books is also possible on ebay and other similar sites. There is also a specialized book fair every year in November at my hometown, so I try not to miss it, since all the relevant publishers offer new books also at bargain prices.

The best picture books we have ever read

 

Here's a list of picture books that we've read and I recommend them to everyone, since they are educational and we had a lot of fun while reading them.

A few books for parents are also on this list, but since they are offering activities for children, they should definitely be a part of it.

Stan and Jan Berenstain: The Berenstain Bears 

Source: en.wikipedia.org

I know many of you must have heard of them before, or even read them in your childhood, since these books celebrate 50th anniversary, but to me they are something rather new, because they have not been translated into our mother tongue until recently.

Excellent, educational picture books that talk about real situations children cope with, titles say it all: Too much TV, Too much junk food, Messy room, Big Blooper and many more.

Highly, highly recommend!



Scaredy squirell

Excellent, high-quality picture books that talk about how we protect children too much, preventing them in exploring the world. Although published back in 2008, this is also something new for me (think I haven't seen it so far at the local library). My girls love it so much, it's very funny.

Source: kidscanpress.com

Dick Bruna: Miffy

Who hasn't heard of Miffy? Simple shapes, vivid and memorable lyrics are a magnet for children, but also for mums and dads. The books are available in hard and soft covers, so that the smaller and bigger children can have fun with them.

At the age of two and a half years, my older daughter  already knew to recite most of lyrics from "Miffy is crying", which tells you enough about the simplicity of its verses.

I also like "Miffy and the new baby", since it's a great explanation and preparation for the older kids at the arrival of a new baby in the family.

There are many great cartoons with Miffy as well. 

Source:miffy.com

Tony Ross: The series of picture books about the little princess 

Excellent, educational picture book, aimed at children aged 2-4 describing the topics such as hand washing, potty training and combing, the skills which kids at this age are adopting, and this picture books certainly can help them in doing so, because they are written in a funny way and accompanied by simple illustrations. 

Source: harpercollins.co.uk

Unfortunately not all of the published titles are translated into our mother tongue, so my kids have read only "I want my potty" and  "I don't want to wash my hands". Looking forward in finding new titles in our language.

Christmas things to make and do

Mommy looks forward in reading it, since it has more than 80 (easy!) ideas and activities for the upcoming holidays. I have a feeling that you will be reading about the activities from this book very soon. :)

Source: IglooBooks.com

And finally - Read, read and just read .....!

See what I have pinned about book love .

NOTE: originally I have included more books in my Croatian post, but I couldn't find all of the books translated in English, so I've shortened the list.


P. S. Have you seen this great linky party?

DIY - A texture board and a picturebook

A rainy day always requires some new activities for children who otherwise quickly get bored. My little girls have recently been sick, and they are still recovering, so it is really not wise for us to go singing in the rain and jumping on the muddy puddles as our favorite TV character does . I've noticed they were also bored with the picture books we already have (which reminds me I haven't been rotating toys for a while).

It is Sunday, meaning our great library, in which we could borrow a bunch of new picture books, is closed, so we decided to create our own picture books. We had pretty much fun making them, and later by reading what we have created.

We started with a piece of cardboard on which we pasted pieces of fabrics in different colors, shapes and textures - from soft and smooth to rough and hard. Here is the result, on the photo below. If you decide to do such a thing, I recommend tighter fabrics because the thin ones tend to be transparent and you can see the glue marks, which in the end does not look very nice, as you may notice on the photo.

A long, twisted piece of cardboard which a hamster-mom, (and that would be me :) usually has in stock, was used for the educational picture book shown on the photos below. We have pasted various shapes on one side, and animals and plants on the other, according to what we found in the "old rags bag".

I was going through an old piles of magazines, thinking of how I could use them and stumbled upon a story about the cute little fellows, from The Hundred Acre Wood. So, I've simply cut out the two pages with the story and pasted them inside of the old folder. My girls and I have even "designed the cover", specifically for this occasion.

 My girls really liked what we have created, so I barely caught the time to photograph our work, since they were playing with it the entire afternoon.  


P.S. Of course I had to share the fun on these great linky parties - click on the buttons below and see some other awesome bloggers' ideas!