First published in Beckers Blog in 2017 https://www.shopbecker.com/resource-cafe/beckers-blog/infants-and-toddlers/infant-discovery-of-object-permanence/

Reading to young children especially toddlers, requires patience as the activity needs to be child lead. One must have the ability to let toddlers crawl on and over you and come and go as they please during the reading of a story. 

Does this seem counter-intuitive to what you believe story time should look like? Here is why moving during story time works. Young children do most of their learning actively moving and exploring. So when they are moving during a story, toddlers will be listening and retaining information although it might not look that way. When children are moving their oxygen level increases, which fuels their neurotransmitters, which increases their alertness. 

Strategies that will help to keep the attention of a toddler during story time:

Be prepared to read the same book again and again. Just do it, toddlers are learning a love of reading and language. 

Be patient, young children often turn the pages before you read the words and they often look for that one favorite page. They ask the same question over and over. 

Remember to use a kind and gentle voice, and vary your pitch. Use sign language or hand motions and give the children small objects to hold.  

Why is any of this important? Research has revealed that there is a “word gap” that factors into an achievement gap between the poor and the better-off in school and in life. http://www.npr.org/2013/12/29/257922222/closing-the-word-gap-between-rich-and-poor Children that are read to daily develop parts of the brain that are key for early literacy, which is a predictor of academic success later on. Reading together can be a great opportunity to bond with your child, and develop his or her social-emotional skills as well.

A few favorite titles here:

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown

Polar Bear, Polar Bear by Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle 

Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury

Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann

Basket of Babies (for fidgeting) https://www.shopbecker.com/Basket-of-Babies-MTC13/