What age should you buy baby books?

Books and Your Baby

It’s 20 minutes before bedtime, and you’ve decided to start a bedtime reading routine with your 6-month-old baby. As you turn the pages of a sturdy board book, your baby seems so interested! She is grunting and grabbing at the book. You let her hold the book herself, and she babbles excitedly.

“Wow,” you think. “My baby loves reading!”

Then, she brings the book up to her face... and sticks it in her mouth for an after-dinner snack. Babies do enjoy books for more than just a snack. 

• Most Babies Will: Enjoy tactile books with flaps, mirrors, textures, and sounds.
• Some Babies Will: Enjoy simple board books with action language, and recall pictures, sounds, and phrases from their favorite books.
• Some Babies Might Even: Enjoy longer picture books with a simple plot — especially if the plot has a pattern of repetition.

Find out what kinds of books suit your baby based on her age. 

Birth to 9 Months
Reading to a baby can be hilarious — and it’s also bound to be frustrating for any linear-thinking adult. Many parents don’t see the value in reading to children this young. In a 2008 survey commissioned by Scholastic*, only 48 percent of parents reported reading to their child when the child was less than 1 year old. An additional 17 percent read to their children before they turned 2, and another 15 percent began reading before their children turned three.

This is also the age to introduce books with fun textures and flaps — children love to explore with their fingers and mouths as well as their eyes.

When you read to a young baby, don’t worry about finishing the book or even turning pages in the right direction. Just enjoy playing with the book as if it’s a toy, and read as much as your baby will let you.

9 to 18 months
At this age, you are beginning to hear your child’s first words. He is probably also pointing at objects and saying “Dat?” His receptive vocabulary (the words he can understand) is much richer than his spoken language.

This is where early reading begins to pay off. According to a study published in PEDIATRICS, babies who were read to regularly starting at six months had a 40 percent increase in receptive vocabulary by the time they were 18 months old. Babies in the study who were not read to had only a 16 percent increase in receptive vocabulary.

As your child begins to speak these new words she knows, now is the time to check out the plentiful “see and say” books. You’ll enjoy pointing out pictures and describing them to your child, and your child will enjoy pointing to pictures and hearing you identify the images.

18 months to 2 years
At 18 months, your child will begin to have the patience for “real” story-time, cuddled up on your lap with a pile of books. Mother Goose and other rhyming books will delight her ears and train her to listen carefully to the sound of language.

At this age, your child may want to “read” the books with you. He may ask questions, turn the pages back and forth, and ask you to read specific parts that interest him. Encourage this! He will also begin to request his favorite books, which he will like you to read over… and over… and over again. This will become an enormously satisfying ritual for him — and it builds a strong foundation for future success with books and reading.

Reading Activities for Ages 0-2

Try these activities to get your baby started on a journey to literacy.  

1. Use Your Voice
Animal noises. Tongue-clicking. Raspberries. Songs! No one loves funny sound effects more than your baby does. Don’t be afraid to go over the top with weird noises as you read. Your baby will start to imitate you, and your first “conversation” may ensue.

2. Visit the Library
Once your child can hold books on her own, bring her to your nearest library. Offer her a selection of books and see which ones she picks up, and which ones she pays attention to for the longest time. You can check out her favorites (at this age, stick with board books) and enjoy them together at home.

3. Be a Role Model
Your baby is playing on his own. You’re eyeing that magazine you had to put down when he got up from his nap. Your baby is happily amusing himself with a toy. Feeling too guilty to read while you’re baby is awake? Grab that magazine and relax! One of the top tips for building literacy in kids is to be a role model and show him how you love to read too. You may be surprised to find your baby leafing through a pile of books by himself as well.

4. Familiar Faces
Find a plastic-coated baby’s photo album that you can put pictures into. Your baby will love leafing through pictures of her loved ones. Be sure to include lots of pictures of your baby, too. As you “read” the photo album, tell her stories of the fun things she has done with the person she’s looking at. Pretty soon, she will be able to leaf through the book and identify every picture.

5. Look it Up
You are driving in the car and pass a construction site. As a jackhammer rips through the pavement, a backhoe lifts dirt from a pit. From the car seat in the back, you can hear you son go wild. This is a kid who needs a book about construction vehicles! Whether your little one demonstrates an interest in dogs, flowers, or balls, there will be a book with pictures that will fascinate him.

Online Literacy for Ages 0-2

Between smartphones, tablets, ebook readers, and, of course, desktop and laptop computers, you may read online more often than off. Either way, your baby will grow up in a world where online reading is an everyday part of literacy.

Babies watch our use of technology. As we check the news on our smartphones or type in a quick Twitter update, our babies are aware that we’re clicking and staring at a little screen. If your child appears to be curious, explain what you are doing.

Features of Digital Reading
Years before you could read, you probably learned how a book works — what the cover signifies, how to hold the book, how to turn pages – and that those little black squiggles on the page are words (even if reading them was years away). Today’s babies are learning about books, too — plus a range of other text-delivery devices. By familiarizing your child with how technology works, you are putting her on the path to her own eventual competence with technology.

As she sits on your lap in front of the computer, allow your child to move and click the mouse. Help her type her own name, and let her practice typing her first initial and seeing it fill up a page. If you Skype with grandparents, point to their username on Skype’s directory. Your child will become as attuned to the words that signify important terms or messages in the digital world as they are to stop signs and food labels.

Everyday Online
Encourage your baby to see how “eReading” technology is part of everyday life. Tell her, “I’m checking our calendar to see which day Grandma is coming to visit. Oh, great! It’s Saturday!” or “Let’s look at pictures that Alice’s mom posted from her birthday party.” Or, “Let’s text Graham’s mom and see if he’s free for a play date.” As your child sees the uses of online text, she will become interested in participating herself.

Best Books to Share With Your Baby 

Looking for specific book recommendations? Try this list of books that are all perfect for squishing, lifting, and playing — just what baby wants to do with a book! Or enjoy titles featuring sounds and wordplay. 

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*Pamela C. High, MD and her associates at the Child Development Center at Rhode Island Hospital conducted this study. (See PEDIATRICS, Vol.105 No.4, April 2000.)

Why reading with babies is important

Reading books, talking about pictures, sharing stories, and singing rhymes and songs help your baby’s development in many ways.

Doing these activities every day helps your baby get familiar with speech sounds, words, pictures and books. This builds your baby’s early language skills and early literacy skills and helps them go on to read successfully later in life.

Reading stories also stimulates your baby’s imagination and helps them learn about the world around them. It’s a great time for you to bond with your baby and share time together too.

You can start reading aloud to your baby early – the earlier the better. Our article on reading stories with babies and children has more information to get you started.

What to expect from reading, sharing books and storytelling with babies

As babies develop in the first year of life, the way they engage with books changes.

In the first 3 months, your baby might enjoy sitting on your lap and gazing at the pictures while you slowly read aloud. Your baby might pay attention to the book for only a few minutes.

By 6 months, your baby will start to take a more active role in story time. Your baby might grab, pat, handle or even try to chew books. Your baby might communicate with you by cooing, babbling and smiling.

By 9 months, your baby will start to engage more directly with the words and pictures in books. For example, your baby might babble while looking at pictures or try to lift up flaps. Your baby will also want to hold books and try to turn pages.

By 12 months, your baby will love being involved in story time. Your baby can turn the book the right way up, point to pictures, and make animal noises or car and truck sounds. Your baby might even enjoy looking at books by themselves. Your baby will like to carry books around (if they’re walking) and will probably want you to read their favourite books many times.

Tips for reading, sharing books and storytelling with babies

Here’s how you can help your baby learn and develop through reading with you:

• Follow your baby’s lead, read slowly and spend time looking at the pictures after you read the words. This lets your baby focus on the sounds and shapes of words and also on pictures.
• Turn the pages slowly when you read with your baby. This shows your baby how to use a book.
• Point out, name and talk about familiar and new things your baby sees on the page, instead of only reading the words. For example, ‘That’s a bunny. Look. The bunny is hopping away’.
• Change the tone of your voice as you read. This makes it easier for your baby to notice different speech sounds, which is an important step towards learning to talk.

Here are general tips to help you make the most of reading time with children:

• Make a routine, and try to share at least one book every day. A special space where you and your child go to read – with a box of books and something comfortable to sit on – can help with establishing your routine.
• Turn off the TV or radio, put your phone on silent, and find a quiet space so your child can hear your voice.
• Use gestures and facial expressions to get your child’s attention and add meaning to words and pictures.
• Try out funny noises and sounds – play and have fun!
• Make connections between the pictures in books and your child’s life. For example, you could say, ‘There’s a teddy. You’ve got a teddy like that, haven’t you?’
• Hold your child close or on your knee while you read, so they can see your face, your gestures and the book.
• Be guided by your child’s interest. There’ll be days when your child doesn’t feel like reading, and that’s OK.
• Be prepared to read the same story over and over. Young children like repetition, and it helps them learn.

Visit your local library – it’s free to join and borrow books. The staff will be able to recommend age-appropriate books for you and your baby to enjoy. Many libraries also offer free story time sessions for babies and their parents or carers.

Books for babies

In general, babies enjoy and benefit from books that have good rhymes, regular rhythm and repetition. Rhymes, rhythm and repetition emphasise the way words sound, which helps with language development.

From when your baby is born, you might like to look for books that:

• have bright colours or simple, large and high-contrast pictures like black and white pictures – these are interesting and easy for babies to focus on
• have different textures so your baby can hear, see and feel the book
• have pictures of babies and faces
• are made of stiff cardboard and have only a few pages – these are easy for babies to hold and handle
• have themes that babies can relate to, like books about bathing, feeding, playing and spending time outside.

Here are books your baby might enjoy:

• Aussie babies can by Magabala Books
• Boo! by Margaret Wild
• Brown bear brown bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin Junior
• Crocodile beat by Gail Jorgensen
• Everywhere babies by Susan Meyers
• How many kisses do you want tonight? by Varsha Bajaj
• I went walking by Sue Machin
• Moo, baa, la la la! by Sandra Boynton
• Polar bear polar bear, What do you hear? by Bill Martin Junior
• Ten little fingers and ten little toes by Mem Fox
• Ten little owls by Renee Treml
• Walking through the jungle by Julie Lacome
• Who? A celebration of babies by Robie Harris.

For more story ideas, let storyteller Anne E. Stewart introduce you and your baby to ‘Mook Mook the owl’, ‘The crocodile’ and ‘The old lady and the mosquito’.