I bought 4 board books for an 18 month old. She can say a few words. Should I point to the words in the board book or spend more time pointing to the pictures? Maybe read the words to her first and then ask her what she sees in the picture?
I’m the father of a 19-month old. Here’s what I do:
Kid sits in my lap, and I hold the book in front of her. I read the words on the page. I then say “Where’s the [whatever].” She points at the whatever. I say “That’s right!” I then turn the page or separate the pages so she can turn the page depending on whether she’s in a page-turning mood. I cover the whatevers she already knows and introduce some new whatevers by pointing myself and saying “there’s the [whatever].”
For kids this age, words are really just a mess of squiggly lines. Somtimes I’ll say “where are the words,” and she’ll point to those. If the book has too many words (i.e., it’s for older kids), then skip a few as you read or the kid may lose interest.
That is precisely how I was introduced to books but it was back when the books were readers from the 1950s. My parental units were big on reading and after being immersed in words early on, I began to read at a very early age. Some children grok the concept earlier than others but exposure to the medium early on is a great idea. And the bonding last forever.
My 40 something daughter reminded me of this just this last weekend.
I found my kid was interested in long words like alligator, octopus etc, I guess they’re easier to babble.
Kids love to have the same books read over and over and over again. Read in a rhythmic, sing-songy way, the same way each time. Kids love routine, and they will come to know the story by heart. Then when they’re a little older, you can point out the words as you read, especially ones that rhyme or begin with the same letter, so they can see how they are the same.
Little or no explanation is needed for kids to pick up some basic concepts:
- Books are interesting and fun
- They are available on lots of different subjects, including some I really like
- Those funny-looking marks on the pages are somehow the source of the words I’m hearing
Eventually, the conclusion becomes:
- I could figure out how to decipher those words, thereby cutting out the (pleasant but unreliable) middle man
No particular technique is necessary - if you do no more than simply read the book out loud, all this will come to pass.
The only aspect of it that I found I had to watch was ensuring I was slow to turn the page. You will have taken in the words and pictures at a glance but the kid may well want to linger over the pictures for significantly longer.
Read. At this age it is plenty to teach the idea that things printed on pages have meaning and can be sources of pleasure. Either way does that. I also second the importance of the child hearing the rhythms and the rhymes and of learning to predict what sounds are likely to come next.
A bit of a hijack - we Westerners tend to do it the way you describe - “Oh! Here’s the [noun]!” In Asian cultures the focus is more often on the verbs.
I started reading my daughter a nightly bed time story from 12 months.
At first it was nice big words with lovely colourful pictures, then slowly moved with her interest to more and more text. Now she reads to herself, or reads me a bedtime story (she’s five) of mostly just text with on pix every 5 or 6 pages.
I always pointed to the words as I said them.
Then would ask her to point to the “whatever”…or tell me what she sees in the picture.
My 16.5-month-old sits on my lap and turns the pages (sometimes faster than I can read–she loves turning pages!). She will occasionally point to and say things she recognizes, especially dogs, cats, and apples. She definitely has her favorites, and will bring those to me to read. Every now and then I will point out a word to her, if it’s one of her favorites or if she shows interest in it, but really I just make sure I read to her several times a day. She’ll pick up the rest when she’s ready.
However you like! The most important thing is that it be an enjoyable experience for both of you, so that you do it more and so that she associates books with pleasure.
Everything mentioned here so far is good. One other technique I love to use is to get them thinking predictively. “Oh, look! The bunny lost his mittens? Do you think he’ll find them?” Also, remembering, “What happened last time the bunny lost his mittens? Did he find them? Where did he find them? Do you think he’ll find them again?” This helps both critical thinking skills, and reinforces that books stay the same, which helps them begin to grok that you’re not the one making the story, the squiggly things on the page have something to do with it, and it’s always the same.
Sequencing is also good. “What happens after the bunny finds his mittens? What does the bunny do before he goes to bed?” This helps develop reading comprehension skills and a sense of time within a story. It’s also the kind of thing her kindergarten and first grade teachers are going to be teaching and testing for, so extra years of practice makes it much easier!
However you like is fine. The important thing to communicate to children this young is that “reading” books is fun. If you enjoy them, your child will want to enjoy them too. At that age I would engage in dialogic reading. Read the words on the page, but then just look at the page and talk about the things you’re seeing, and ask questions. In other words, engage in a dialog about the book. This can work well for nonfiction books that might have great photos or drawings but text far beyond what the child could comprehend. There are “touch and feel” books that are great for the tactile experience the very young enjoy, and they not only teach kids what different textures are, but how to describe what you feel. Remember that the very young are learning how to interpret printed images. Once they are able to “see” drawings and photos, they begin to recognize shapes and letters, and they’re primed to learn reading.
I like the “I Spy” board books for this. Then later you can move up to “I Spy” picture books.
Follow your child’s lead. With my son at that age, we had a couple of types of books - the ones with the pictures and labels (you know, a picture of a t-shirt and the word t-shirt underneath). We would sit together and he’d help me identify the pictures. We also had books with short, sing-songy stories, like Tumble Bumble, which we would add sound effects to as we went. He’d stop, point at pictures, we’d identify them and move on, with me reading the rest of the story.
My daughter, now 7 mos., is getting the knack of turning the pages of cloth and board books. She lasts about 4-5 pages on a cloth story book and usually reads the whole book for a board book with labels. She’ll pause for me to read or point out pictures or will wait while I read the one or two sentences of “story” on a cloth book. I sincerely doubt she understands much of it, but she seems to enjoy it.
When my daughter was a baby, I started reading to her before she was a year old. I’d either hold her in my lap or prop her up next to me. I had some cardboard books, and a couple of Dr. Seuss books. One of the cardboard books was a book of nursery rhymes, and eventually Lisa could recite the rhymes from memory. As I read the books to her, I’d point out the cow and the moon and the dish and the spoon. So we were working on her vocabulary while she was getting read to. She got to pick at least a couple of books for bedtime stories.
I kept reading bedtime stories until she was nearly in high school. She’s dyslexic, and she found it hard to read for herself until then. As she got older, of course, we would pick out harder books, and I had to switch from reading a couple of books each night to reading one or two chapters from a book each night. The Beverly Cleary books were a huge hit. We went to the library regularly in order to pick out a fresh set of books, as well as buying them.
It’s best to either cuddle the kid or have an arm around him/her while reading.
This concept sometimes takes a while.
My mother loves to tell the story of how I, at age 4ish, demanded that she read The House at Pooh Corner to me while we were on a car trip somewhere. She said that she didn’t have the book, but I refused to accept that as an impediment because she read it to me every night. I apparently kept saying the start of the story (which I had memorized), and becoming increasingly frustrated that she pretended not to know it.
Well…I used to know Dr. Seuss’ Fox in Socks by heart, to the point where I could recite it during a car ride without the book. I also had several stories that I told Lisa which I remembered from my own childhood or had made up or altered especially for her. I asked her if she remembered any of them (last year, she was 30), and she said that she had always loved my story about The Ugly Caterpillar, who got made fun of because she wasn’t pretty like any of the other bugs, but who transformed into a beautiful butterfly later on. Sort of like the Ugly Duckling, but with a caterpillar in the lead role.
Anyone said “slowly”, yet? 
“a told b and b told c, I’ll meet you at the top of the coconut tree. Whee! said d to e f g…”
Imagine my surprise when, 10 years after I’d stopped reading it to my son, I opened it for my daughter and knew every, single, word. My son (then 13), stuck his head into the room in amazement. Even my cadence was exactly the same! Of course, it helps that it’s an amazingly well done sing songy kind of book. One of my favorites, too.
(Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom, natch.)