Making Story Time Interesting for Toddlers

Story time is one of the most important times of the day for you and your toddlers. It helps them develop language skills, listening skills and more. Sometimes, it may be hard to get your kids to sit down and listen to you read, but for the most part, toddlers are interested in books.

First thing you need to do is choose books that would be interesting for toddlers to listen to and look at. Don't choose books with a lot of words and minimal pictures, because pictures are important to keep a child interested. Some of the best books are about things toddlers recognize, like babies, colors, Sesame Street, food, Mickey Mouse and cars. One of my favorite books is called "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" because my kids love animals, and the sounds that each of the animals make.

Make reading a book an experience. Show the kids the cover of the book, and say the title in an excited voice. Your voice is the number one factor in keeping kids interesting. If you are speaking and reading in a monotone voice, your kids are going to kid bored, quick. Make sure the kids can see the book and pictures. While you are reading, spend time talking about the pictures in the book. Ask lots of questions, like "Where's the tree in this picture?" or "What color is this?" This not only helps kids gain an understanding of common things, it builds their language skills too. Even if you think it's too complicated for your kids, ask questions anyway. Wait a few seconds for a response. If a child says the correct answers say, "Great job (name), that's right!" Even if they don't say the right answer, correct them with the right answer and continue reading. Use lots of "ups and downs" in your voice, and change your voice if necessary. If you're reading the "3 Little Pigs", you could make your voice sound deep when saying the Big Bad Wolf's lines. This helps keeps the kids interested in the story.

Another great idea for story time is to use puppets. Using puppets when listening to stories on tape is a good idea to keep kids interested. Make the puppet talk, in a different voice than yours if possible. Talk to your kids with the puppet, and usually the kids will talk back to the puppet. This is very entertaining, and a great way to use their imaginations, and yours too.

Once you've lost the kids interest and attention, then it's probably time to move on to another activity. It's not a good idea to try to keep all of the kids sitting in one spot for a long time. Normally, the younger the child, the shorter their attention span is. Don't expect a toddler to sit for 25 minutes while you read book after book. 5-10 minutes is more realistic.

Once you've read the book, add it to your library shelf so that the kids can freely explore the book on their own time.

Remember that story time is an important part of a child's day, whether you are teaching a roomful of toddlers, or just one of your own. Reading is important for kids of all ages, not only toddlers. Children from infancy to elementary school age all should be read to once in a while. Reading to your kids has so many benefits, and it's important to fit it into your schedule everyday.