Helping your child learn to read
Your child is learning from the day it is born and, as a parent, you can make a huge difference in teaching your child good language skills that will help them to make sense of their world.

SHARE        LISTEN        TEACH        ENJOY

SHARE

Even very young children can get a sense of enjoyment out of sharing the experience of reading a book with their parents. Children learn to talk before they learn to read, so reading a book together is a great way of talking to your baby about lots of different things. Baby will find the experience enjoyable and learn how books work at a very early age. Best of all, sharing a book together is a fantastic way of being close to your child.

TIPS for SHARING books with your child:

• Pick a peaceful place to read the book so that you and your child don’t get distracted.
• Let your child hold the book and turn the pages with you – they will soon understand that you read a book from the front to the back.
• Talk about the pictures in the book and point out images that your child knows. For example, if there is a picture of a car, ask your child questions like “What colour car do we have?” and “Where do we like to drive in the car?”

LISTEN

Children learn to talk by listening to the people around them. By frequently reading and talking to your child, you will encourage them to respond and join in with their own opinions. Listening and offering praise to your child is a great way of boosting their confidence in their reading skills.

TIPS for LISTENING to your child read:

• Make sure you give your child plenty of time to answer when you ask them a question.
• Teaching your child rhymes and poems is a great way for them to practise familiar language sounds.
• Use books to encourage your child to talk about their feelings and fears about new situations and experiences.
• Let your child make up stories about the characters in the book or ask them what they think will happen next.

TEACH
Even though your child will be taught to read at school, learning to read needs more practice than they will be able to get during the school day. Parents play an incredibly important role in helping their child improve their vocabulary and reading skills, and it’s never too early to start. A recent study showed that children who read to their parents improved their reading more than those who were getting extra support from a teacher in school.

TIPS for TEACHING your child to read:

• Practise the letter-sound relationships your child will learn at school.
• Sing the alphabet while pointing to each letter on an alphabet chart.
• Encourage your child to read all sorts of different reading material – newspapers, magazines, the internet, as well as books.

TIPS for ENJOYING reading with your child:

• Sing along to nursery rhymes and use funny voices and sounds. As your child gets more familiar with the rhymes they will begin to join in.
• Novelty books with pop-ups, flaps and textured finishes can be a great way to get your child interested in books.
• Encourage your child to act out their favourite stories and, as they get older, write their own.
• Make a collage of the alphabet by cutting up old papers or magazines. For example, if your child loves animals, try making an animal alphabet – a is for antelope, b is for bird, etc.
  

Try these Little Tiger recommendations for KIDS WHO LOVE…

ADVENTURE
The Dark, Dark Night
Ted, Bo and Diz - The First Adventure
A Long Way From Home

MAKING MISCHIEF
The Three Horrid Pigs and the Big Friendly Wolf
The Monkey with the Bright Blue Bottom (shortlisted for the Sheffield Children’s Book Award 2008)
Dirty Bertie (winner of the Nottingham Children’s Book Award and the Gold Award of the Norfolk Libraries Children’s Book Award)
Pooh! Is That You, Bertie?

CHRISTMAS
One Magical Christmas
The Christmas Angels
A Christmas Wish
I’ve Seen Santa!
One Snowy Night
The Very Snowy Christmas

COUNTING
Ten Friendly Fish
Hopping Mad!
Ten Tiny Tadpoles (winner of Practical Pre-school Gold Award)
Ten Wriggly Wiggly Caterpillars (winner of Practical Pre-school Gold Award)

STICKERS Ready Steady Read series Laura’s Star Sticker Activity Book Little Tiger’s Sticker Activity Book Santa’s Sticker Activity Book MAGIC The Wishing Star Little Bear and the Wishing Tree A Christmas Wish The Wish Cat and try these sweeteners for KIDS WHO HATE… BEDTIME Bedtime for Little Bears I Love You, Sleepyhead Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones I Love You As Big As the World Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

BATHTIME
Dirty Bertie (winner of the Nottingham Children’s Book Award and the Gold Award of the Norfolk Libraries Children’s Book Award)
I don’t want to have a bath! (winner of the Nottinghamshire Children’s Book Award)
Little Bunny’s Bathtime!

SCHOOL
Laura’s Star and the New Teacher

SHARING
Little Bear’s Big Jumper
The Wishing Star
The Very Greedy Bee

For the complete list of award-winning Little Tiger books, click here.

Drawing on her experience as a teacher, we asked Elizabeth Baguley a few questions about her feelings on teaching children to read.

Activity Sheets

Fred the little bear wants to hatch an egg. But bears don’t have eggs, do they? Fred learns all about nurturing in this humorous introduction to the natural world.
These downloadable activity sheets will give you some fantastic spring planting ideas and will help you teach your children all about plants, seeds and animals that come from eggs.

For other activity sheets go to our Kids’ Corner.

Picture Books and CD Sets

A series of audio books with wonderful, witty narration by Jason Isaacs, Craig Kelly, Helen Lederer, Doon Mackichan, Leslie Sharp and Jamie Theakston, plus original music and sound effects. Click the discs to find out more.

Explore this website with your child The Little Tiger website is aimed at both adults and children. If you and your child like to surf the Internet together, a good place to start is Kids’ Corner. There are games, puzzles and colouring pages, as well as computer wallpaper and a screensaver to download. If your child wants to find out more about the people who created their favourite books, visit our Authors & Illustrators section and read the interviews and biographies. And don’t forget to visit our Competitions page where you can enter our monthly competition.

For help in locating the perfect book visit If you liked, you’ll love…

See our Submission Guidelines and Tips
for aspiring authors and illustrators.