This post may contain affiliate links. If you choose to make a purchase through these links, I earn a small commission at no cost to you. I do not promote anything I do not believe in or stand behind.
My daughter is a busy and curious 2 ½ year old, but then again, which almost 3 year old isn’t!?
I love reading books to young children! As a former elementary school ESL and reading teacher, I know just how important it is to bring books into children’s lives and show them the importance of literacy. Reading books to children is essential for their development and helps create a love for reading in the future. Reading books to children touches their lives for a lifetime.
There’s something so special about sharing a favorite story (perhaps one from your childhood) with your child. You are impacting your young child in such a positive way, cultivating a desire for literacy and surrounding him/her with books.
Since my daughter is so busy, I needed to find ways to keep her engaged in a story so we could finish it. Reading is important to me and I want my children growing up seeing books as a way to be entertained & even a way to learn something new, especially in a world surrounded by screens & video games. These are the ways in which I keep my daughter engaged during storytime in our house.
Stock your home library with interactive books.
Lift-the-flap Books
Lift-the-flap books spark curiosity (What’s behind the flap?) and engage tactile learners, which is my daughter. She loves lifting the flaps to reveal the answer to a question.
Books with Buttons & Sounds
Books that contain buttons to push are a favorite in our house. It keeps my daughter interested in the book because she knows there are buttons to push on each page. The sounds bring the books to life. We like to keep a few of these types of books in the car to keep our toddler occupied on long car rides or while running errands. Our favorites are Farm Sounds and Garden Sounds.
Touchy-Feely Books
The That’s Not My series and Poppy and Sam’s Animal Hide and Seek from Usborne Books & More are our favorite touch and feel books. These books engage your toddler’s sense of touch and build his/her descriptive vocabulary. While these books are categorized for babies, my daughter still enjoys reading them. In fact, she takes pride in reading them to her baby brother.
Make story time an active experience.
This is especially fun when the books are about animals or weather. Get your child working on their gross motor skills while jumping like a frog or stamping like an elephant. Act out the rain by reaching arms up and bringing them down while moving fingers like raindrops. Make the wind by swinging arms from one side to the other. Any and all opportunities you can get your toddler moving during storytime only makes the experience more fun and engaging for him/her!
Read books with a prop.
Wear glasses, hats, scarves or jewelry while reading a book. If reading a book about a firefighter, get your toddler to wear a fireman’s hat. Use a puppet or stuffed animal to help you read the story.
One of our favorite ways to enjoy a book is with a flashlight! Secrets of the Apple Tree is our current book of choice. My toddler loves to reveal the hidden pictures with her flashlight.
Choose books that align with your toddler’s interests.
My toddler is interested in dinosaurs, birthday parties and school at the moment. Therefore, I try to read books that match those current interests. Her interests change constantly so visiting the local library is a weekly experience for us. I enjoy giving my daughter an opportunity to pick out books to read at home. She takes pride in picking out new books each week and is excited to read them!
Name and describe things they see in the pictures.
We like to name the characters the people in our family. I ask, “What is Mommy doing in this picture?” or “Where are Mommy and Jemma going in this picture?” We talk about what is happening, what the characters are doing, where the characters are going, and how the characters feel on each page. We identify colors, count items on each page, and look for shapes.
Point and ask questions.
This goes along with the previous idea, but is more along the lines of “I Spy”. Tell your toddler, “I spy a soccer ball.” Then he/she searches the illustration for a soccer ball. Or you can simply say, “Find the…”
Use different voices for each character and read with expression.
I will be the first to admit that my husband is much better at doing this than I am. He changes his tone of voice for each character, raises his voice when the characters are excited and talks in a sad voice when the characters are unhappy. I do try to read the story with expression, reflecting the emotions of the characters. I also change the speed of my reading to match the story. If the character is really excited about something, I tend to read the words faster. If the character is sad about something, I tend to read the words slower.
Take a basket of books and read in different places.
We keep a basket of books in several places. We have baskets in the living room, basement playroom, bedrooms and the car. When we designed our toddler’s bedroom, we created a little reading nook with pillows, a chair and some stuffed animals. Sometimes, we will take a blanket or large mat outside to a shady spot and read books under the shade of a tree.
Read books with repetitive and predictable text.
Toddlers love the comfort and familiarity of hearing the same story and text multiple times. This helps them develop their knowledge of language and how it works.
Make books accessible.
Placing baskets of books in a spot that can be reached by your toddler encourages him/her to grab a book. Spending time visiting the library provides your toddler with an abundance of free books he/she can borrow.
Substitute the name of your toddler for the main character. Use other friends and family members as characters in the text.
I mentioned this above, but my daughter loves when I use her name in the story! It makes her feel special and she will ask, “What is Jemma doing?” Hearing her name, and the names of friends and family members, makes her happy and excited to read the story with me.
There are many ways to engage your toddler during storytime at home. Toddlers are busy, curious and active little creatures! All of the above tips make storytime a fun and exciting time in our home.
What does storytime look like in your house? Do you have any other tips or ways you engage your toddler during a story? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!
Click on the books below to join my VIP Reader Group for even more tips and tricks for the young readers in your life, new book sneak peeks, peeks inside our books, specials and, of course, giveaways!
Great article! I agree that reading is so important and want my daughter (2yo) to love reading as much as I do! I have been reading to her since I was pregnant. Now that she is two it has been difficult to get her finish a book but I love the ideas you provide. Especially the flashlight because lets face it ALL kids love flashlights!
That’s wonderful!! My daughter was a challenge to read with from 18 months to about 2 1/2 so I was trying everything I could to keep her engaged in a story! Using props like flashlights are so fun for toddlers and young readers!!
I loved the cute pictures in this post that helped me get an idea of what kinds of books you were talking about. I used to work in the library systems and reading to children is so incredibly important. It is most important to be done at home and the best part is that you don’t even have to own books to fill a house with them! Thanks for the great read and reminder that there are more literacy advocates out there! Keep up the great work!
Thank you so much for your comment!! As a former reading teacher, I am always advocating for more reading at home. Libraries are such a WONDERFUL resource for books and we visit ours quite often for storytime and to check out new books. It truly is amazing what our little ones learn from reading with others. They are such little sponges 🙂