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The Importance of Books and Rhyme for Babies and Toddlers.

There is so much research telling us how important rhymes and stories are for young children, but they really are crucial to development.


“If you are going to get anywhere in life you have to read a lot of books.” – Roald Dahl



The skills of reading and writing fundamentally start from having secure phonological awareness….what’s that?

Phonological awareness is the ability to hear and identify sounds, having an understanding of the structure of sounds and how each sound is broken down to create words. The key areas of phonological awareness are: rhyming, alliteration, syllable blending and segmenting.

For young babies and toddlers the most important part is supporting experiences of rhyme and alliteration and of course love and joy for books.


How can I help my baby or toddler?

Sharing stories with your baby and toddler is significant in promoting your young child’s brain, imagination, language, emotions and strengthening relationships.

The earlier you can establish good strong, healthy reading routines and habits the better….start from birth. Plus your baby will love being in your arms, hearing your voice, listening to rhyme and rhythm and seeing new exciting pages.


Sharing stories with young children does not mean that you have to read a whole book, you could share an audio book, sing rhymes or poems. The more exposure of high quality language and rhyme you can offer your child, the more they will love reading.

Remember to talk to your child about the words you read and pictures you can see…..Describe what you can see. What are the characters wearing? Where is the book set? Would you like to meet these characters? All the time this is building on your child’s language, concentration, imagination and curiosity.


“The more children can play among the waves, the rhythms, the rhymes and the music inherent in spoken language, the more they are developing memory”.

Steven Fry – Fry’s English Delights Radio 4



By sharing stories from such a young age your child will develop the skills and understanding of:

- The value, love and joy books and stories and rhymes can bring

- Sparking imagination

- Support the initial understating of sounds, words and language (very early literacy skills)

- Learn the difference between ‘real’ and ‘make believe’

- Develop an understanding of how to deal with new, frightening, strong emotional events, such as the traditional tales of Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Pigs’.

- Exposure to the world around them, their own culture and other cultures.

- How you hold a book the right way and seeing how you carefully turn the pages

- Exposure to new, rich, language

- Support the understanding of rhyme and alliteration


Top Tips for reading with your baby or toddler

  1. Turn off any devices, allow the room to be quiet and peaceful….snuggle down and get comfortable

  2. Create and embed sharing a book within your daily routine - read every day especially at bedtime

  3. Encourage talk and interest in the book (if a baby; point out key characters, repeat key phrases and words)

  4. Make noises and sound effects to go along with the book- make it fun and enjoyable

  5. Let your toddler choose their own story book for you to read - be warned it may be the same book over and over again!!!

  6. Let your child make up their own stories and change ends, parts of the story - this is extending their own imagination!

“By 3 years of age, there is a 30 million word gap between children from the wealthiest and poorest families. A recent study shows that the vocabulary gap is evident in toddlers. By 18 months, children in different socio-economic groups display dramatic differences in their vocabularies. By 2 years, the disparity in vocabulary development has grown significantly” (Fernald, Marchman, & Weisleder 2013)


Remember to visit your local library!

Local libraries have a wealth of knowledge and resources ….not just books!! They often run small groups for young babies and toddlers, baby story times, rhyme time and sensory exploration. These are a fantastic way to provide your child with early experiences of the library and a social experience for both the adults and children. With the added bonus that you are able to borrow several books for free!!

As your baby grows they will be able to learn how to carefully choose their own books…taking ownership of their choices, enabling them to be excited to get home and explore/read their new books. In my experience, I have barely managed to get outside the library doors before my child has insisted we sit on the library bench to read “just a little, please” of the book!



Here are some recommended reads from my own experience ……


Baby and toddler recommended reads!

‘Dear Zoo’ By Rod Campbell

Excellent to discuss size, weight, predictive language.

‘Peepo’ By Rod Campbell Janet and Alan Ahlberg

A range of great language and talk opportunities for similarities and differences present and past.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear what do you see? By Bill Martin Jr and Eric Carle.

The illustrations are beautiful and lots of repetitive language used throughout

‘Stuck’ By Oliver Jeffers.

This is a funny book! It allows time for your child to think and discuss how they would problems solve, rescuing the items out of the tree!

Ten little Fingers and Ten little Toes By Mem Fox and Helen Oxenbury

This offers interactive early counting!

‘Hug’ By Jez Alborough

This offers early talk and discussion opportunities about and compassion, Self-awareness and emotions.

Each Peach Pear Plum By Janet and Alan Ahlberg

I love this book - it is a classic! What can you spot in the pictures?

‘Ten little Robots’ By Mike Brownlow, Simon Rickerty

This book offers great exposure to number recognition, counting and matching.

Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy By Lynley Dodd.

This is a lovely book, great opportunities to hear rhyme and meet the characters.

’Oi Frog’ By Kes Grey

This book is great fun but also excellent to support rhyming skills.

Black and white Sensory cards

These black and white cards stimulate the development of babies’ early optic nerves and encourage their cognitive development. However, use only for short periods of time as very young babies can be easily over stimulated, a great time to use them could be in ‘tummy time’.

You Choose! By Pippa Goodhart

A way to create and choose your very own world. Expanding on why, how and what language throughout the book. This is an example of a cloth book. Cloth books are soft and very sensory for young babies. You can find them with shiny, crinkly textures and different sounds attached.

Don’t Put Your Finger in the Jelly Nelly By Nick Sharratt

This book is funny and contains lots of fun rhymes!


Anytime is a good time for a book, rhyme or song! On the potty, at bedtime, in the bath or the car, waiting at bus stop... there is no bad place to sing, say rhymes or tell stories.

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