Are you welcoming a new baby into your family and interested in learning how to foster a love of reading in them from the very beginning? Chicago Public Library is here to help you!
Did you know that from birth to age three, children’s brains form 1 million neural pathways per second? These connections build baby’s brain through experiences and interactions with their environment and caregivers. Every time a baby interacts with their world—a parent's smile, a lullaby, a new taste—it helps strengthen these connections.
This is why repetition is so important for babies and young children. By reading the same board book over and over or singing the same songs, baby’s brain is strengthening the connections.
A baby’s earliest relationships and experiences with their parents and other caregivers dramatically influence brain development, social-emotional and cognitive skills, and future health and success in school and life.
Think of these early experiences as the foundation of a house, creating a stable base for future development. A nurturing environment with lots of interaction, play, and positive experiences helps build strong connections in the brain. Learn more here with Zero to Three.
There are many things you can do as a parent in the early years to foster early literacy skills like sharing books every day, playing peekaboo, stacking blocks, singing rhyming songs and narrating everyday tasks and experiences to your little one.
These examples come from a framework used by librarians called Every Child Ready to Read, which recommends that caregivers talk, sing, read, write and play with their young children every day. These five simple, everyday practices help children develop all the foundational early literacy skills.
To learn more, attend one of our Get Ready for Baby programs!
You can also find baby story times specifically designed to build early literacy skills at CPL locations all over the city.