Reading to Your Baby

Reading to your baby is a way to spend special time with her. And it is one of the best ways to help your baby learn. Read to her every day.

When you read to your baby, you are helping her learn new words. Reading to her lets her know that books and reading are important. Reading to her now will help her do well in school later on.


At this age, your baby can pay attention for only a short time. Read only a few pages to her with lots of large, colorful pictures. She loves to have you read the same book over and over. Hearing the words over and over helps her to become familiar with them. She will begin to point to pictures to get you to name them for her.

Your baby likes to touch things. You can make a book for her with different pictures of her favorite things. Cover the book in plastic. She will like to feel it. You can paste pictures onto sheets of paper in the book. Use pictures of toys, family members or friends, foods, flowers or other things she likes. It will make her happy to look at these pictures and to feel the pages. She will like to listen to you as you talk to her about them.

You can even make a book of textures. Paste pieces of fabric onto the pages. You can use fabrics that are rough, bumpy and scratchy. You can add fluffy, stretchy and other kinds of fabrics. You can even paste in a piece of leather or some soft fur. This can be her special book. She will enjoy handling its pages. The important thing is to spend time reading to her every day. Reading to her is good for both of you.

Do you want to learn to read better? A public library might be able to help. You can also call America’s Literacy Directory at 1-800-288-8813 to find out about programs in your area that help people learn to read. The call is free.