The Benefits of Picture Books for Toddlers

Little children love books with pictures in them because they are learning what different animals are, learning what people look like and learning who the characters are in books, learning what the different rooms in their home are used for, and learning what food is all about. There are so many different things that toddlers are learning at a young age and it helps if they can understand what pictures go with the story so they can begin to form images in their mind about who and what the different pictures are all about. This is why it’s very critical that parents take the time and read books with pictures to their toddlers, even if they only have one word describing the picture. This is how toddlers begin to understand what each item in their home is used for and what they are used for and that includes hygiene.

Benefits

The average book with pictures usually contains around 500 words and this is good for helping toddlers learn vocabulary skills. Authors who write books that contain pictures, often use words that are very descriptive, rich and engages the child in listening and looking at the pictures in the book. This also helps the child’s vocabulary.

Questions

When a book doesn’t have words and only has pictures, toddlers might decide how the story will end, which can lead to them asking questions. This is more common in books where the pictures are abstract and are hard for little children to understand.

Becoming Aware

Books with pictures encourage children to learn how to develop self-awareness. Before children learn how to read, they respond to the pictures in a book so they can picture themselves in that place and the others around them that live in their lives in the book as well. This is why books with pictures are very important learning tools for developing your child’s mind and mental awareness.

Imagination

When a book doesn’t have words, the book is encouraging the child to participate and use their imagination to see if they can figure out what will happen on the next page. This is why having storytime is good for using books with pictures. The teacher can choose a different person to interpret their version of the story on each page. The main goal is for the reader of the book to become the important figure telling the story while the rest of the children look at them in adoration. A storyteller has to make the story sound so amazing that all the children want the story to keep on continuing.

Theatrics

It’s important to use theatrics when reading because this is what keeps the toddlers attentive and listening to the picture book and eventually they all want to be able to act out or talk about how they feel about what is going on in the story. This is a good opportunity to include a lesson that might be more difficult to teach while the toddlers are still listening.

Picture Books are for All Ages

Certain books with pictures might not seem very appropriate for kids in middle school, but that’s not necessarily always the reason. There is something that is called “The Common Core State Standards”. This continues on into senior year and focuses on introducing different mediums into reading by using very large amounts of images. This skill is highly recommended and “The Common Core” is created to teach older kids to watch for different clues.

Middle schoolers tend to have a larger vocabulary and understand plots and the characters more than toddlers. Middle schoolers can use this to their advantage by pulling context clues out of the very few details that are given.

Inferences

This is close to following clues in context, so older students are taught about how they can make inferences based on the little information that they know. The teacher then stops at different places in the story and asks the students questions about inference in regards to what the students have read so far.

New Perspective

Many times there are more than one main character and students and toddlers can take turns talking about the story from their perspective rather than the character’s perspective. This is called dissecting the book and this helps to articulate certain areas in the plot of the story in a more of a complex way for students.

Many young readers have their favorite storybooks with pictures that have become an important clue in the way a student learns. Just keep in mind that picture books aren’t only for toddlers, they are for older children as well. Students of all ages benefit from books that have become classics.

Books are an important part of your children’s learning experiences. The first books a young baby is going to look at is probably going to be a book that is made from a material that can’t be destroyed. This is how they start to perceive what the items are that they see on a daily basis. As they grow into toddlers, the books are still made somewhat strong but contain more pictures for the opportunity to ask questions. The questions might be about what the characters are doing and why they are behaving in the way that they are.

As your child enters the preschool and grade school years, they are taught that their books have to be taken care of and this is how they learn to broaden their way of talking and thinking. As they pass beyond grade school into middle school, books have become part of every class they take and they are responsible for having their books in class for most of their subjects so they can keep up on their work. There are still pictures in history books and science books and English books as well. Children are more responsible by now and getting ready for the high school years.

Your kids have reached high school and have come along way from that one-year-old who was always grabbing at the book you were reading. They now rely on books and computers to get their homework and studies done and realize that pictures help them understand the context of many subjects. They have a major appreciation of books and you as parents hopefully encourage them on this path from when they were in the toddler zone. Your child has learned a lot and is speaking in a way that sounds very professional as they get ready for college. When your toddler first shows an interest in picture books, never discourage them from learning because reading is something that will build forever. People will always learn something new every day no matter how old they are. Learning is much easier now than 50 years ago because of technology and the answers readily at everyone’s fingertips.