concentrate.
• It teaches him to listen with
attention (he develops listening
skills).
• It develops his vocabulary and
comprehension skills.
• It broadens his world of
experience.
• It stimulates his imagination.
• It teaches him to think in the
abstract.
• It helps him to gradually develop
an ability to use symbols.
• It helps him understand causes,
motives and reasons, and to
foresee consequences.
• It gives him an opportunity to hold
conversations.
• It teaches him to make choices.
• It helps him build self-confidence.
• It gives him the pleasure of
sharing laughter and enjoyment
with you.
• It gradually teaches him to read.
CHOOSING BOOKS AND
STORIES
You should be very selective with your
choice of books for your baby. They
should be simple, but contain brightly
coloured illustrations. At an early age
a baby can follow your finger as you
read from a book. Books should be
easy to handle and not be easily torn.
Hard cardboard and plastic books are
ideal choices. Books that make sounds
and flaps with hidden illustrations
fascinate infants and are ideal to keep
them interested, develop listening
skills and encourage speech.
Do not force your infant to listen to
stories. He will soon let you know what
he likes and dislikes.
First read very short stories, but
read them regularly. Stories with a
strong element of repetition work well.
Remember that young children have a
very short attention span.
Infants enjoy books with pictures
depicting funny scenes, and this can
be used to encourage a sense of
humour. From the age of one, children
begin to see a connection between
things they see in books and their
environment. For this reason, books
that depict everyday scenes, for
example a baby bathing, rooms in a
house, going shopping and playing in
the park are particularly suitable.
Young children like to be in the
story themselves. Substitute the name
of the character in the book with your
child’s name, especially if it is a story
with an everyday scene or activities
with which he can identify. Always
bear in mind that children understand
many more words than they can say.
They also enjoy trying to pronounce
more difficult words.
Very young children enjoy paging
through books themselves. Give them
enough opportunity to page through