It’s never too early to start reading to your baby. In fact, a recent study by Logan et al (2019) found that reading at least one daily exposes a child to 296,660 words by the time they are five years old! The key is to make the goal more about exploring the book together. Here are 5 of my favorite books for babies as a speech therapist and mom with links included.
Crinkly Books:
The sound feel of these books make then perfect for the littlest readers to explore.
Books that encourage copying
Before your little one starts using words, they need to copy sounds and actions. These books, written by speech therapists, are perfect for encouraging both of those:
Lift-the-flap books
Anything interactive is super engaging for littles ones. These two are perfect for learning about body parts.
Noisy Books
I love these noisy books so much for helping little ones learn to talk! Sounds are building blocks for words and these fun noises will get your little one wanting to copy and try new sounds.
Touch-and-feel books
Anything with big, bright pictures is perfect for your baby and when we add in things to touch and feel, there is even more for your baby to experience and talk about. Here are a few of my favorites:
References:
Logan et al., When Children Are Not Read to at Home: The Million Word Gap. Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics (2019).
