Read a Story to a Child
Open the book and give the first character a voice. Within a page or two, a child may be predicting the ending, correcting your sound effects or studying an illustration you nearly turned past. Reading aloud makes a story something built together rather than delivered from one person to another. Children hear vocabulary and sentence patterns in books that may not appear in everyday conversation. Expression, pauses and pictures help them follow meaning, while repeated refrains give even a pre-reader a part to perform. BookTrust recommends knowing the book first, choosing something suitable and letting enjoyment lead instead of turning the session into a test. Ask the child or their parent what they enjoy, pre-read the story and choose a comfortable time without competing screens. Let questions interrupt the pace, stop if attention has gone and respect safeguarding boundaries when reading outside your own family. Ten engaged minutes can be enough. Add this to your list and let the child choose the book you would never have selected.