Early childhood education doesn’t just start at the preschool level, but rather as soon as that child is brought home. The birth-to-three years old period is actually the fastest growing rate of brain development across all of human life. Reading aloud to your children will help stimulate their overall brain development. Despite the cognitive benefits of reading, only 50% of parents routinely read to their infants and toddlers.
Reading to your babies is also a great way to implement individualized infant care for your child. Here are a few must-have baby books that you can read to your infants.
Anything by Dr. Seuss
Dr. Seuss books do a fantastic job of mixing education, entertainment, and creativity that can benefit children in just about any decade. Dr. Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904 to 1991) was a writer and illustrator who published 60 children’s books that have been found on family bookshelves across the world. The illustrations are bright, creative, colorful, and fun, and are easily recognizable for children of all ages. Dr. Seuss’s rhyming style provokes children to work out their memory muscles as well.
Dr. Seuss’s Sleep Book and the famous The Cat in the Hat are two great first reads.
How a Baby Grows, by Nora Buck
Reading to babies about babies — is there a cuter sentence in existence? This book will help give your child a better understanding of what they actually are: an adorable little baby. An added bonus is that this book is entirely written in rhyming couplets that make it both simple for your child to understand and cognitively stimulating.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle
This book is filled with excellent collages and simple, yet memorable stories, that have been loved by millions of readers since the late 1960s. Your child will love all the pictures and might even develop a lifelong appreciation for caterpillars. The book follows the life of a newborn caterpillar throughout his snap trail. You and your baby will have a wonderful time adventuring through a slice of cake, an ice-cream cone, a slice of Swiss cheese, some candy, a watermelon, and even a pickle. (SPOILER ALERT) The caterpillar eventually transforms into a beautiful butterfly, which will plant the seed of excitement into your child’s brain about the future when they can finally be a grownup (butterfly).
It’s important that along with reading to your baby, you take advantage of individualized infant care plans and daycare centers. These centers and programs will give you a much better idea of how to stimulate your infant’s brain in addition to reading these stories. If you want to learn more about individualized infant care, contact Growing Room Child Development Centers today!
