Reading is an essential life skill that most children are able to develop with the help and encouragement of their parents, family and teachers. You can never start too early when it comes to reading with your child. Believe it or not, it is suggested that parents start reading to their children before birth! Whilst in the womb your child is able to recognise patterns of sound and intonation from outside of the womb, by reading to your bump you are  building your little ones familiarity of your voice and others too. Reading to your bump is an excellent way in which to bond with your child before birth, this can be extended to Fathers and siblings to be too.

It is important to model an enthusiasm for reading by demonstrating to your children  that you (their parent) enjoy and actively take part in reading. Your children look up to you as their role models and tend to copy and repeat the behaviour and activities that you carry out.

Reading is a key tool for developing imaginative and creative thinking skills, by reading fiction or non fiction stories to your children, they are then able to use their imagination to conjure up images and pictures which accompany the narrative of the story.

Reading is a critical skill used on a daily basis, whether it’s following instructions to cook a meal or perusing through the local newspaper to find out what activities are taking place nearby, reading enables us to access this information. 

Try to encourage your children to build a love for reading by spending time each day with your little ones reading to them. In order to make this easier for yourself and your child, try to keep a small collection of your little ones favourite reads close to hand. Ideally, try to collect a few hardback board books which can be explored by little ones without potential damage such as ripped/ creased pages. Try to ensure that you enable your children to have open access to reading at all times, although they may not have developed the skills to read alone , they will still enjoy looking at the shapes of words and accompanying pictures, recalling the stories that have been read to them in the past.

Keep either a box full of board books or better still, a floor standing shelf which displays your children’s books by their cover so that your little one is able to recognise the book with ease and select it for reading at leisure.

Mums Baby Magazine put the Great Little Trading Company’s ‘Sling Bookcase’ to the test with a toddler whom has a great love for reading. We put together the bookcase from a flat pack (this was a fairly simple task) and then placed it in the central family room.

Our toddler was delighted with the sling bookcase, firstly he began pointing to all the books that he could see. By having the books in a forward facing position, children are able to see the cover of the book, whereas most bookshelves are designed so that books are slotted in and then only the spine can be viewed.

The Great Little Trading Company Sling Bookcase features one sling (made from cream cotton canvas) which is hung on four wooden rods to create four separate sling shelves that books can be placed into easily. The height of the sling bookcase is ideal for toddlers and children as books are easy to reach. The Sling Bookcase is a freestanding bookcase. However, on the back of the sling bookcase there are two brass hooks which enable parents to bolt the sling bookcase to the wall to prevent any accidents occurring if the bookcase ever was to fall forwards.

The Sling Bookcase was recently featured in the ‘Ideal Home Magazine’, it is not only the ideal bookcase to aid the promotion of reading for little ones but it is also a beautiful piece of furniture for the home. The Sling Bookcase is made from thick MDF, measuring 71cmH x 62cmW x 30cmD and is available in white.

Mums Baby Magazine was greatly impressed by the Sling Bookcase and would like to recommend this product to our readers. We love the fact that children are able to select a book at will without any storage restrictions such as the height of shelves making books inaccessible. We believe that by displaying books by their covers rather than the spines, children will build a pride in their reading material and independence in selecting individual choices for reading. Mums Baby Magazine give the Sling Bookcase 10/10.

Available from ‘Great Little Trading Company’ for £55.00, the Sling Bookcase makes reading accessible at anytime for toddlers and children, aiding little ones to independently select a book and in turn develop their interest and enthusiasm for reading, a critical life skill.