Reading. I feel like it’s something that you either hear adults say “I love it!” or “I hate it!”
Personally, I find a lot of enjoyment from sitting down with a good book. I could totally kill an entire afternoon with a cup of coffee and a book I just can’t put down!
My love for reading was definitely one established from childhood, and it’s something that I want for my girls too!
I knew that if I wanted my kids to enjoy reading, I needed to start early and work on it often!
So, that is exactly what we’ve done!
And guess what.
She LOVES books and LOVES reading.
I know that it can be difficult to always sit down and read a book to your kids!
You are busy!
There is dinner to make, and laundry to be folded. Gymnastics to get to. A mess to be cleaned up!
I get it! But what if I told you that sitting down and reading to your kids is only HALF of it.
YES! It is SO important and I have spent countless hours sitting in the floor with babies on my lap reading books over and over and over!
But there is one trick that can help your kids to love reading that doesn’t involve you wearing out your vocal chords.
Are you ready?
It’s SO easy. You won’t believe it!
Make books accessible to your kids!
That’s it.
Make it EASY for your toddlers and babies to be around books, explore books, and look at them by themselves.
And guess what.
That means the best place for your kids books are not neatly placed on a bookshelf in rainbow order.
Sorry, The Home Edit! Your visually appealing method doesn’t work in my house!
So, you may be wondering, “How do I keep books where my toddlers can have access to them?”
Here is my quick answer and one that works splendidly in our house!
Book baskets!
In all of the main areas of our home we have large wicker baskets filled with books.
The baskets are all sitting on a super low shelf so that the girls can dig through them to their hearts content. They pull out books and sit down on the floor right beside them to read them to themselves!
A lot of the time, Rosy will go get the book she wants and bring it to me and ask me to read it to her.
You’re probably wondering how we keep books from being worn out by storing them this way.
Here’s the thing. We don’t.
The books get worn out! Their covers get frayed and their pages may get bent.
But guess what. My 2 year old knows over 100 books basically by heart. She is really absorbing the knowledge that they contain!
What’s the use of even having books if your kids can’t get to them? Or if you don’t encourage them to use them because they’re a pain to always put back on the shelf?
We may have baskets full of worn out books in a couple of years, but we’ll have two kids who LOVE reading.
That is a HUGE WIN!
Obviously, books that are borrowed or from the library do not go in our baskets.
Our girls aren’t quite old enough to have free reign over those yet.
Go try out book baskets in your house today!
Quit constantly putting books back on the shelf and let your kids read to their hearts content!
They’re going to love it! You’ll love how much they’re reading too!
If you’re wondering about what books to get for your baby or toddler, check out these posts!