Why you should read to your baby

Can I really read to a baby? The simple answer is yes, absolutely you can and absolutely you should!

Reading to your baby has many benefits. Even though your baby won’t understand early on what you’re reading, they are gaining so much from this shared experience with you in terms of developing a secure attachment, developing social skills and of course language and cognitive skills. Your baby will love hearing your voice as you share the story and, enjoy looking at the pictures. Baby books with sensory bits to touch are fabulous, as babies love having something to feel and really bring the experience of reading together to life. Did you know that if you read just one book to your little one each day, they will have read 1825 books by their 5th birthday!

But not only that, we can actually help develop our child’s early reading skills from birth too. The first colours that a baby will see are red, black and white and high contrast images are great for developing pre-requisite reading skills. The My Mummy Teacher My First Sensory Cards are the ideal companion to support your baby to do this. By using one of the black, red and white flashcard images you can help to support their tracking skills, enhance their attention skills and develop visual discrimination. These are all pre-requisite skills to reading (the bit that comes before the actual reading skill!) and it’s so important to truly master these. Simply hold the card in front of your baby’s face and encourage them to track it left to right as you slowly move the card, use it as visual propped up for them to look at during nappy changes, or bring the card forwards and away from their face slowly.