Helping Children
Ages
0-24 Months
Build Reading Skills Through Everyday Moments
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Even before babies can speak, they are learning how conversations work. When your baby babbles, smile, respond, and take turns "talking" with them. This back-and-forth interaction helps them understand that communication is a shared experience. These early conversations lay the foundation for language development, listening skills, and future reading success.
You don't need a special lesson plan to support language development. Talk with your child while making meals, folding laundry, riding in the car, or getting ready for bed. Describe what you're doing, ask simple questions, and respond to their sounds and gestures. Frequent conversations help children hear more words and make connections between language and everyday experiences.
Children learn language by hearing words connected to real-life experiences. As you visit familiar places, name them aloud: "We're at the grocery store," or "Now we're walking into the library." Repeating these words helps children build vocabulary and understand the world around them. Over time, they'll begin to recognize and anticipate familiar locations.
Use dinner or another family routine as a time to talk about everyone’s day. Even if your baby cannot answer yet, they benefit from hearing people share stories, feelings, and familiar words. Over time, these conversations help children understand turn-taking, daily routines, and the rhythm of family communication.
Use the weather as an easy opportunity to introduce new words. Instead of only saying, “It’s cold,” try words like chilly, freezing, windy, sunny, cloudy, or rainy. Using different words to describe the same idea helps babies hear richer language and begin noticing their environment.
Make a habit of naming the objects your child sees and touches throughout the day. Words like refrigerator, sidewalk, spoon, blanket, stroller, and elbow may seem ordinary, but they help build your child’s vocabulary. The more often children hear words connected to real objects, the easier it becomes for them to understand and eventually use those words.
Talk through everyday routines as they happen. While preparing food, getting dressed, or cleaning up, describe your actions with simple language like, “I’m slicing the apples,” or “Now we’re putting on your socks.” Narrating routines helps children connect language with actions, order, and familiar daily experiences.
Talk with your child in the language that feels most natural and comfortable for you. Babies can learn more than one language, and hearing rich conversation in any language supports brain and language development. Speaking your home language also helps children stay connected to family, culture, and the people who love them.
Turn a walk around the neighborhood into a simple language-building activity. Talk about what you see, hear, smell, and feel, such as birds singing, leaves moving, or flowers blooming. Sensory walks help babies notice the world around them while hearing new words connected to real experiences.
You do not have to read every word on the page for book time to be meaningful. Point to the pictures, name what you see, and describe what is happening. Talking about pictures helps babies connect words, images, and ideas.
When your child brings you a book or shows interest in reading, respond when you can. Even a few minutes of shared reading helps your child learn that books are enjoyable and worth exploring. Following your child’s lead also builds positive feelings around reading.
Board books are a great choice for babies and toddlers because they are sturdy and easy to handle. Young children may throw them, bite them, tap them, or turn the pages back and forth. This kind of exploration is part of learning how books work.
Babies and toddlers often enjoy hearing the same book many times. Repetition helps them recognize familiar words, sounds, pictures, and story patterns. Reading the same book again and again builds comfort, confidence, and early language skills.
Babies and toddlers may only sit with a book for a very short time, and that is okay. Let reading be relaxed, flexible, and child-led instead of forcing them to finish the whole book. Even brief reading moments help build familiarity with books and language.
Allow your child to hold the book, turn the pages, and explore it in their own way. They may hold it upside down, skip pages, or go back to the same picture again and again. Giving them control helps them feel confident and engaged with books.
As you read, pause to point to pictures and name what you see. You might say, “That’s a dog,” “The baby is sleeping,” or “Look at the big red ball.” This simple habit helps babies connect spoken words with objects, actions, and meaning.
Use a familiar tune to sing about simple routines, like brushing teeth, changing clothes, or washing hands. For example, you can sing, “This is the way we brush our teeth,” while helping your child through the activity. Matching words to actions helps babies connect language with everyday experiences.
Sing familiar children’s songs like “Old MacDonald,” “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” “The Ants Go Marching,” and “Wheels on the Bus.” Add animal sounds, hand motions, claps, or simple gestures to help your child participate. Repeating these songs helps babies hear rhythm, patterns, and new words in a playful way.
You can sing while cooking, bathing, cleaning up, or riding in the car. The song does not have to be perfect or planned; you can simply make up words about what you and your child are doing. These small singing moments add more language to your child’s day.
Babies often enjoy hearing the same songs again and again. Repetition helps them recognize familiar words, sounds, and patterns. Singing the same songs can also be comforting and help create predictable routines.
Turn the letters in your child’s name into a simple song. For example, you might sing, “There’s a happy little boy named Paul, P-A-U-L, Paul is his name.” Hearing their name in a song helps children connect letters, sounds, and personal meaning.
Sing the A-B-C song, nursery rhymes, silly songs, or any songs your family enjoys. These songs help babies hear the sounds, rhythm, and repetition of language. Nursery rhymes are especially helpful because they introduce rhyming words and playful sound patterns.
Clap along while singing a song or reading a rhythmic book. The clapping helps your child feel the beat of language and notice patterns in sounds. Rhythm activities support listening skills and early awareness of how words are made.
Your baby does not need a perfect singing voice. They love hearing your voice because it is familiar, comforting, and connected to you. Singing builds language, bonding, and joy, even when the song is simple.
When reading books about animals, pause to make the animal sounds together. Point to the animal, name it, and say the sound clearly, like “The cow says moo.” This keeps reading playful while helping your child connect words, pictures, sounds, and meaning.
Use stuffed animals, dolls, or simple toys to act out a story your child enjoys. You can move the toys, use different voices, and repeat familiar parts of the story. Acting out stories helps babies and toddlers connect language with action, imagination, and early storytelling.
Place sturdy books near your child’s toys so books feel like a natural part of playtime. Let your child reach for books, carry them, open them, and explore them alongside their favorite toys. Keeping books within reach helps children see books as familiar, enjoyable objects.
Let your child play with sturdy books by stacking them, carrying them, opening them, or even building a small tower and knocking it down. This kind of exploration helps babies and toddlers become comfortable handling books. When books are part of play, children begin building positive feelings about reading.
Hold your baby in front of a mirror and ask, “Where is [Baby’s Name]?” When your baby looks or reacts, smile and say, “There you are!” Mirror play supports bonding, attention, self-recognition, and early back-and-forth communication.
Resources From RAB Partners
The Daniel Tiger for Parents app is a completely free, bilingual (English and Spanish) tool developed by PBS KIDS. Designed specifically for caregivers, it puts dozens of strategy songs, supporting video clips, and expert parenting tips right at your fingertips to help toddlers manage emotions and everyday challenges.
Additional Resources
