Reading to a 3yo?

[pbreffe]

My dd LOVES it when we read to her. She is very bright for her age and has been talking in complete sentences for well over a year. She picks up on so much stuff it's amazing!

Would it be too early to start reading her chapter books? As in like a read out loud time for her? Or is that still too young for them to comprehend? (without pictures! )

[NannyL]

There's a really easy way to find out. Start reading a chapter book to her and see if she stays interested. I'd pick one that's about something she's naturally interested (fantasy, or animals, or wherever her interests lie), and one that you really like and remember, so you're excited about it, and maybe to start out with, one with a story that she's familiar with (if possible).

With the picture books that you read now, how much text is on a page? If it's a lot and it keeps her interest pretty well, then chapter books would be the next logical step. Does she remember parts of the story the next day?

[Aliviasmom]

I think I, personally, would start with "easy readers" that have a lot more words on the page, but still contain a lot of pictures. I would then, slowly build up to chapter books, maybe children's stories that have movies made out of them? Like Charolette's Web or Where the Red Fern Grows. I would make sure to stop often and talk about what's going on. Maybe incorporate other lessons into it, like drawing pictures of what she thinks Wilbur looks like, etc.

[NoHiddenFees]

What types of books are you reading now? I found Beatrix Potter, Judy Sierra's Nursery Tales from Around the World and Can You Guess My Name?, and Shirley Hughes' Alfie books to be good transition material. If you're already reading that kind of stuff, I'd go for the chapter books. I'm not partial to reading Easy Readers aloud because they're designed with limited vocabularies for new readers, and even young children usually have more advanced vocabularies than these books. There are a few exceptions: for example, Frog and Toad can be wonderful books to share because they're great springboards for conversation. It's amazing what Lobel accomplished with those books.

[glendora]

Originally Posted by Aliviasmom

Where the Red Fern Grows.

!

That seems like too much for a 3 year old. Heck, I bawled at 8, when a teacher read it outloud to my class.

[Grumpy72_ga]

We read to our dd from she was teeny tiny and around the age of about 3-4 the stories seemed to stop being long enough. We tried chapter books a couple times and she wasn't really into them at first - so my dh would read to her a book he really enjoyed and in some cases it was necessary to summarize the page just to make it move quicker. So that might be one technique to try. And don't get discouraged if she your dd doesn't take to it right away! It is kinda the next logical step though!

[dharmamama]

I read Ramona the Pest to my dd when she was 3 and she loved it. That was her entrance into chapter books, and she loves them. The best chapter books for young kids are extremely simple storylines, such as Magic Treehouse, or things like Ramona Quimby books or Pippi Longstocking, which are basically a bunch of short stories in one book. As Ramona has matured (she is now a matronly 5 years old) we have branched out to more complext stories, such as Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, The Cricket in Times Square, Rabbit Hill, etc.

[sewingmama]

Sure, why not try a chapter book and see how it goes? I read Little House in the Big Woods to my DD at age 3, and we'd read (and she had listened eagerly to) the Winnie the Pooh books before that. If your DD enjoys the books, sure, I vote for reading them.

[moominmamma]

There are lots of books that make good stepping stones to proper chapter books. Books of "linked stories" (same characters in each chapter but without an overall plot), like Michael Bond's "Paddington" stories, the A.A. Milne "Winnie the Pooh" or the "All-of-a-Kind Family" stories by Sydney Taylor. Books of short stories or story excerpts, like "Stories for Four-Year-Olds" edited by the Blishens. Decent fairy tale compilations, like the Lang ones published by Dover or the Oxford Treasury retold by Geraldine McCaughrean.

A great first chapter book is "Three Tales of My Father's Dragon." My kids all listened to that around or just before their fourth birthdays.

Miranda

[Thalia the Muse]

I'm not partial to reading Easy Readers aloud because they're designed with limited vocabularies for new readers, and even young children usually have more advanced vocabularies than these books.

I agree. I also agree that Frog and Toad are pretty good, and would add George and Martha -- I quite enjoy those! Mr. Putter and Tabby is also a good "easy reader" series for reading aloud; Rylant's language is very graceful.

[molarmama]

I've read a number of chapter books with my 4 year old. While my son loved them and has listened very intensely, I found the subject matter to be more than I was ready to answer questions about. We read Charlottes Web, Little House in the Big Woods, Stuart Little (actually this one was ok), Socks (also mild), The Jungle Book, The Indian in the Cupboard and others. Almost all of them had some element of death in it. How do you explain to a 4 year old, that the cute little pig was too small so they almost killed him. Or how do you explain scalping and why indians did it. I put them on hold for awhile. My son listened too well and always wanted answers. The Ramona books were cute, but the subject matter got older as she got older. I started skipping parts in Ramona and Her Father because I didnt want to get into the dad losing his job and them not having enough money. For my son, this would have introduced another thing for him to worry about. I think this would be a great idea if you had the time to preview the books ahead of time. I just found very few that were interesting, but didn't involve adult issues.

[rbeaufoy]

we just started reading chapter books (the first from the My Fathers Dragon series and the first from the Magic Treehouse Series) to my not quite 3 year old and he's DIGGING it!! I agree with everyone who has said just try it and see if she stays interested. You'll know pretty quickly if she's ready. If you can, read ahead a bit so that you know if there's anything you feel you need to edit while you're reading it to your dc.

R

[dharmamama]

Socks (Beverly Cleary) is a GREAT book! It's very gentle and sweet. (However, I know some people don't like it because the baby sleeps in a crib and is fed a bottle.) My kids have ADORED this book, and even my dh remarked that "Only someone who loves cats could have written this book. No one else would really understand how a cat thinks and feels."

Oh, and the boy calls his sister stupid in the first chapter.

[Ngandee]

I have had great success with the Ricka Flika and Dicka series with my dd3. I could have asked the same question about my daughter. Right now, I am reading longer but appropriate picture books to her. I find that classic books offer a richer vocabulary. I'm also going to try Milly Molly Mandy. I read a bit of it when she was younger and not ready for it. The only thing I am going to do this time is refer to the child as simply Milly. Anyone else become annoyed with having to read aloud the name Milly Molly Mandy?

Nina
http://preschoolathome.typepad.com/

[ZanZansMommy]

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[mama2mygirl]

I started reading chapter books to my dd when she was two. She's always been able sit and listen to a book for a long time. I really believe it depends on the child.

[Thalia the Muse]

For people who want "gentle" chapter books -- check out Johnny Gruelle's "Raggedy Anne and Andy" books. They are completely inoffensive -- any time characters have a conflict, it's immediately resolved via "kindliness." So much so that the only way he can sustain interest in the story is by having many scenes of gluttony with cream puffs, and lots of wish fulfillment and picnics.

As an adult I find them cloying, but the art is beautiful and small children LOVE them.

[MamaPam]

We've read Paddingtion Bear Stories and Winnie-the-Pooh. We started reading Beverly Cleary's Ralph S. Mouse but didn't get around to finishing it before it went back to the library. We also have some shorter chapter books-easy readers that she likes as well. There is a series about a pig names Mercy Watson that she loves.

-Pam