How Much Does Your Kid Read?

752 Views 16 Replies 16 Participants Last post by AmandaClare, Apr 11, 2009

Disco Infiltrator

Discussion Starter · Apr 8, 2009

My DS is just turned 2 y/o. I'm wondering how much other kids around that age are reading and what types of books? Mainly picture books? Lots of words?

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crunchymamatobe

· #2 · Apr 8, 2009

My DS is coming up on 2.5 and "reads" to himself a couple of books a day. He has the words memorized to a lot of his favorites, and so will pull them off the shelf and look at the pictures and recite the words. We read with him at bedtime + three or four more times every day. Mostly picture-heavy books with a few sentences per page.

Books he really likes and will request by name right now include several of the farm life books by Kim Lewis, Molly and the Night Monster (highly highly recommend this one), and books like this one about diggers/construction equipment. We have that particular one right now from the library, plus a couple of similar ones about fire trucks and tractors.

Oh, and the 'wordiest' book that my son will sit through right now is Pancakes for Findus (we have it under the title The Birthday Cake). I am surprised that he likes it, as it is really wordy for a child this age, but the illustrations are wonderful and there's a lot to look at and talk about.

Robbins0614

· #3 · Apr 8, 2009

DS is 22 months and we read all the time. There are days when DH comes home and asks what we did that day and I'll tell him, quite honestly, that we read all day.
It's not unusual for us to sit and read 20 board books or more in one sitting. (When we're not reading he is a very active guy-reading is one of the only times he'll sit still so sometimes I take advantage of that and read extra books since I'm tired!) He'll read picture books and non-fiction books about animals as well. He also looks through his books on his own and he has a fascination with our books as well.
His favorites right now are The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Sheep in a Jeep, Gossie, anything by Sandra Boynton, a non-fiction book about penguins, and a lift the flap book about cars.

Ruthie's momma

· #4 · Apr 8, 2009

2

DD is almost 22 mo. We spend a lot of time reading every day. In fact, she spends more time with her books than any of her toys

. Each morning, after snuggle time, we spend about 45 minutes reading. After that, she loves to use her "colors" and draw. Then, she will go back to reading. She divides her time between reading and drawing, throughout much of the day. She enjoys her books (a mix of board books and story books). But, she also enjoys our books. She will spend a good amount of time looking through our old college textbooks, too. DH and I studied biology and psychology, respectively. So, I am guessing that there are enough interesting pictures...

. DD greets most any and all visitors to our home with a smile, "Hello!" and a book. Then, she will sit beside them (or in their lap, if she knows them well enough), hand them the book, and say, "Read, please!"

Her most favorite physical activity is going on walks.

DD already seems to appreciate the simple pleasures in life!

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mommariffic

· #5 · Apr 8, 2009

Most mornings we sit and have "story time" with a stack of board books, and we repeat this in the evening while dinner is baking. I love to read, and sometimes my daughter will be playing, spot me catching some pages, and will join me to flip through a picture book

tabrizia

· #6 · Apr 8, 2009

We tend to read 20 to 30 books minimum a day at this point in time, okay so a lot of that is the same book 5 times in a row, but we still read a lot. We read both board books and picture books, I've thought about starting on chapter books, but since DS likes you to reread the book numerous times I figured we will wait a bit on chapter books for now.

That being said he doesn't always stay still when you read to him, especially if it is one of his favorite books, or you are on the third repetition or more of the book, he is always listening just sometimes he is also running in circles as he does it.

JamieCatheryn

· #7 · Apr 8, 2009

At 2 DS could not be bothered to sit still for a book. He'd look at picture books like the Richard Priddy ones, and sometimes would tolerate if I read aloud while he played. Closer to 3 he started liking when I tell him stories without a book, but that's hard I don't know that many well enough for that.

Snuzzmom

· #8 · Apr 8, 2009

My 28-month-old loves to read. We start and end our days reading, and he usually takes 3-4 books to bed with him. He doesn't REALLY read, of course, but he has a few books more or less memorized and it is awesome when he decides to read to me.

He isn't much into story books, unless they're very short (Mouse Paint, Freight Train). He LOVES picture dictionaries, anything with animals, anything with transportation vehicles, most things about babies. Oh, and Richard Scarry.

I just pulled out Where The Wild Things Are for him because he really likes monsters, but that's as much plot as he's willing to sit for right now.

Romana

· #9 · Apr 8, 2009

My dd was intensely physically active at that age and not interested in having books read to her. She would "read" books to me occasionally (mostly just page turning, identifying objects), and sometimes I could read one or two pages in a board book, but she is/was a "doer" not a "listener" so there was very little me reading to her.

She's 3 now and if the book really piques her interest (still doing board books or picture books, mostly), she'll have me read it to her several times. Oh, and if it's something she's fascinated by, we'll have to go page by page identifying everything (for example, we have several large adult books on dinosaurs, horses or other animals, and for those she wants me to go through and tell her (or tell me, if she knows) the name of each dinosaur, and talk about its specific characteristics (sharp teeth, eats trees, etc.). But she still almost never wants to be read to.

SparklingGemini

· #10 · Apr 8, 2009

Golly, I read to my DD so much I cannot even keep track. And not only does she like to be read to but she does a lot of independent "reading" as well.

We read when we get up. Then before & after naptime. Again when her daddy comes home. And then right before bed.

Each time we probably read around 10-15 books? Sometimes they are longer, sometimes there will be a handful of board books tossed in. But I would say that we easily read 40+ books a day.

kirstenb

· #11 · Apr 9, 2009

I could spend all my free time reading to DS and he would be as happy as can be. We read a few in the morning right after he wakes up before I go to work, I know they read throughout the day at daycare, and then we spend quite a bit of time in the evenings reading before bed. On the weekends we read quite a bit.

We have a lot of board books, and there are a few storybooks that DS is really starting to enjoy. He has his favorites and we read those every day. I'll often see him paging through a board book on his own.

boigrrrlwonder

· #12 · Apr 9, 2009

It's erratic. Today we probably spent about two hours reading (in about half hour bursts) but some days she's too busy with other things to listen to a story. We mostly read books about trains, trucks, motorcycles, etc... since that's what she's passionate about right now. She also will sit for books with more text if it's rhyming and has a lot of repetition. But we also read a lot of books with only a little text on each page, too.

mamadelbosque

· #13 · Apr 9, 2009

Quite a good bit. Some days he really doesn't want to that much, but mostly I'd say we average 3-5 hours a day reading. Its a lot. Especially in the morning and the evening - during the day, not so much. But lots and lots and lots!!

ETA: As for types, we read a LOT of Dr Suess and other funny rhyming books (Bill Pete for example). And lots and lots and LOTS of Curious frigging George... And then other highly random books from the library (basicly whatever *I* think looks neat/interesting/different, since he's too busy playing when we're at the library to pick out books...). Mostly fiction though, as honestly I find the non-fiction for this age group extremely boring.. and since I'm the one reading, I like to be entertained too.

catina

· #14 · Apr 9, 2009

Just to add. . . it's important not just to read to children, from a young age, but to tell stories. . . and I feel this is a dying art. They absolutely LOVE hearing stories, and this builds an understanding in how narrative works, vocabulary, attention span, etc. I have always had an interest in storytelling, and with my daughter I have been telling stories for ages. She's now 3, but we've been doing this forever. She loves stories from my and my husband's childhoods; fairy tales; synopses of books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory; our made-up stories, just about anything. It really helps get through times when otherwise she would be restless and naughty--meal times, bath time, and also just plain unwinding for bed.

Disco Infiltrator

Discussion Starter · #15 · Apr 9, 2009

Thanks everyone - this is awesome. We too have a strong love of Curious George in the household. Very very strong.

averlee

· #16 · Apr 11, 2009

I think it's reasonable to try to read together every day. My funny little girl loves books, but sometimes doesn't feel like reading much. She's not quite 2 and knows most of her letters by sight, can recognize her name and a few other words, like moo and cat. Obviously l'm very proud. I love to read, sometimes we read every kid's book in the house. She loves if I sit and write with her, draw pictures and write the alphabet and stuff.

AmandaClare

· #17 · Apr 11, 2009

My 18 month old loves his picture books a lot (especially the pet ones), but he also loves his sister's longer, chapter books. He wants to read all the time, and I love it, but I'm trying to work on manners...right now when he wants me to read to him he whacks me in the face with a book while whining. Not very fun.

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