Why Read-Alouds Matter: The Benefits of Reading Aloud to Children

There's something different about hearing a story read aloud.

Even children who are beginning to read on their own can enjoy setting aside the work of decoding words for a few minutes and simply listening. They can study the pictures, laugh before you even reach the funny part, interrupt with a theory about what might happen next, or notice something you completely missed.

That kind of shared reading is one of the reasons we love picture books so much at Spinning Wheel Stories.

Reading aloud supports literacy, but it also gives books a social life. A story becomes something to laugh over, talk about, and come back to together.

Reading Aloud Introduces Children to New Language

Children's books often contain words and sentence patterns that do not show up very often in ordinary conversation.

When we read aloud, children hear unfamiliar language in the context of a story, with the illustrations, characters, and events around it providing clues to meaning.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends shared reading with young children and notes its role in language and early literacy development.

That doesn't mean you need to stop every few sentences to define a word. Sometimes the best thing to do is keep reading.

Read-Alouds Leave Room for Conversation

One of our favorite things about reading with children is that they rarely experience a book exactly the way an adult does.

They notice the dog hiding in the corner of the illustration. A character may make them suspicious several pages before you see it coming. A scene might remind them of something that happened at school, which they will happily explain in detail.

Those side conversations aren't getting in the way of the story. They are part of sharing it. They add a layer that didn't exist before the story was read aloud.

A picture book read-aloud gives children an easy way to wonder, make connections, and talk about what they think is happening. And sometimes that conversation continues long after the book has been put away.

Books Can Make Big Feelings Easier to Talk About

Stories let children encounter frustration, embarrassment, disappointment, friendship, and other complicated feelings without having to talk directly about themselves. It can be easier to explain why a character is upset than to explain why you are upset.

We tend to like picture books that trust children with that space. A story does not always need to spell out its lesson. Watching a character struggle, make a mistake, or see something differently may be enough to start a conversation.

Reading Aloud Should Also Be Fun

There is plenty to say about the educational benefits of reading aloud, but we never want to lose sight of a simpler reason to do it: Books are Fun!

Use the silly voice. Pause because someone spotted something hilarious in the illustration. Let your child say the line they already know by heart, and go ahead and read the favorite page (or the favorite book) again, and again. We think that if you're hearing "read it again" immediately after turning the last page, you're doing something right!

We wrote more about that particular childhood habit in why rereading favorite books can be good for kids. Familiar books often become richer rather than less interesting when children return to them.

Children Do Not Have to Sit Perfectly Still to Listen

Some children curl up beside you for a story. Others hang upside down off the couch. Still others draw, wiggle, stretch, or act out the pages while they listen.

We're in favor of letting storytime look like storytime in your house, which might not look anything like story time in somebody else's house.

Books with movement and humor can be especially enjoyable read aloud because children have a way to join in rather than simply listen. That idea comes up often for us, especially with Posey. We wrote about it in our piece on why children need room to move.

Read Imperfectly Perfect Posey With Lizzie Brooks

Imperfectly Perfect Posey: A Wobbly Yoga Story, written by Lizzie Brooks and illustrated by Enni Heikura, begins with a child who is pretty sure yoga is going to be easy.

Her name is Posey, after all.

Then she discovers that poses involve quite a bit of wobbling.

Posey's attempts are funny, but they also leave room to talk about frustration and comparison when something does not come as easily as we expected.

For this read-aloud, children can hear the story directly from its author. On Lizzie Brooks' website, you can find Lizzie's full read-aloud of Imperfectly Perfect Posey.

Hearing the story in Lizzie's own voice lets listeners catch the rhythm and story  as she hears it.

Afterward, you could ask your child:

What is something you like doing even though you don't do it "perfectly"?

Or don't ask anything at all.

Sometimes a good read-aloud can simply be a good read-aloud!