Today’s parents understand the importance of reading to their children early and often. Doing so not only creates a special bonding moment between parent and child, but also lays the groundwork for language development, creativity, and imagination.

But did you know that there is more to reading than simply the act of it? Sara Pollock Demedeiros, Director of Program and Evaluation, of Raising a Reader MA, encourages parents to take reading time one step further. “Make reading interactive,” she says. “[You] want to make children speak.” She explains that getting children talking helps to improve their language skills.

Sara suggests using these type of questions during story time to get your child talking:

• Open-Ended Questions:  Ask questions that require more than a yes or no response, such as “Why do you think the dog looks happy?”
• Recall Questions: Exercise your child’s brain with questions, which require your child to remember what happened in the story.
• Prediction Questions: Urge your child to use his/her creative side by asking what event s/he thinks might happen next.
• Who, What, When, Why, Where, and How Questions: Use simple questions, such as “Who will eat at Mary’s house?” or “Why did the baby cry?” or “What sound does the dog make?”

Extension activities take your reading to a new level and are another way, according to Sara, that reading can be interactive. Extension activities extend the experience of the book after it is finished and help children in numerous ways. Benefits include:

• Getting children excited to read.
• Helping children connect the book to real life.
• Giving children a chance to use language in a new way.
• Providing more time for parent-child interaction.

Putting extension activities to practice doesn’t need to be difficult. Art projects, made-up songs, and nearby field trips easily provide the type of story extension recommended by Sara. Try some of our suggestions for summertime extensions or come up with ideas of your own!

• When reading books with animals, extend the story with a trip to your local zoo. Ask your child to point out animals that s/he saw in the book. Or, for younger children, point out the animals and ask them to make the animal sounds.
• Use art projects as an extension to any book. Take advantage of going outside with a messy art project such as finger painting or sidewalk chalk to up the fun factor. One art project idea: Have your child draw/paint what s/he predicts might happen after the end of the story.
• Send your child outside for a scavenger hunt and have him/her find items from the book and then tell you how those items relate to it.

Want to learn more about reading with your child? Attend one of Raising A Reader MA’s Parent Academy sessions next year. Raising A Reader MA works with over 1000 children and families in Brockton and gives families of young children (newborn to age 5) opportunities to develop, practice, and maintain habits of reading with their young children at home. Our core program model is driven by 25 years of research that show the most significant factor impacting a child’s lifelong success is being regularly read to by a parent or other primary adult caregiver before starting kindergarten. Learn more at www.raisingareaderma.org