“No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting.” —— Lady Montagu As the summer holidays are coming soon, parents can make use of this time to develop their children’s reading habits. Here are some tips to make the whole process a little easier but also more enjoyable: TIPS Teach your children to be excited about sharing stories. You can encourage them to share the most interesting books they have read with their peers either in gatherings or at community events.
Set a regular reading time at home. You can discuss with your child the best time for you to read together; this should be a special time when you should put aside your work, household chores and mobile phones to conduct fun and diversified reading activities with them. Find age-appropriate books.Children of different ages have markedly varied reading experiences and capabilities. For example, 3-year-old children are more enthused by books with bold, colourful illustrations and rhythmic language. Besides books with repetitive sentence structures that are useful for building understanding, rhythm and overall confidence with reading, children in EY 3 and 4 enjoy books with imaginary, realistic or emotion-based content. To help parents create memorable and enjoyable parent-child reading times, we have selected a range of books to highlight, hoping that they will engage and delight our younger pupils throughout this summer break.
EY1
Who does this belong to?
By Yuqin Huang This book teaches young children how to share and prompts them to become better people. The story centres around a giant hairy bear, living in the forest, who always shouts out: “This is mine!” whenever he sees things that he wants. Other animals in the forest are scared off by him. However, the giant hairy bear is not happy at all when he is the only animal left in the forest. It often occurs to us that children cry “this is mine” when they play with peers, reluctant to share toys or take turns. Parents have to remind their child about being friendly and generous in such cases. In this book, the giant hairy bear corrects his behaviours after reflecting on what he did. As you read with your child, you can discuss with them how they might resolve a similar conflict themselves if there are no adults present.
Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear?
By Eric Carle This was written by Eric Carle, the internationally renowned children’s author who wrote Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The polar bear is a child favourite and one they will have seen in many other books. Through this story, children can guess what Polar Bear has heard. This colourfully illustrated story with rhythmic wordings will not only can make its young readers feel the delight of exploring the story, but it will also help expand their vocabulary regarding animals, as they meet the polar bear, lion, hippo, elephant, leopard, peacock and walrus.
EY2
Ants and a watermelon
By Shigeru Tamura On a hot summer day, four ants find a big slice of watermelon. To take the watermelon back to their home, they call for other ants to help and try all kinds of methods to move it. The ants work so hard to move the watermelon that they eventually taste it and use its skin as a slide. The storybook is illustrated in a simple comic style. Many of the details depicted in it enable children to read it repeatedly without feeling bored. For example, on the page illustrating the ant’s cave, children will discover that ants in different caves are occupied with various tasks and their caves are also stored with different things.
Owl babies
By Martin Waddell Research shows that reading can help children relieve their anxiety. Owl Babies tells a story about three baby owls waking up to find that their mother is gone. The anxious little owls are worried about their mother and snuggle up to each other to wait for her return. As soon as their mother gets back, the little owls flap, dance and bounce to greet her, jumping into her arms. In the process of growing up, children will experience this kind of short-term separation many times. This book reinforces the notion that parents will always love their children unreservedly.
EY3
My magical toilet
By Noritake Suzuki There are many magical toilets in this book, such as star toilets, slide toilets, pearl toilets, hamster game toilets and stone-age toilets. The main character also imagines four special toilets for his friends: the library toilet for booklover Oyuki, the flower toilet for lovely Shinri, and fishpond toilet for Assia who is skilled at fishing. Can you believe that there is also an exciting roller coaster toilet? Every child will love this book as it is full of imagination and creativity. Besides exploring the fantasy toilet world, children will also keep investigating who steals the roller coaster toilet, as if they were little detectives.
Monster Needs One More
By Harriet Ziefert In a child’s eyes, monsters are not scary at all and they are in fact their friends, accompanying them as they grow up. This book depicts little monsters with different emotions who are hungry, grumpy, sad and angry. What do these monsters need? They need more crackers, balloons, apples, strawberries and teddy bears. Let us count how many things they need. No matter how many they already have, they always say: “I need one more.” When parents repeat this sentence several times, they may find that their children can imitate the tone of the monsters to say: “I need one more.” This story’s vivid pictures together with its humorous words and phrases will make children want to read it again and again.
EY4
The sheep named Yiyi
By Vitoria Jamies The reason for recommending this book is that it can help children to develop their self-awareness. Yiyi wants to be a good sheep. She loves doing whatever she likes to do regardless of others’ prejudices. But the rule of the sheep community is that sheep cannot be different, which makes her suffer in lots of different ways. Yiyi decides to pursue a new life in the big city and leaves her small sheep community. What will be waiting for her there? Others’ judgements often have a significant influence on how children build their self-awareness. When others’ judgements are not what they expect, adults can guide children to face it with a positive attitude and find their confidence.
Lifesize
By Sophy Henn Children will surely be fascinated by this interactive science book. Do you know how big a polar bear’s paw is? Who do you think has larger eyes: you or a giant squid? Do you know which wild animals live in the African savannah? This book invites young readers to compare their body parts with those of animals to understand the amazing size of these creatures. Moreover, it introduces children to many animals inhabiting different regions of the world, as well as teaching them plenty of cool facts. The last page of the book also mentions the concept of proportion, allowing children to get a clearer understanding of just how big or small various animalsreally are.
