by Erica Hobby, MSW and Julie Poole, M.Ed

Reading together is an important part of the early childhood classroom, but its impact goes far beyond helping children develop a love of books. The words children hear, the conversations that happen around a story, and the opportunities they have to participate all help build the language skills they will use to communicate, learn, and eventually read themselves.

What Research Tells Us

Children begin learning language long before they can use it themselves. In fact, research shows that babies as young as 6 to 9 months can understand the meaning of some common words, even though most won’t say their first recognizable words until around their first birthday.

This is the difference between receptive and expressive language:

Receptive language is what a child understands.

Expressive language is what a child can say and use to communicate.

Reading helps build both.

And books provide children with something everyday conversation doesn’t always provide: exposure to a wide variety of words.

An adult might say, “Let’s find your shoes and put them on.” A book describing that same experience might say, “She searched beneath the bed for her missing sneakers before carefully pulling them onto her feet.”

 The story introduces richer vocabulary like searched, beneath, and missing and shows how those words work together. And those opportunities for language exposure happen every time we open a book.

The Word Difference Adds Up

Ohio State researchers estimated how many words children hear from books during the five years before kindergarten.

1 book a day = about 295,000 more words heard by age 5

5 books a day = about 1.48 million more words heard by age 5

And don’t worry if children ask for the same book again…and again…and again! Research suggests that repeated readings can actually help children learn new words.

Each reading provides another opportunity to move from:

I’ve heard that word → I recognize that word → I understand that word → I can use that word.

From Understanding Words to Using Them

A 2025 study in a child care center shows just how much shared reading can support expressive language. Researchers introduced new vocabulary through books to 3- and 4-year-olds and encouraged the children to use the new words. Before the experience, children could use few, if any, of the targeted words. Afterward, they were able to use 4 to 6 of the 6 words taught, and they were still using them up to four weeks later.

Bring the Story to Life

Simply hearing a book provides valuable exposure to language, but shared reading becomes even more powerful when children are actively involved.

Instead of reading straight through a book, pause. Talk about the pictures. Wonder aloud. Let children point, make sounds, repeat familiar phrases, predict what might happen next, or tell you what they notice.

How children participate will look different depending on their age and stage of development.

Infants: Make It Sensory and Social

With infants, the goal isn’t necessarily to finish the book. The interaction itself is what matters.

Try:

• Board books with simple, engaging pictures
• Touch-and-feel books
• Songs and rhymes
• Animal sounds and silly voices
• Naming what the baby is looking at, pointing to, or touching

Toddlers: Invite Them Into the Story

Toddlers are ready to become increasingly active participants.

Bring out:

• Felt-board characters
• Story baskets and props
• Songs and movements
• Repetitive books that allow children to join in
• Simple questions such as, “Where’s the bear?” or “What does the cow say?”

And embrace repetition. When toddlers know what’s coming next, they can begin supplying sounds, gestures, words, and familiar phrases themselves.

Preschoolers: Take the Story Beyond the Book

Preschoolers can do much more than listen to and discuss a story. Give them opportunities to retell, recreate, and extend it.

Try:

• Puppets and character props
• Picture and sequencing cards
• Dress-up, dramatic play, and acting out favorite scenes
• Drawing or creating pictures related to the story
• Instruments and sound effects
• Retelling the story in their own words

Books such as Mo Willems’ Elephant & Piggie series lend themselves naturally to character voices, puppets, dress-up, and dramatic play. Children can take on the roles of Gerald and Piggie, act out favorite scenes, and even create their own adventures for the characters.

Books Belong Everywhere

Books can be incorporated throughout the learning environment and throughout the day. Place books about food and cooking in dramatic play. Add counting books to the math center. Pair books about insects, plants, or weather with science experiences. Read a food-themed story before a meal or nutrition activity. Use a short book during a transition.

The more naturally books become part of children’s everyday experiences, the more opportunities there are to revisit the words, ideas, and conversations those books introduce.

Expanding Access to Books

Creating a literacy-rich environment doesn’t mean every book has to be purchased for the classroom.

Start with your local library. In addition to borrowing books, ask about educator borrowing privileges, themed collections, story times, outreach programs, and other services available to child care providers.

Share Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library with families. In participating communities, children from birth to age five can receive a free, age-appropriate book in the mail each month. Encourage families to check whether their child is eligible to enroll.

Explore First Book. Eligible early childhood educators and programs serving children in need can access affordable books and educational resources to help build or refresh classroom libraries.

Look for books in your community.  Little Free Libraries, community book drives, family donations, and local literacy organizations can all be sources of free or gently used children’s books.

However the books get into children’s hands, what matters most is what happens next. Read them often. Read favorites again and again. Talk about them, act them out, sing them, and make them part of the classroom day. The more opportunities children have to experience and interact with books, the more opportunities they have to build the language they will eventually make their own.