Tips for Reading with a 12 Month Old

Are you looking for tips for reading with a 12 month old? That is the current age of my son and I have been reading to him since pretty much day 1! I have learned a lot of tricks and tips along the way that I thought I would share for other mothers out there. I also have a previous post all about Tips for Reading with a 6 Month Old if you want to check that out too.

Do you realize how important reading to your child is even at a young age? It increases their brain development, improves their language skills, helps develop their imagination and helps with social development as well as their thinking skills. There are so many things that you can do when reading with your child to help engage and interest them in the story, as well as make them use their thinking skills while reading. Let’s look at 3 important tips for reading with a 12 month old:

Tip #1- Pick the Right Type of Book

Picking the right type of book is extremely important when reading with a 12 month old. You always want the book to be age appropriate. 

Here are some of the best kinds of books for a 12 month old:

• Low Text + Big Pictures

I’ve found that the best kind of books for this age are ones with low text and very easy to see pictures. The pictures help to keep your child engaged as they are looking to them still for the story-telling since they cannot read words yet. One of my absolute favorite books to read like this is Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.

• Poke-a-Dot Books

Other types of books that are great for 12 month olds are Poke-a-Dot books. Once I found these types of books, both my son and I were hooked! These are sturdy board books with interactive buttons to press and “pop” on every page. Poke-a-Dot books encourage language development, color recognition, and fine motor skills. These books are very simple with usually one word on each page. I like to say the word and then try to have my son repeat the word while he “pops” the button. I love that these keep his little hands busy while we read!

Some of our favorite Poke-a-Dot books are these Melissa and Doug Poke a Dot Books for first words, colors and shapes. 

• Books with animal noises 

Books with animal noises are always a hit with this age group as well. These types of books keep 12 month olds engaged, help with their fine motor skills and help them recognize animal sounds, of course. I love that these books have buttons for them to press and you can have them match while reading-simply point to the picture in the book and see if they can find the matching noise button. 

One of our favorite books with animal noises is Quack! Moo! Oink! Let’s Listen on the Farm!

• Vocab books

Books that focus on building vocabulary are especially important at this age as your child is learning to speak and put words together to create sentences. Labeling pictures of things in books that aren’t in the words is always a good idea as well as getting a set of these First 100 Words Board Books that are great for building your child’s vocabulary. I like to say the vocabulary word through the first reading and point to the picture. After we have read it for a few days, I see if my child can mimic any of the words back to me after I read it.

Tip #2-Choose What You Focus On During Reading

When reading with a 12 month old, sometimes it’s best to choose what you want to work on while reading. There are so many different things to work on when reading books and this will only help your child’s cognitive and language skills. 

Here are some things to focus on during reading with a 12 month old:

-Following simple directions

-Imitating words and noises

-Point and label, don’t just read the text. 

-Pair things in the book with actions (Example-I see the dog’s nose, where is your nose?)

Tip #3-Get them Engaged

The longer your child is engaged, the longer reading books with them will last. Reading the types of books listed above and asking them questions/ having areas to focus on will definitely help to keep them interested in the book. If they aren’t engaged anymore try doing anything to make it fun! Change your voice into a silly one or sing the words instead of just reading them.

Reading with children is so very important! As I said earlier, it helps with so many things such as language development, imagination building, vocabulary development, etc. Start reading with your child as early as possible! This will also help them to develop a love and appreciation for books as they get into school.

What tips do you have for reading with a 12 month old?! I would love to hear!