| Toddlers: (ages 18 months - 3 years)
Developmental characteristics:
- Dances or bounces to music.
- Likes to place objects inside of one another.
- Interested in picture books.
- Enjoys an audience and applause.
Advice:
- Make sure to talk about the book as well as the story. (ex: Where is the cover? title page? beginning and end of the story?)
- Read the same books again and again, if asked.
- Read slowly so the toddler can make sense of what's happening in a story.
- Vary your voice to fit the characters and plot.
- Use puppets and other props related to the story.
- Repeat interesting words and phrases.
- Stop often to comment, ask questions, and look closely at the illustrations.
- Encourage a toddler to join in: turn pages, name things in pictures, make sounds, repeat rhymes and phrases, and think about what might happen next.
- Talk about the pictures and point out details a toddler might miss.
- Talk about the story and how it relates to a toddler's real life experiences.
Themes:
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