Christmas Gift Shopping for Preschoolers Made Easy

Christmas Gift Shopping for Preschoolers Made Easy

Christmas is right around the corner and there is probably at least one preschooler on your holiday gift list. While the scramble to figure out the perfect gift for everyone on your list can be exasperating, finding the right gift for the 2, 3, 4 or 5-year old in your life can actually be the easiest and most fun gift to choose!

Forget all the high tech gadgetry, cartoon-themed gifts, and expensive brand-name toys. The perfect gift for a prechooler is a picture book!

Not only do the best illustrated children's books make beautiful keepsakes, but studies show that early literacy helps a child all through school and life, as reading is critical to all children's learning. All other subjects including math and science depend on a child's ability to read and to understand what they read. Plus, being a better reader makes school work easier. That's reason enough to choose a Christmas gift that promotes literacy with your own child or the children in your life as early as you can.

According to Dr. Mark Thogmartin, author of Teaching a Child to Read with Children's Books, children can learn to read at an early age, even without formal instruction. It can happen when they are exposed to specific practices and activities at home that promote literacy. These include reading with your child, conversing regularly, letting them see you read, exposing them to books, and exposing them to the world of words and meaning, stimulating their natural curiosity.

The latest research shows that children may learn new words more accurately from pictures than from 3-D objects, especially when part of reading time between parents and children. Illustrated story books are the best vehicles for teaching preschoolers to read. If a toddler or preschooler has tired of coloring only and starts to show an interest in words and sounds and books, then helping them along with picture books is a great way to start. Learning happens at the point of interest, and the best way to promote literacy in young, curious minds is to engage them at their level.

Children can learn to read in an enjoyable, organic way building off their home library, borrowing books from the public library or purchasing picture books from a bookstore. Another option is books on CD or ebooks made for electronic readers. Newer ebook titles are beginning to feature interactive elements, including animated pictures, in the text.

The best picture books can help a new parent begin a home-based instructional reading program for a preschooler. The defining characteristics of these books are that they are simple, repetitive and feature pictures that illustrate the words of the story. All of these books are used in book and story-based early reading programs.

So, if you are going to choose picture books as educational Christmas gifts, which books should you buy? Make your Christmas shopping easier this year with a list of the top 10 illustrated children's books of the year and information about how to use picture books to implement a structured reading program at home.

Given that they make beautiful keepsakes, promote literacy and encourage parent-child interaction, picture books often make the best Christmas toys for young children.

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