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Interacting with your child
Our board books and plush toys provide opportunities for you and the young child in your life to play and learn together. Sit down for story time with your child, open up a Hugawugs book, and together explore their fun, silly world.
Every page provides many different levels of interaction with your child, beyond just reading the story. You and your child can return to each Hugawugs book again and again, making the Hugawugs a story time favorite.
The importance of storytime
It is never too early to begin reading aloud to your child. Storytime is important for children of all ages for many reasons:
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Relationship Building: Storytime is snuggle time, which creates a bond between parent and child.
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Skill Development: Helps develop language, listening, memory, and picture-recognition skills
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Literacy Development: Develops a love for books, reading, and writing.
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School Readiness: Helps prepare your child for preschool or kindergarten
Anytime is storytime
You don’t need any special skills to read aloud to your child. What is most important is simply that you do it, and do it often. Storytime can happen in short durations throughout the day, rather than one long session. Not only is storytime a perfect fit for naptime or bedtime, but you can make anytime
storytime.
Be silly! Have fun!
Have fun when reading a story, and remember that your child loves it when you are silly. You can read the text on each page, or just talk about the action going on in the illustrations. If you feel comfortable, you can use silly voices and make face and hand gestures to show emotion. No matter how you read aloud, you will be making a positive impact on your child.
General reading ideas and tips
- Letters. Point out items that start with different letters of the alphabet. Begin basic word and letter recognition by matching images to the words in the story.
- Counting. Count aloud the number of items in an illustration, like bubbles, flowers, or butterflies.
- Colors. Look for different colors in each illustration and ask your child to name them.
- Animals. Search for the two mice that appear throughout each book. Say the names of the animals that appear on the page.
- Action. Ask your child to name different actions that the Hugawugs are doing, like run, jump, dance, and splash, and then act it out too.
- Just Like Me. Point out similarities between what the Hugawugs and your child.
Reading aloud at different ages
Infants (Birth to 1 year old)
Baby Talk. Reading aloud to infants is important for parent-child bonding and for the development of language, picture-recognition, memory, and listening skills. It is important for your baby to hear your voice and listen to you talk and say lots of different words.
Read & Share. Babies like it when they hear the same story over and over again. But if you are getting tired of reading the same book night after night, then take some time to describe the action on each page. Point out different parts of the illustration and say the names of the objects as you point them out. For example, say the names of different animals, shapes, colors, or the Hugawugs characters.
Happy Baby. How do you know if your baby is enjoying storytime? For young infants, storytime is a time to snuggle, make eye contact, and listen to your voice. Babies may look at the book or may gaze at you while you read aloud. Some babies will coo, smile, wave their hands, or kick their feet to show excitement and interest. Older babies will be able to interact more with you and the book, including reaching for the book, putting the book in her mouth, and helping you to turn the pages. Older babies can also answer simple questions about the illustrations.
Toddlers (1-2 years old)
Wiggles & Words. Toddlers are bursting with new words and eager to talk during story time. Toddlers are also busy, active, and on the go and may not be able to sit down and focus for story time. If your toddler isn’t interested in snuggling in a chair or sitting on your lap, allow them to wander around near you as you read the story. Your toddler may even want to play with other toys as you read, but they will still be listening to you as you read. You can draw a toddler into the story by posing questions and thinking aloud, such as “I wonder what Daisy is painting a picture of?” or “Wow! All that picnic food sure looks yummy!”
What’s This? When reading a book to a toddler, you have many opportunities for interaction. Toddlers love to point out different items on a page and ask “What’s this?” and “Why?” Have fun with the game. You can even turn this game around and point to items on the page and ask your child “What’s this?”
Colors & Shapes.Toddlers are just beginning to learn their colors and shapes. Each page in the Hugawugs books provides opportunities for you to point out colors and shapes to your child. This will help your child learn to recognize these colors and shapes.
Preschoolers (3-4 years old)
Ready to Learn. Preschoolers are learning important concepts, such as colors, numbers, ABCs, and shapes. They are eager to practice and to share what they know. Each Hugawugs book provides many opportunities for preschoolers to count and name objects in the illustrations. Preschoolers also love to imitate characters in books, so you can encourage them to act out the same actions that the Hugawugs are doing in the book.
Just Like Me. Preschoolers like to compare themselves to the characters in a storybook. Have fun with this and make comparisons between what the Hugawugs do in the book, and what your child likes to do. Does your child like to finger paint like Bailey? Is your child learning to wash her hands after going potty? Where does your child take his nap?
Looking at Letters. Preschoolers are beginning to learn the alphabet and letter recognition. As you read, run your finger along the text at the bottom of the page so your child can see how each word you say matches with a word on the page. This also shows your child how written words are read from left to right. Point out words that begin with the same letter as the first letter in your child’s name. Also, look for opportunities to ask your child to name colors and shapes or identify letters and numbers.
Imagine. A fun twist on storytime is to hand the book to your preschooler and ask them to read the story to you….or to their Hugawugs plush toy, their baby brother, or the family dog. Preschoolers have big imaginations and love to make up stories.
Reading Guides for the Hugawugs board book series:
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