Mums, wordless books are an excellent tool to help your toddler develop their literacy skills.
When we think of books for little ones, what comes into our minds are bright pictures and words written in big letters. What if we told you that books minusthe words (i.e., wordless books) are actually best when it comes to teaching your baby how to read?
Amazing benefits of Wordless books
Encouraging your kids to ‘read’ wordless books can help in the development of their literacy in a variety of ways.
1. They understand the mechanism of books:
When you encourage your toddler to read wordless books at a young age, it helps them understand how a book works.
For example, they learn to distinguish between the front and back covers.
They also learn that the inside pages are different than the covers. That helps them understand more about reading from front to back, left to right and top to bottom.
2. It develops their literacy skills:
Children can develop their skills in listening and comprehension through wordless books, as well as learn how to interpret visual images.
Understanding the storytelling structure – that is, characters, cause and effect, conflict and resolution – also takes place through picture books. Children also get an understanding of how a narrative flows from beginning to middle, and end.
3. It builds their vocabulary and verbal skills:
Picture books allow children to identify and name objects, people, places, animals, actions and other such things from their day-to-day life.
They also learn to narrate stories using pictorial cues. Once they start reading more complex stories it becomes easier for them to understand. Furthermore, this may also inspire them to write themselves.
4. They start feeling self-confident:
As children progress in reading wordless books, they feel proud of their achievements like having finished a favourite book or understanding the story without adult help.
Once they feel that they are good at it, they enjoy this activity all the more. This is sure to inculcate a love for books and reading in them.
5. It helps learning-challenged kids in many ways:
Wordless books or picture books are a great tool for kids with developmental and learning difficulties, as they don’t tie down the child to a prescribed set of words or ideas. Instead, the child is allowed to use their imagination to create the story… and this helps them forge ahead with their development.
