Reading breakfast with toddlers 2Prinsjes
Little Monkey is a new friend
National Reading Days have begun again. The perfect time for reading aloud fun throughout the country has kicked off with a festive National Reading Breakfast. For this, the children of 2Prinsjes Today we're visiting the Literature Museum/Children's Book Museum. They enter the Annie MG Schmidt room full of wonder. They quickly spread out, climb into the sturdy car with Annie FM on the radio, and look around before taking a seat next to today's reader: Merel van Vroonhoven. The story of "Little Monkey" can begin.
A room full of little monkeys
Once everyone is comfortably settled, Valerie Drost, director of the Literature Museum/Children's Book Museum, opens the morning and presents Merel with the picture book of the year, "Little Monkey" by Mies van Hout. "The book is about Little Monkey," Merel tells the children, showing them the Little Monkey finger puppet and the book. "Who else is a little monkey here?" Hands immediately shoot up.
Thus begins an exciting adventure for Little Monkey on the scooter, who has some wonderful news to share. She scoots through the forest, seeking out various animals, but no one really listens. Well, no one, really? The children listen, spellbound. Every now and then, they jump up, only to quickly return a moment later to look at the beautiful pictures.
It's so much fun to see how the children become engrossed in the story. We always read aloud a lot in our groups. It's a moment of peace during circle time and when the children are asleep.
When Little Monkey falls off his scooter, Merel asks, "What's that over there?" Tommy knows. "That's an elephant," he calls out enthusiastically. He's read this story many times before. "You see this often," Merel says. "Every time you reread a book, more of it sticks with you. Because they already know some of it, the children can keep up better and better during the reading. It not only helps them develop their vocabulary, it also makes the stories extra fun for them."
Having breakfast together
After the story, the children play for a while and then receive a warm welcome at the café for some delicious food and drinks. "What did you like most about the story?" we ask the children. "Everything!" they shout back. It's clear they thoroughly enjoyed this breakfast reading. After breakfast, the whole group heads upstairs to continue playing happily at the Frog exhibition, where they are once again surrounded by stories.
Reading in the group
The educational staff of 2Prinsjes They're clearly enjoying this morning. "It's so nice to see how engrossed the children are in the story," says Yasmien. "We always read aloud a lot in our groups too. It's a moment of calm during circle time, and now also when the children go to sleep. We take a book to their bedroom, dive into a story together, and then say good night. You can tell the children fall asleep more easily this way, and it's especially nice that they often start talking about the story again when they wake up. They're really engaged with it then."
As an initiative partner of Heel Den Haag Leest, we actively promote children's language development. After all, good language skills increase their opportunities in society. "That's why we always work with themes," says Yasmien. "Right now, for example, it's 'family and me.' We choose books that fit this theme and read aloud every day. This way, the children develop vocabulary related to it. We also have lovely reading corners that encourage reading and discovery, with lots of books that we also organize by theme. This makes it easy for the children to choose a book themselves, browse through it, or ask us to read a story aloud. By reading together with them frequently, we also teach them how to use books."
Start as early as possible
Merel also emphasizes the importance of reading aloud. "You can't start early enough," she says. As a former administrator and senior civil servant, Merel transitioned to education. As a result, she's learned that children who were read to from a young age have a huge advantage in vocabulary when they start primary school. "If children haven't been read to, it's very difficult to catch up on the vocabulary gap," she says. Her advice is to read aloud for fifteen minutes every day. This applies to all ages, even older children. And read every book at least three times, because repetition is often so valuable for children.
"I teach sixth grade and still read aloud every day, including picture books. The books offer so many opportunities to engage in conversation with the children and to discuss certain topics or explore them further with challenging exercises. The lesson plans that come with various books these days are incredibly helpful. They're also helpful for parents. They include tips on reading aloud and how to bring a book to life," says Merel. "Reading aloud isn't just incredibly important; it's also a wonderful experience. It's wonderful to see how the children at Childcare 2Samen enjoy the beautiful story of Kleine Aap."
