Sharing a picture book with your young toddler

You can share a picture book without working through every page in order. Start with an image you are both looking at and describe what is there. The BoekStart leaflet available through CJG Rijnmond focuses on pointing, naming and talking in its section for children aged twelve to sixteen months. It recommends allowing your child to examine an illustration. To put that suggestion into practice, open a book at a page showing a familiar object. Name it, then pause before adding more words. A cup, an animal or a coat from everyday life could be a starting point for your conversation. These are examples to try, rather than a required reading sequence.

Try different suitable words for the same image. The leaflet uses a dog as an example: it is also an animal and may have a name. That gives you another way to talk about the picture besides repeating one fixed label. As an original example, you could name a cup on the page, then say that you drink from it. Keep the words connected to what the illustration actually shows. If your child is still looking at that picture, you can stay with it even when you have seen it together before. There is no need to turn the conversation into a string of questions with correct answers. You can describe what you notice without asking your child to name it.

Connect an illustration with something your child can see away from the book. The BoekStart leaflet gives the example of a dog in a picture and a dog at home. You could apply that idea to familiar objects: point to a coat on the page, then look together at your own coat. These are optional conversation ideas rather than tasks every child needs to complete. If the shape or colour differs, describe what you can actually see. The conversation then has a specific picture and a specific object to refer to. You can leave the book available and return to the same page at another time that suits you, without planning a new activity for every reading session.

For the next session, decide what you want to share with the book. You might read a short part of the text, name an illustration or return to a familiar object on the same page. The leaflet recommends telling things in your own words as well as reading short passages to young children. A simple way to try that advice is to take the book, choose one picture and describe one thing you see. Leave room for a gesture, a sound or a response without requiring an answer. Put the book away when you have finished together. If useful, remember which page you shared so you can start there again, rather than feeling you must choose something different each time.

Sources, accessed on 2026-10-02

• CJG Rijnmond