March is National Reading Month, and while some kids love to open a book, others might need a little more encouragement.
With support from the Dollar General Literacy Foundation, Sesame Workshop has designed new resources to help your little one establish — or continue — a love for reading with the help of Sesame Street characters Elmo, Abby Cadabby, Tamir, Wes, Rudy, and their parents.
Finding joy in books and reading can lay the foundation for academic success. Reading with your kids and discussing the stories afterward can build a kid’s enthusiasm for books and develop their lifelong literary skills, which helps boost their vocabulary, comprehension, and oral language. Reading together and discussing the content can also positively impact your kid’s ability to identify words, letter-sound recognition, and print awareness.Â
There are several videos, printables, articles, and interactive storybooks for both you and your kid. Available in English and Spanish, you can use these to further solidify your relationship with your kid as well as their relationship with reading! You can also use the resources that celebrate reading to prepare your kid for overall success.
In the video One More Time, Wes and his father Elijah find fun, new ways to read his favorite books. In Buzzing About Books, Elena implements different strategies to hold Elmo, Wes, and Abby’s interest and encourage excitement about the story they read.
There’s also the video A Star Reader, where Tamir receives encouragement from his mother Kayla as he sounds out a challenging word. Grow, Grow, Grow, an interactive digital storybook, is available as well and features Elmo and his father Louie as they discover what it takes for a plant to bloom. This comes in three reading levels, from beginner to advanced.
You can also introduce your kid to printable activity books like My Favorite Part, Read With Me, and The Perfect Book, which include coloring pages, act-along stories, and templates to create bookmarks. These printables also indicate what age they are designed for (really, all of them can be used by kids ages 1-6).
Sesame Workshop included articles for parents, caregivers, and educators as well. These articles include tips on how to share the love of reading with kids at different ages, including their most formative years — birth through five years old.
You can head to sesameworkshop.org/reading to find the perfect resource for your little reader (and you!). There are also videos from a different reading initiative at the Sesame Workshop YouTube channel.
