Category: reading with kids

How to Teach Your Kids to Read and Love It!

Posted on | by KD Novelties
Reading Stages for Kids

Reading is a skill that comes with age and practice. Typically, most children learn to read on their own in some capacity sometime between kindergarten and second grade. Some kids do take longer than others, and some children may have learning disabilities that can affect when and how well they read, but no matter what, there are several things that you can do to get kids jumpstarted when it comes to reading.

Just because babies and toddlers cannot read yet does not mean that you shouldn’t buy them books! Buying books can be incredibly beneficial to children and will help acquaint them with the book itself as an object with some importance in the world around them. This is why it is important to have books around from the time that children are first born. Baby books are designed to entice children with bright, colorful and engaging pictures and consist of pages constructed of thick cardboard materials that are meant to be played around with and explored. Having your baby look at the images in these books, flip through and even chew on the pages will do a lot for your child when it comes to getting them familiar with books in the first place.

Reading to your child helps, too. You can even start doing so when they are still in the womb. The act of looking through a book, reading aloud and relaying a story will help familiarize children with storytelling and can help bolster their communication skills, too. Kids learn by example and will not only develop an interest in books when you read to them but they can develop key speaking and enunciation skills from hearing you read aloud as well.

Playing games helps too! Kids love learning games and teaching children their letters can help acquaint them with the very letters that they will later see form words. Sound out letters and have your children repeat after you. Ask them to point out letters everywhere, whether it is in a book you are reading or on the box of their breakfast cereal. Once they get their letters down, you can begin playing and quizzing them by sounding out sequential letters and even words!

Familiarizing your children with letters, words and books is a great way to get them ready for school. Once they are in a place where learning is their goal, they will be able to learn to read and grasp concepts much more easily, especially since they are already familiar with the building blocks that they need.

KD Novelties provides personalized kids books for all ages. Get your little one their very own special book made just for them, either as an infant, pre-reader through intermediate reading level. Each book is sure to bring memories to last a lifetime.

Teaching Kids Manners

Posted on | by KD Novelties
There are many things that a child will only really learn from their parents or guardians. While it helps to get kids started on math, reading and other basic academic schools at home, teaching kids these subjects from the ground up is not always the sole task of the parent. With school, kids can benefit from a head start, but will learn most of what they need to know from their teachers and aides. But there are some basic life skills that parents and guardians do need to teach their children, because no one else, especially not strangers, will step up to the plate. One of these things happens to be good manners.
Parents play an integral role in implementing a child’s many habits, from healthy eating to teeth brushing, but manners should also be considered important. As a parent or a guardian, it is your job to teach kids how to be people, how to be adults, how to interact with others, and how to be a valuable member of society. In order for that to happen, kids need to learn how to behave and how to act in a way that is conducive to building strong relationships with others and the world around them.
When it comes to teaching kids anything, it helps not to enforce it too much. As important as some things are, asserting too much aggression when trying to teach them something new can be damaging, especially when it is a habit that you would like for them to adopt and adapt to. Some children might be resistant to such tactics, but there are other ways to instill good core values in your children that will carry over into how they carry themselves.
Teaching Kids Manners


Lead by example. Many experts agree that leading by example is one of the better ways to teach a child a new skill, a new habit, or to even instill their interest in something. Similar studies show that children are more likely to pick up a book or develop an interest in reading if they see that their parents read often when they are around. Kids like to be just like their parents, so setting a good example is a great way to start.

Be positive! Even when you are simply having a conversation, whether around your child or whether you are speaking to them directly, try to be positive. This applies to both tone of voice and vocabulary. Sharing things that are inherently positive is good too! Negativity or gossiping can affect children and the way they behave. If they see you swapping stories over coffee with another parent about other parents or their children, or even anything else in general, they may adopt that same behavior, tone of voice and generalized topic discussion with their friends or when speaking with others. If kids are used to talking positively at home, they will most likely carry these traits over to when they are at school or socializing with friends.

Use positive reinforcement. Taking note of when your child uses good manners on their own can help, too. Note when they say “please” and “thank you” and compliment them genuinely when you see them do something nice of their own volition. It’s one thing to “make” your children be polite, but if you see them act accordingly on their own, they are more likely to continue doing so.

Being polite and minding manners is more than just a social show-off. It can actually help kids’ academic success and will help strengthen their social skills. Minding manners is a big part of being a student in a classroom, and if kids know how they should be acting and do so, they will sit quietly throughout their lessons and pay attention. It is not the teacher’s job, necessarily, to tell kids how to behave but it is part of their job to enforce good behavior. Acting politely also helps kids thrive in social situations as well. As early as their days at playing in the park, a polite child will find more playmates willing to interact with them and may be better equipped to handle rude or difficult children, too.
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Your Child is the Star of Each Story!

How To Read With Your Kids When You’re Not Around

Posted on | by KD Novelties

Many of our first memories of books and reading go back to our parents. Many children read bedtime stories with mom or dad just before drifting off to sleep. Research has shown that reading with children or reading to children is integral in building a relationship with books, as well as the act of reading itself. Reading with your child is a heartwarming activity that can build memories and moments that you will cherish forever.

So what are you to do when you are not at home to read with them? If you are a parent with an occupation that requires that you travel often or if you happen to work nights, it may be difficult to keep up with this tradition but it is still important that you make time to read with your child. Sure, kids can read with others and will learn to read on their own, but studies have shown that the special relationship between kids and parents in regards to the act of reading itself is important. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do in order to make sure that you never miss a bedtime story.

Reading Books via Video Chat

1. Call them. The simplest thing you can do is to call your child around the time that they’re going to sleep and read to them over the phone. Not only is this something that you would normally do anyway, but by reading a story during your phone call, you can make your conversations even more special. Even though you would call them to say good night and to ask them about their day regardless, adding the story to your conversation will build even more memories even if you are not physically present.


2. Video chat with them. Thanks to smart phones, tablets, and laptops many parents can use video chatting or web chatting to see their child face-to-face as they talk, share thoughts about their day, and provide them with the opportunity to share a book visually as well as audibly. This way, your child can see your face and interact with you as closely as if you were right there with them. Alternatively, your child can read a book to you as well! No matter who’s reading, it’s the interaction that really counts.

3. Tape a video or a CD. Sometimes, time differences can make video chatting or calling in real-time difficult. This may be an issue for parents who are in the military or work overseas for other reasons. Taking the time to tape yourself reading a book can allow your child to access the story and your voice whenever they like. Even though you may not physically be interacting with them at the time that they are listening to or watching your recording, this gesture can still hold a lot of meaning for both you and your child. This means that your child can listen to or watch a recording whenever they want to read the story, and especially whenever they miss you, which can help with the distance a great deal. If you want to make sure that your child has watched or listened, make sure to ask them questions about the recording as well as the story when you get the chance to call or correspond with them. By doing this, you can incentivize them to read and make sure that they are getting that quality time with you while also building their reading and listening skills.


4. Write a book together! Get out the crayons and construction paper, it’s time to write your own story. Just as having recordings available provide you with some cherished keepsakes for the rest of your lives, making a book together can help you make memories more concrete. Sit down with your child and write! Come up with a creative story, each of you writing and illustrating your very own copies. This way, you can keep your books on you wherever you are and your child will never feel alone.