Resources

Resources for Families / Recursos para familias

We’re here for you so that you can be there for them.

Reading together is a powerful way to build a strong bond with your child. It also helps children grow their language skills and get ready to learn.

Sharing books creates special moments between children and the caring adults in their lives. These moments help children feel loved, build their brains, and spark a lifelong love of reading.

Reach Out and Read offers helpful resources for families who want to enjoy reading together. Below you’ll find resources in English and Spanish, booklists, and tips and tricks to try at home.

Reading With Your Child / Leer con tu hijo

Want to read with your child but aren’t sure how to start? In these videos (with English and Spanish captions), Dr. Ruby Dey and parents show simple ways to read with young children — from newborns to age 4. You’ll learn what to expect at different ages (yes, babies may put books in their mouths!), how to sit and make eye contact with your child, how to choose books, and easy ways to make reading time fun.

Watch the Series / Ver la serie
Use Reading to Manage Stress / Usar la lectura para lidiar con el estrés

You don’t need the perfect words or all the answers to help your child when they feel stressed.

Being together, reading a story, and giving comfort can be enough. Children of all ages — even babies — feel loved when they hear your voice and have your attention.

Find Stress Tips (English and Spanish) / Encontrar consejos para el estrés
Simple Ways to Make Storytime Special / Una hora de cuentos especial

Looking for easy ways to enjoy books with your child? This tip sheet shares simple ideas to help families make reading fun, comforting, and part of everyday life. From talking about pictures to reading anywhere you go, these tips help build strong relationships and support your child’s learning.

Explore Reading Tips (English and Spanish) / Explorar consejos de lectura
Booklists / Listas de libros recomendables

Looking for great books to share with your child? Our booklists can help. Our Books team picks stories for different seasons, cultural celebrations, and special themes. The books, chosen specifically to read aloud with young children, reflect the many cultures and experiences of the families we serve.

Explore Our Booklists / Explorar listas de recomendaciones 

Reading together should be the most magical, memorable, and enjoyable part of a child’s — and a caregiver’s — day. Snuggle close and look at the book together; act out the voices and the noises in the stories and ask older children to answer questions or retell the story. Reading together will create memories and impart benefits that last a lifetime.

Reading tips

  • Tips for reading with all young children
    • Make reading part of every day, even for just a few minutes. Have fun.
    • Talk about the pictures. You do not have to read the book to tell a story.
    • Let your child turn the pages.
    • Show your child the cover page and explain what the story is about.
    • Run your finger along the words as you read them.
    • Silly sounds, especially animal sounds, are fun to make.
    • Choose books about events in your child’s life such as starting preschool, going to the dentist, getting a new pet, or moving to a new home.
    • Make the story come alive. Create voices for the story characters.
    • Ask questions about the story. What do you think will happen next? What is this?
    • Let your child ask questions about the story. Talk about familiar activities and objects.
    • Let your child retell the story.
    • Visit your local library often.
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  • Make the most out of reading with your little one

    Explore a Reach Out and Read Minnesota clinician’s top tips to help families enjoy the benefits of reading together, from using different voices to asking children questions while reading.

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  • Reading with your baby
    • Hold your baby on your lap while you read.
    • Babies like board books, pictures of babies, rhymes and songs from the same book over and over, and when you point at pictures — this is how babies learn!
    • Check out this video where Dr. Ruby Dey demonstrates ways to use a high-contrast book to create meaningful moments with your newborn, and this video where she shares how to engage with your 6-month-old through shared reading.
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  • Reading with your 1-year-old
    • Let your toddler move around while you are reading.
    • Name the pictures — this is how toddlers learn new words.
    • Read labels and signs wherever you go.
    • Toddlers like the same book over and over; a book at bedtime; to choose and hold the book; books about food, trucks, animals, and children; and books with few words.
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  • Reading with your 2-year-old
    • Read labels and signs wherever you go.
    • Keep different books around the house and let your child choose.
    • 2-year-olds like to help turn the pages, to fill in the words in a story they know, to point and name pictures; to hear the same book over and over, books that are silly; and animal books and animal noises.
    • Check out this video where Dr. Ruby Dey demonstrates ways to engage your busy 18-month-old as you read together.
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  • Reading with your preschool child
    • Have your child sit close or on your lap while reading.
    • Ask questions about the story.
    • Let your child tell you stories.
    • Make weekly visits to the children’s room at the library so your child can choose more books.
    • Children like longer books that tell stories; books without words; alphabet and counting books; books about families, friends, and going to school; and a book at bedtime.
    • Check out this video where Dr. Ruby Dey demonstrates ways to engage your curious 4-year-old as you read together.
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Reach Out and Read Podcast
Learn about a wealth of varied early childhood health and literacy topics with expert guests examining the many facets of supporting the parent-child relationship as key to early success.
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Ways To Boost A Child’s Brain
Helping your child thrive is as simple as reading, talking, singing, and playing together! Check out Reach Out and Read Minnesota’s fun, science-backed tips to boost your child’s brain development.
> Check Out Tips
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Choosing the right book

We can help you understand what books are best suited to children of different ages. From board books that are made to withstand a baby’s chewing to rhyming books that help children memorize words and begin to recognize them, we’ll provide recommendations so you can sit back and enjoy reading together.

  • Expanding the Diversity of your Family Library
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  • 6-12 months

    Books are the perfect way to entertain a baby in a carriage or crib. Small books are perfect for babies’ hands. The thick cardboard pages of board books are designed to hold up to being put in a child’s mouth, which is normal developmental behavior for babies.

    Infants are fascinated with books that include photos of babies. Name the parts of the babies’ faces as you speak to your child. For example, “See the baby’s nose. You have a nose, too.” You can touch the photo and then your baby’s nose as you say this to reinforce the word “nose.”

    We recommend Richard Scarry’s Cars and Trucks and Smile!  by Roberta Grobel Intrater.

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  • 12-16 months

    Books that introduce sounds are perfect for your baby. For example, ask your baby, “What sound does the dog make?” This game reinforces language development and is fun to play. This is also a good age for tactile board books that feature objects and animals familiar to your baby. You can name an object and point to the image to help reinforce language development.

    We recommend Clifford’s Animal Sounds by Norman Bridwell and Hide and Peek by Odette Ross.

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  • 18-24 months

    Rhyming texts, with their repeated patterns, increase your child’s awareness of how language works. Rhymes help your children begin to decode the sounds that make up words. Reading together also helps increase your child’s vocabulary. As their words develop, children will start to fill in familiar parts of their favorite stories.

    We recommend You Are My Sunshine by Caroline Jayne Church and Polar Bear by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle.

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  • 24-36 months

    Books can be used to help establish a pleasant bedtime routine that children will look forward to. Using books with repetitive text helps set the routine for a good night for both parents and children. Rhymes can also introduce numeracy skills, such as in Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. Books are filled with so many learning opportunities!

    We recommend Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow and Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown.

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  • 3 years

    Preschoolers can easily learn useful concepts, such as opposites, in classic children’s books.

    We recommend Big Dog… Little Dog by P.D. Eastman.

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  • 4 years

    Sharing classic tales or nursery rhymes with your child is a wonderful way to expand cultural literacy. References from these stories are often made in conversation, with the expectation that everyone is familiar with them.

    We recommend Stone Soup by Jon J. Muth.

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  • 5 years

    Books are a wonderful way to help your child expand their world by introducing them to experiences and stories outside of what is familiar to them. Books can help feed their imaginations and encourage creative play.

    We recommend Maybe a Bear Ate It by Robie H. Harris and Mufaro by John Steptoe.

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