What to do with this activity?

You can share books with your baby as soon as they can sit on your knee. Just look at a simple book together, say the words out loud, and talk about the pictures. Your baby won't understand everything, but they will love sitting on your lap and listening to you. Watch this fantastic 3 minute video from the Fingal Libraries Early Years Strategy to show you how much babies love sharing books. It will also give you some useful tips. And here's author Mem Fox telling you why reading aloud in the first four months of a baby's life makes a difference (the video is nearly 5 minutes long). 

If you have not been reading to your baby much up to now, think about what part of the day or evening would suit you to read to them. It could be at bedtime, on the bus, in the morning. Find time to sit together and share books sometime during the day. Five or ten minutes every day, or as often as you can do it,  will bring so many benefits to your baby.

It’s good to share favourite books again and again. Repetition helps children to understand and remember the words they hear.