What’s is your favorite childhood storybook? Having had grown up as the daughter & granddaughter of school teachers, we grew up having tons of books around the house, but my favorite was Goldielocks and the three Bears. I still remember when my mom bought us the book and the audio book. Small children are naturally attracted to books and as grown ups we cherish those fond memories. When my oldest son was an infant, I began to built our home library and as the kids became older our home library has not only grown in size, but it has saved me from making an emergency runs to the library because one of the kids had to read a book. This year my sister’s oldest son began kindergarten and although she has a small home library, she wasn’t prepared for the amount of books her son will be reading this year. This got me thinking and today I want to share with you some of my Tips on Building a Home Library for Your Child or Children.
It’s difficult to predict which books your kids will need when they start school, moreover, it’s even harder to guess which books kids will love, so start building your home library with the following tips:
Tip 1: Building your home library. A home library doesn’t have to be an extensively elaborate place. Find a centralized location for your home library, for example, the corner of your child’s room with a bookshelf, this should provide enough space for it. For older children, the bottom shelf a closet or a bookcase in the family room will be sufficient. You should place books at your child’s eye level and provide them with a comfortable place to sit and adequate lighting.
Tip 2: Start early. Your home library doesn’t have to be filled with expensive books, however, a home library should be filled with books that will empower your child’s imagination. I started our home library when our oldest son was under a year old, I began by purchasing books at garage sales and thrift shops. In later years, our library has grown from other sources, such as the school book fair and from other family members gifting books to the kids.
Tip 3: Reading materials. A home library doesn’t have to be filled with books with only one subject. Some kids are into fairy tales and others like factual books and then others might like to read sports magazines, your home library should be filled with what your kid’s like to read and/or are attracted to. For example, my daughter loves books with movie characters and photographed baby animals. My boys are more into stories and sports magazines, so we have filled our home library with a combination of all these different reading materials.
So, as you can see from the tips above, building your home library shouldn’t be a difficult task and you will be gifting your child with the love of reading. I would love to hear your tips on how you built your home library? and What kind of books your kids like to read?