Start here
Building a Strong Foundation: Literacy in Early Childhood
How talking, rhymes, picture books and play build the skills that come before reading, and simple ways to support them in a child's first years.
Children and Learning
Raising Young Readers
Helping children begin and enjoy reading.
Building a Love of Reading: Strategies for Developing Literacy
Why enjoyment and choice tend to do more for young readers than drills, and practical ways to make reading something children want to do.
Creating a Book Club for Kids
How to start and run a children's book club: choosing group size and format, picking books, planning snacks, and discussion questions that get kids talking.
Creating a Reading Challenge for Kids
How to design a fun, low-pressure reading challenge for children, with flexible goals, simple tracking and rewards that do not turn books into a test.
Creating a Reading List for Kids
How to build a children's reading list around a child's age, interests and reading level, with kinds of books to include and tips for keeping it flexible.
Developing a Love of Reading: Tips for Parents and Educators
What adults can do to help children enjoy reading: modeling it, reading aloud, and responding warmly to the books children choose for themselves.
Developing a Reading Routine for Children
How to set up a regular reading routine for children, such as a bedtime slot, and how to adapt it as they grow from toddlers to independent readers.
How Reading Affects Brain Development in Children
A cautious, plain-language look at how language, stories and shared reading are thought to support children's development, and what research cannot say.
Literacy in the Home: Strategies for Parents
Practical ways parents can support literacy at home through talking, reading aloud, everyday print, writing and simple routines, without special equipment.
The Role of Parents in Encouraging Reading Habits in Children
Practical advice for parents on modeling reading, making it a family routine, and responding to a child's interests without pressure or comparison.
Related topics
More in children and learning
Literacy Support Reducing barriers for readers who face extra challenges. Reading-Friendly Spaces Making homes and schools welcoming to readers. Overcoming Reading Obstacles Supporting struggling, adult and language-learning readers. Reading Aloud Why and how to read aloud to children and to each other. Reading With Special Needs Gentle, practical ideas for readers with learning or sensory differences. Benefits of Reading to Children Why reading aloud to children, pets and older kids has value at home. Reading in School Settings How reading works in classrooms from early years to science lessons. Science of Reading Skills How people learn to read, understand, speed up and remember.