Sharing the Wonder of Picture Books
By
The team at Coffs Harbour Libraries loves to share picture books with the children who go to the library for storytime, and they love to provide them for families to borrow, read together and enjoy the journey they provide. Picture books are an important tool in early literacy development.
Picture books provide an opportunity to share words, images, concepts. They are visually engaging, and the story can be told through the images, usually with supporting text. They offer an opportunity for children to explore and be curious – vital for the development of young minds. Young children first observe, touch, point, ask, listen, remember, and recite, and then ultimately they read. Picture books help them learn to predict, think, confirm and enquire.
Sharing a picture book enables a child to:
- learn how things work
- understand things
- discover new ideas
The words and pictures that are captured in a book can take you on a journey of adventure, discovery and learning. The words and pictures are just the beginning of the story, and it is the child’s imagination that brings the story to life. It is their creativity that adds the excitement and magic to what you are reading, and it is their curiosity that leads them to want to find out more!
We all learn about life by reading or listening to other people’s stories and children are no different.
As children develop their reading skill, they can share the stories with family members by reading to them. A story comes to life when you read it out aloud.
Coffs Harbour Libraries has a large collection of picture books – take a look at the selection in the online catalogue.
