3 Reasons Why You Should Expose Your Kids To Wordless Books

Countless experts have often reminded parents about the value of reading. According to them, exposing children to good books at an early age can be beneficial for their development.

One common misconception, however, is that when we talk about reading, it’s exclusively about books with words. This is definitely not the case because wordless picture books are actually highly recommended as well.

In an educational blog post by Common Sense Media, we see some of the benefits of “reading” wordless books, particularly for toddlers and preschoolers.

#1. Wordless books can help children learn “how a book works.”

According to the website, kids will start to get comfortable with reading as they begin to understand how a book functions as they go “front to back, left to right, top to bottom.”

Picture books are also a great way of introducing them to storytelling structures as they develop skills in “listening, comprehension, and interpreting visual images.”

#2. Wordless books can enrich your children’s vocabulary and imagination.

This may sound surprising to some but yes, textless books can do exactly that. Young children learn to identify “objects, people, places, animals, and actions,” especially when their parents or guardians read with them.

Moreover, picture books invite kids to imagine dialogues and scenarios for the characters as they read or try to narrate stories.

#3. Wordless books build confidence.

Even if a child can’t read words yet, his or her confidence gets a boost as he or she gets to finish an entire book without requiring any assistance from adults.

So yes, there are a lot of reasons why you should try to get your young children into textless books (or even age-appropriate silent comics and graphic novels). Go check out your local bookstores or you might also want to head over to Common Sense Media’s website for a list of recommendations.