Parents today are extremely dedicated to empowering their children, even very young ones to read. Apparently, much of the educational world that felt children were not ready to read until much later in life have been amazed at how quickly toddlers today are actually learning to read. This has prompted reading to be a standard part of the bedtime routine for parents of this generation. In fact, reading bedtime stories can heighten your toddler’s verbal skills and can be the building blocks of a literary future that includes reading at an early age. Still, parents are advised to take caution – and to remember that reading to your child doesn’t always have to be an educational lesson and should be about sparking the imagination and bonding with your toddler. Bedtime stories for 3 year olds are some of the simplest and most beautiful ever written and chances are you will have as much fun reading them as your child does hearing them.
Every toy or book that you can buy today (as well as other things) comes with recommended age appropriateness. New parents are prone to following these guidelines to a tee, and would never even consider buying a book for a 3 year old if the ages were 8 and up. Here’s the thing, when it comes to bedtime stories – your toddler will want to hear the same one over and over again. These stories will become part of their history and long into adult hood, they will remember the stories mom and dad would read to them at bedtime. They key is that they don’t have to read it themselves, and you don’t necessarily need a book laden with pictures and prompts. Choosing bedtime stories that spark the imagination and that can be built upon for days at a time – can be a great way to connect with your child. You can also choose a story from your own childhood – whether it is in print or just part of your own mom or dad’s imagination.
If you have a three year old- you have to try out the good old bedtime stories that children have been hearing for ages. You have to include Dr. Seuss. The tongue twisting, rhyming lyrics will have your toddler giggling with excitement and realizing that often nonsense is the best medicine. Challenge yourself to memorize all the words to The Cat in the Hat, and bring your toddler along for the ride. Other noteworthy stories are all the Hans Christian Anderson stories as well as classic fairy tales such as The Little Red hen, Three Little Pigs etc. Each time you read them, try to ask your children about what they would do if they were the big bad wolf, and make even the frightening parts seems completely non-scary! (Especially at bedtime). Remember with some of the more gruesome fairy tales like Hansel and Gretel that the thought of being shoved into an oven can be terrifying to a young child.
Once you read the classics, begin pinpointing story lines that your toddler will fine interesting. If he is a Thomas the Train fanatic, then get your hands on as many books as possible. Same goes for Dora the Explorer, Chuggington or the Little Mermaid. As your child witnesses through bedtime stories their favorite character battle and confront all sorts of real life issues, they will be learning valuable life lessons and look forward to this time of day.
Some of the best bedtime stories for three year olds are the simplest. Good night, God Bless, Mama Will You, The Hungry Caterpillar, Guess How Much I love you, and Goodnight Moon are just a few. You can also find some of the sweetest tales in books that are made especially for bedtime, filling your child’s imagination with magical stars and candy coated dreams. These bedtime books are also great learning tools – to help transition your three year old from being coerced to sleep and slumbering on their own in their big kid bed.
Books can be useful for ways to teach your children things like manners and other life skills, without being too invasive on their imagination or chastising. Follow the Bernstein Bears in their hundreds of books and you have a valuable masterpiece to help your three-year-old deal with the arrival of a new brother or sister – or use the potty all on their own. Other great books for this age group that they are sure to love are Llama, Llama Mad at Mama, Where the Wild things Are, Caps for Sale and Rainbow Fish. As a parent, try to choose books that have some meaning in your child’s life so that they will learn how to communicate their feelings to you with the help of their favorite characters.
If you are looking for bedtime stories for a 3 year old – especially for bedtime, you should make sure that you don’t pick books that would be frightening to your child. Stay away from books about monsters or sad things that will cause a melancholy mood right before bed. Similarly, books that are too much fun – that involve knee slapping and dancing around the room might not provide the calm atmosphere of sleep that is necessary this time of day. Read to your child slowly, turning the pages and pointing at the words as you go. As you finish a sentence, ask your child a question about the book, the characters, or the story line and try to help them with their understanding of the story. At the same time, realize that your 3 year olds understanding of the bedtime story may be drastically different from yours – and that is okay. It is their imagination that you want to take over.
Choosing bedtime stories for a 3 year old is actually an easy task. Most 3 year olds are happy with repetition and like anything, which involves animals. There are millions of books to choose from. Rather than spend a fortune on books, allow your three year old to help you pick out books from the library and shop yard sales for great bargains on books. Many communities have mommy groups that also do book swaps which is a useful idea for reusing books that your child may have grown tired of. Reading to your child at bedtime, can help you and your child to reinvent magic and can make the idea of bedtime something your toddler looks forward to each and every night.
