Feed Your Child's Brain- Read Aloud

My children have an insatiable hunger for knowledge. As any parent of a small child will attest, the question, "Why?" is a central part of daily life. They do not accept anything for face value, and want to know more, always more. 

So here is the disclosure- I am a scientist by day, not a reading specialist, librarian, or teacher. As a researcher, I have a hunger for knowledge that I constantly feed, so nothing excites me more than hearing the question "Why?" from my kids. When "Why?" strikes, I use it as an excuse to research for the answers. The goal is always to help my kids make connections between what we read and the wide world that surrounds us. It is during those searches for answers, I fell in love with reading children's books because children's books always bring up discussions and questions I would have NEVER in a million years thought to ask my kids. Through our reading, we have ended up at the Michael Carlos Museum at Emory to see the mummies and at Tellus Science Museum to learn about rocks. Reading to my kids has become the springboard to not only feed their brains, but grow them into well-rounded, empathetic, thoughtful people.

And this is why I love Read Aloud's campaign for the month of October is Feed Your Child's Brain. Here are ten ways reading aloud feeds the child's brain.

1. Reading aloud brings up the opportunity to pop white corn on a cold winter night while reading before bed.

2. Reading aloud provides the opportunity to come up with delicious smoothies that Dr. Seuss's Pink Yink might drink.

3. Reading aloud provides the opportunity to dress up like your favorite children's book characters.

4. Reading aloud brings up the opportunity to go out into the woods to search for rocks or other things...

 and then bring them back to the house to view them under a microscope.

5. Reading aloud prompts us to read all about animals before a trip to the zoo.

6. Reading aloud provides the opportunity to engage in discussions about those awkward, personal topics that social graces tell us not to discuss in public. 

 7. Reading aloud offers a window to the wide world that waits outside when a child is too small to go out on her own.

8. Reading aloud encourages movement and motion, feeding the body, as well as the brain. 

9.Reading aloud offers moments of quiet and calm, after a busy day, to tell your little ones you love them, sharing a snuggle before bed.

10. But most importantly, reading aloud feeds the hunger for fun.