Last updated June 20, 2024
If you are a parent to a little one, you have to check out this great article from Gail Cornwall, “Solid Stories: Why Board Books are Key Developmental Tools,” delving into the world of board books for babies and toddlers. Published in School Library Journal in October 2023, the article covers everything from board books as tools that support neurodevelopment in young children to recent trends in the board book market.
The full article is about a ten-minute read. If you’re short on time, here are five practical takeaways for parents about why board books matter for babies and toddlers.
1. Board books are designed with babies’ and toddlers’ motor skills in mind.
Those thick pages do more than prevent your little one from eating a book whole. The material of board books makes them easier to grasp and manage for little baby hands that are still developing.
“[The thickness of pages] enables the development of ‘concepts of print’— how to hold a book, how to turn pages. Babies learn these basics not just by seeing, but by getting their hands on books and mimicking their grown-ups.”
2. Reading books again and again makes space in a baby’s brain to pick up new details.
You might be going crazy reading that one Sandra Boynton board book your kid loves over and over and over again. But there’s a good reason to ride out the repetition.
“’[Once young children] have an existing mental model about this story, that frees up resources for them to pick up new things they may not have been able to discern the first time around.’”
3. Reading a board book (and getting to hold and touch it) is better for language retention than reading a picture book or watching a story told online.
I think many people intuitively know that there’s something different about reading a physical book versus a digital one. For our little ones, that full sensory experience of holding and touching a book supports language retention.
“A tot won’t get the same impact from a picture book or YouTube storytelling, Gallingane explains, because language retention increases with multisensory input: ‘Being able to look at something, hear something, touch something, say something, all at the same time, reinforces that word and that concept more strongly.’”
4. The language patterns in narrative books help expand a one-year-old’s vocabulary.
While board books may not use very many words, they are still instrumental tools for vocabulary development. It’s not just about the words in the books themselves but also about the conversations that flow between parent and child while reading.
“[N]arrative books expand a one-year-old’s vocabulary, Gallingane says, since they almost always feature more sophisticated language and language patterns than in everyday speech. They’re designed to inspire ‘call and response’ and lots of repetition. ‘Repetition is crucial… It takes kids at least 10 exposures to a word to learn that word.’”
5. Positive experiences reading with caregivers – and getting to feel in control of a reading experience – helps babies develop a love of reading.
Reading with children should be a time free of distractions, where we focus our attention on the child and the experience we are sharing with them. We shouldn’t rush, but rather give children the time and space to interact with a book in the ways that excite them.
“[Children] need positive associations: a warm lap, a comforting embrace, a caregiver’s undivided attention. Being able to skip around in a book gives toddlers a sense of competence, control, and mastery… All these feelings can be addictive, fostering a habit of interacting with books.”
Looking for board books to read with your baby or toddler?
Check out my post on “5 Spanish board books you’ll love for babies and toddlers.”