First 5 LA Resources for Young Readers
Celebrate Young Readers Day on Nov. 12 (and National Family Literacy Month which takes place throughout November!) by reading to your child! Studies show that reading aloud from birth builds bonds and enhances a child’s success in school and their later life. Reading with infants and children builds vocabulary, memory and cognitive and language skills. Plus, it’s fun!
Los Angeles County has a wealth of ways to support young readers. Here are five great resources for parents and children to develop a love of reading and its many benefits:
- First 5 FREE Kit for New Parents. Celebrate your young reader from birth with a FREE Kit for New Parents that includes a Puppy and Friends touch-and-feel book, a resource guide and DVD for parents, and more! Available in English, Spanish, Cantonese, Korean, Mandarin and Vietnamese. You can order your free kit by visiting www.first5california.com.
- Los Angeles County and City Public Libraries. The public libraries of Los Angeles offer a wide array of programs and services for families to cultivate literacy in young readers, including more than 14 million items available to the public, cozy places to read and play, story hours, book suggestions and much more! Learn more at www.lapl.org and lacountylibrary.org.
- “How to Raise a Reader” Guide from the Los Angeles Times. This FREE bilingual online guide offers parenting tips, information on developmental milestones, book suggestions, ways to use technology and more to help all children in L.A. read by the age of 9.
- Common Sense: Great Early Reading Resources – Learning how to read is different for each child, but equally important for all. That’s why Common Sense highlights a range of techniques within these excellent early literacy and reading apps, games and websites! Check it out here: https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/great-early-reading-resources
- Reading Partners: Resources for Families – Reading Partners wants to help parents, guardians and other relatives caring for children to become the best reading partners for their kids. Here are some resources to stay educated and informed about early literacy. Check it out here: https://readingpartners.org/take-action/resources-for-families/
- PBS SoCal: Learning at Home: 9 Early Literacy Activities – To extend your child’s language ability and vocabulary, check out these 9 activities to support early literacy from PBS SoCal here: https://www.pbs.org/parents/thrive/learning-at-home-9-early-literacy-activities
