Sharing stories and rhymes with your baby

Reading to your baby is a great way to spend some lovely bonding time together, and it has real benefits for them as they grow and develop such as:

• they help your baby get familiar with speech sounds, words, pictures and books. This builds your baby’s early language skills
• stimulating your baby’s imagination and helps them learn about the world around them.

Cheshire East Libraries have a wonderful selection of books which you can borrow and enjoy. From birth every child can have a library card which means they can borrow up to 20 items for free.

Bookstart provide a wonderful Bookstart Baby pack with specially selected books for you to enjoy with your baby. If you have not received this pack speak to your health visitor, ask at your family hub or ask at your local library.

Sharing stories with your Baby

“Sharing stories with your child is a great way to have a moment of closeness, laughing and talking together. It can also help them learn more about the world around them.” BookTrust 2023

• This video shows the amazing benefits of sharing stories with your child
• This video from BookTrust is full of easy ways to make sharing stories fun
• Books can be read in different ways watch how this dad repeats the words the pictures his baby is interested in from BBC Tiny Happy People
• Books are also a great to add to your bedtime routine and can help to get babies to sleep: Bath Book Bed from BookTrust

Book recommendations

• Books for Newborn babies from BookTrust
• Baby's first books
• Best books for babies 0-12 months
• Best books for toddler's (ages 1-2)
• BookTrust’s Bookfinder will help you discover the very best kids' books: magical mysteries, astonishing adventures and fantastic facts. Simply choose an age range, pick as many themes as you want to search through thousands of book reviews, and get reading. Enjoy!
• BookTrust themed booklists cover a large range of subjects, from everyday issues to genre, disability, diversity, sporty books, funny books, and more.

Rhymes and songs

Singing to baby is one of the best things you can do to help their early learning. Your baby will not mind if this is a classic nursery rhyme or your favourite song. Babies naturally tune into singing and it can help introduce them to new words. Find out more about how singing to your baby helps them learn

• Join in with a virtual Rhymetime from your local library - Sing Along With Us From Home
• BookTrust Home Time rhymes to sing along with

Library sessions to enjoy

Baby Bounce

• Bring your baby along to sing some of our favourite rhymes and enjoy lots of face to face and tummy time. A fun session for you and your baby under 12 months.

Rhymetimes

• Come along and sing songs with your child in our friendly rhymetime session.

Stories and Songs

• Stories, rhymes and activities for pre-school children and their grown-ups.
• Find out when your these sessions are available from your local library

Page last reviewed: 13 February 2024