Observe the adult and child looking at simple picture books, preferably of babies, simple objects, or animals.
Have the adult stay on a page and talk about it for as long as the child is attentive. Turn the page when she looks away.
The infant will study the pictures and point to aspects that are interesting. She may vocalize along with the adult.
Emphasize how important it is to share books from the earliest ages. Parents often think reading books starts when the child can talk, but infants are learning to find meaning in pictures from early infancy. Encourage parents to share simple picture board books with infants and also let them explore books on their own.
 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015
©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.