tips for parents

Enjoying Books Together

On PBS KIDS children’s programs, characters have fun reading,
talking about books, and acting out stories. Talking about stories
as you read them is an easy way to make reading together more
valuable.

1 Make Reading Fun

Try to make reading aloud a special time for you and your child.
Cuddle and get comfortable. Use silly voices for different characters.
Act out parts of the book. Ask: Can you move your body like a lion? What
does a lion sound like? Your child will become interested in books if you
have fun while you read together.

2 Read and Talk Every Day

Ask your child questions about a story that will start a discussion. Try
these: Who is this story about? Tell me a little more about him or her. Why
do you think the character is acting this way? Ask questions that do not
have “yes” or “no” answers. This encourages your child to tell you
what he or she thinks and helps your child develop language skills.

3 Play with Words and Sounds

Reading rhyming books or saying poems together is a good way to
help your child become aware of the sounds that make up a word.
Pause to let your child say the last word in a rhyme: Jack and Jill went
up a…. Ask your child to add to a list of silly rhyming words such as
cap, bap, dap, lap…. Playing with letter sounds this way will help your
child when he or she begins to read.

Visit the BETWEEN THE LIONS

Web site at
pbskids.org/lions. You'll
find great book
suggestions.

Try This!
Say two words that begin with the
same letter sound:
• Bat and butter begin with the “b”
sound. Try saying them.
• Can you hear the “b” sound in bat
and butter?

BETWEEN THE LIONS is produced by WGBH Boston, Sirius Thinking, Ltd, and Mississippi Public Broadcasting. BETWEEN THE LIONS is funded in part by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a cooperative agreement from the
U.S. Department of Education’s Ready To Learn grant, and by the Barksdale Reading Institute. National corporate funding is provided by Chick-fil-A. Development of the contents herein was funded in part by the Park
Foundation and the Civil Society Institute. This document was developed in part under a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Education, The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the Public
Broadcasting Service for the Ready To Learn Initiative, PR#s U295A050003 and U295B050003. However, these contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the Department of Education and you should not assume
endorsement by the Federal Government. ©2002, 2009 WGBH Educational Foundation and Sirius Thinking Ltd. All rights reserved. BETWEEN THE LIONS, Get Wild About Reading and the BTL characters and related indicia
are trademarks or registered trademarks of WGBH Educational Foundation. All third party trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Funding for the original development of this fact sheet was provided by
the AT&T Family Care Development Fund.