P12

Picture this!

Picture books are not just for babies. Kathryn Brereton explains how important they are for stimulating reading.

Children love looking at pictures and reading picture books. They are accessible to all ages and abilities and offer the added bonus of developing reading skills along the way.

Pictures are often skipped over by well intentioned and time-pressed teachers, children and parents all schooled to focus on print. Picture books are often labelled ‘for babies’, but pictorial texts challenge, engage and satisfy children – including those we are confronted with every day who a) can’t read or b) can read but don’t.

Alongside encouraging children to free-read picture books across the key stages, I would recommend guiding children to read picture books. This raises the profile of such texts, generates enthusiasm and sharpens existing skills, while offering new skills to children to apply independently.

Where to start

Your pictures don’t need to be in a book. Try a ‘pictures to talk about’ session.

• On the interactive whiteboard or flip chart I display a picture. This could be an interesting photograph (try old birthday cards, calendar pages or Google images – spooky photos work well), a piece of clip art, artwork (try the National Portrait Gallery, (www.npg.org.uk) or a book illustration. The children discuss their ideas then I collect feedback.

• Make a picture or picture book illustration your subject for a group reading session.

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