Duffy Books at Buckle My Shoe!
At Buckle My Shoe we provide our little ones the opportunity to be part of the Duffy Books in Home Programme. So, what is it? Let’s take a deep dive in and take a look.😊
The Duffy Books programme helps to encourage families to read with their children at home and inspire a love of books and reading. Our little ones are each presented with 2 books per year at no cost to our whanau. This is done as part of a special mat time and those who are familiar with the programme get excited as they anticipate what book they are going to get. Our wonderful educators take time to choose books based on each child’s interests so that there is continuity of learning and that our tamariki feel passionate about the process.
Once our little ones receive their special book, they spend time exploring it at the centre before showing it to their friends. Some of our little ones cannot wait till home-time to read their new book, so we often read them as a group before they are taken home. There is a sense of ownership and responsibility over this new book and the Duffy Book Programme encourages children to take care of their books and have a sense of pride with them. ♥
Regularly reading books with children has a multitude of benefits for their learning and also provides another avenue to spend quality time together. A lot of research suggests that reading to children in their first 1000 days helps in the development of neural connections in their brain. The more neural connections an infant develops in this early period of time the better they are set up for future learning.
Reading to your little one also helps them to acquire language and develop early literacy skills. As you read to your little one, they are learning about features of a book such as a book having a cover, pictures that show meaning and the direction of print (reading left to right). Books are also a great tool for our little ones to learn more about the world around them and help them form connections and links to their own culture, environment and identity. You can make reading books interactive by asking your little one questions throughout such as “what do you think will happen next?” or after the story is finished, asking them what their favourite part of the book was.
Books are a powerful tool to teach our little ones valuable life lessons such as friendship or kindness. Through repetition and visuals, these messages will help support their social and emotional competence. On top of everything else, we want our little ones to have a positive attitude towards books and discover that reading is fun!
Te Whariki the NZ Early Childhood Curriculum states that children should experience an environment where they develop verbal and non-verbal communication skills for a range of purposes, experience stories and symbols of their own and other cultures, and discover different ways to be expressive and creative. Exploring books tick all of these boxes! 📖
Happy Reading Everyone! 👌