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Reading Picture Books to Your Children! 今晚，为孩子读绘本吧! By Shu Huang (Taiwan) 文:黃淑慧(台湾) The little, simple descriptions of illustrations can immerse children naturally in the story and stimulate their imagination. 不必担心绘本文字过少，只需简单描绘画面，让孩子自行想象，自然融入故事。 Istarted reading picture books to my daughter when she was seven or eight months old. My friends doubted she could really understand what I was reading. Honestly, I do not know if she did, but when I read, “Wow! There’s an elephant in the box!”, she looked astonished as I turned the page to reveal the elephant. As the story took amusing turns, she followed the happy tone in my voice and giggled along. Sensory Stimulation for Children Apart from educational purposes, reading picture books to your children is also about the time spent together. Having your child on your lap and your arm around them as they listen to your voice and look at the illustrations is both beautiful and unforgettable. Some parents find it difficult to read picture books to children as these books have limited or even no text. In fact, just looking at the pictures and telling the stories is enough, because of the bright colours and varied illustrations of the books that children are attracted to. Picture books allow children to go with their own imagination and words without inserting too many plot details or descriptions. They can come to understand the information in the books on their own, naturally immersing themselves in the story and slowly discovering the joy of reading picture books. For instance, in Miao Miao the Chick’s Daily Life: I Love Mommy, Miao Miao’s mother is said to have two faces, one round and the other long. No further textual descriptions are offered, but the illustrations show what the round face (smiling) and long face (angry) refer to. Children can connect the stories of picture books to their own lives, 36 - popularnews 137