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Books and Toddlers in Child Care: Under What Conditions are Children Most Engaged?

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Abstract

Background

Although shared book reading is seen as an effective way to support children’s early literacy and language development, less is known about the factors associated with toddlers’ engagement with books.

Objective

The goal of the current study was to examine younger and older toddlers’ engagement with books during one-on-one reading with a teacher in an interactive versus non-interactive manner and during independent exploration.

Method

Using single-case design, the study examined how engagement among toddlers (N = 6) in a childcare classroom varied under different book reading/exploration conditions.

Results

Results indicated that overall engagement was greater when teachers read interactively compared to when children explored books on their own, with this effect differing for younger versus older toddlers.

Conclusions

Understanding how teachers reading to younger and older toddlers is associated with children’s engagement with books compared to children’s engagement when exploring books on their own can inform early care and education reading practices with toddlers. Implications for book reading with toddlers in group childcare are discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Lindsay Siebold, Helen Avis, and Lindsay Holland for their research assistance and the children, families, and teachers who participated in the study.

Funding

This research was supported by a grant from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health (1R21HD070083).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Steven J. Holochwost

    Present address: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA

  2. Kathleen Cranley Gallagher & Iheoma U. Iruka

    Present address: University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. FPG Child Development Institute, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB 8180, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Nicole Gardner-Neblett, Kathleen Cranley Gallagher, Iheoma U. Iruka, Samuel L. Odom & Elizabeth Pungello Bruno

  2. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, USA

    Nicole Gardner-Neblett, Steven J. Holochwost & Elizabeth Pungello Bruno

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  1. Nicole Gardner-Neblett
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Correspondence to Nicole Gardner-Neblett.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Appendix

Appendix

Books Used in the Study.

Author and publication year

Title and publisher

Eric Carle (2005)

10 Little Rubber Ducks. HarperCollins Publishers

Donald Crews (1978)

Freight Train. Greenwillow Books

DK Publishing (2004)

My First Body Board Book. DK Publishing

Kristine O’Connell George & Maggie Smith (2001)

¡Libro! Book! Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing

Ginger Fogleson Guy & René King Moreno (1996)

¡Fiesta! Greenwillow Books

Ginger Fogleson Guy & René King Moreno (2005)

Siesta. Greenwillow Books

Victoria Harvey & Dawn Sirett (2008)

Animals. DK Publishing

Kevin Henkes (2004)

Kitten’s First Full Moon. Greenwillow Books

Kevin Henkes (2011)

Little White Rabbit. Greenwillow Books

Eric Hill (1980)

Where’s Spot? G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle (1967)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Henry Holt and Company

Al Perkins & Eric Gurney (1969)

Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb. Random House

Roger Priddy (2005)

First 100 Words. Priddy Books

Andy Rash (2009)

Are You a Horse? Arthur A. Levine Books

Barney Saltzberg (2007)

Cornelius P. Mud, Are You Ready For School? Candlewick Press

Jan Thomas (2009)

Rhyming Dust Bunnies. Beach Lane Books

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Gardner-Neblett, N., Holochwost, S.J., Gallagher, K.C. et al. Books and Toddlers in Child Care: Under What Conditions are Children Most Engaged?. Child Youth Care Forum 46, 473–493 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-017-9391-4

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