Council Hires Ice Cream Van to Encourage Parents to Read with their Children

Reporter: Ask Bury
Date online: 11/03/2008

Bury Council have come up with a novel way of encouraging parents to read with their children for 20 minutes a night by hiring an ice cream van to deliver easy to read books.

The ice cream van will be packed with books to get parents and children to sit and read together. The books will be handed out by Constable Cub, a giant costume character bear on loan from the police.

The initiative is supported by  by Bury East Local Area Partnership. The visits will be held on 25th March where we intend to be in the Fernhill Area, on 26th March we will be visiting all around Chesham Fold estate and on the 27th March we will be in the Pimhole area..

Bury Fire Service has also joined in with the awareness roadshow and will be out in their vehicle carrying out home risk assessments.  They are in the process of training up women to carry out these assessments in their communities.  Local schools, housing and children centres are very much in support to promote any sort of reading along with play.

Eleni Ioannides Executive Director for Children's Services said: "Learning to read with your child not only builds the foundation for a strong education but it can be really rewarding to spend quality time with your child. There are lots of ways to enjoy reading as part of your normal daily routine. Read in any language you speak at home - the important thing is that your child reads."

Top tips for reading to your children:
How to start
. Read yourself! Set a good example by showing your child that you read.
. Point out words all around you. Tell your child what they say. Look at road signs, packets and shopping lists.
. Use books as toys. Keep tough board books in the toy box and play with them together. Buy a bath book.
. Visit your library - it's free to join! All libraries have children's sections and most local libraries have a storytelling session for the under fives every week.
. Make time to read. Why not share a story every night?
. Make it as much a part of bedtime as brushing teeth.
. Keep books in your bag. A long wait in the doctor's surgery or at the bus stop can seem less boring if you share a book.
. If English is not your family's first language: You can buy dual language books. You can talk about books and stories in any language.

How to help with reading
. Look at the pictures. Ask lots of questions about the pictures and the story.
. Spot words in books. How many times do familiar words come up?
. Follow the words with your finger. This will help your child to learn them.
. Spot letters. Encourage your child to spot the letters of their name in writing they see.
. Turn off the TV! It's easier for your child to concentrate on the story when there are no distractions.
. Let them pretend to read. Young children often like to pretend to read by making up the story themselves. This is a great start.
. Teach them how to treat books. Teach your child how to hold books and turn the pages gently.
. Let them read their favourites. Don't worry if they want to read the same books over and over. It's good practice.
. Don't read for too long. A good ten minutes is better than a difficult half hour.