Dialogic Reading: The Simple Way to Read With Toddlers and Preschoolers

Reading to a toddler often looks like this: an adult reads, a child listens (or wriggles). Dialogic reading flips that around. The adult asks, listens and builds on what the child says. It sounds like a small change, but it turns a book into a language lesson that feels like play.

The PEER cycle

1. Prompt your child to say something about the book. (“What’s this?”)
2. Evaluate the answer. (“Yes, it’s a truck!”)
3. Expand it by adding a little. (“It’s a big red fire truck.”)
4. Repeat: invite your child to say the longer version. (“Can you say ‘big red fire truck’?”)

The CROWD prompts

• Completion: leave a gap at the end of a line. “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you ___?” Great with rhyming books.
• Recall: “What happened to the little ghost at the start?”
• Open-ended: point at a busy picture: “Tell me what’s happening here.”
• Wh- questions: what, where, who, why. “Where is the squirrel hiding the acorn?”
• Distancing: connect the book to real life. “We saw leaves like this at the park, remember?”

Recall and distancing prompts are harder, so use them sparingly with the youngest children.

Try it with a fall picture book

Pick a picture book with lots to look at, like these fall favourites or a not-scary Halloween story. Read it normally the first time. On the second or third reading, add one or two prompts per page. By the fifth reading, your child may be telling you the story.

Tips that keep it fun

• Keep it light. If your child just wants to listen, read. Try again tomorrow.
• Praise effort, not just right answers.
• Five to ten minutes is plenty for toddlers.
• Same book again? Perfect. Rereading is where dialogic reading shines.

Sources

• Whitehurst, G. J. Dialogic Reading: An Effective Way to Read to Preschoolers (Reading Rockets)
• Victoria Department of Education: Dialogic reading

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