Research indicates that children exposed to reading aloud can learn an estimated 1 to 2 new words for every minute spent listening.

A study published by the University of Sussex found that reading aloud can significantly reduce stress levels, with participants reporting a 68% reduction in stress after reading.

BookTrust reports that 85% of parents believe reading aloud to their children helps to develop a closer bond.

A report by the Education Endowment Foundation highlights that reading aloud can significantly improve comprehension skills, especially for younger children.

Data from the Early Years Foundation Stage indicates that children who engage in shared reading activities perform better in literacy assessments as they enter primary school.

These statistics underscore the significant impact of reading aloud on literacy, cognitive development, and emotional well-being in children.

In a recent Guardian article Professor Usha Goswami, the Founding Director of the Centre for Neuroscience in Education at Cambridge University shared that her research had found that rhythm structures – often found in nursery rhymes and “poetry out loud” – are a crucial part of children’s language and literacy learning, creating patterns their brain waves can synchronise with. She explained that, at a neural level, brain waves appear to sync when this rhythmic language is both produced and perceived.

“When reading stories aloud, primary school teachers unconsciously produce similar acoustic statistics to those found in baby talk and nursery rhymes – the more accurately the brain aligns its rhythms to the rhythms in speech, the better the language comprehension of the receiver.”

Reading aloud to children has clear cognitive benefits. For example, brain scans show that hearing stories strengthens the part of the brain associated with visual imagery, story comprehension, and word meaning.

However recent data from the National Literacy Trust shows us that

45% of 0–2s are read to daily or nearly every day.

This increases to 58% of 3–4s, in part to get them ‘school ready’

By 5–7 years, parents reading daily to their children drops back to 44% as the notion takes hold that reading is a subject to learn at school.

The earlier you can start reading to aloud, the better, and please don't stop. Just because they can read independently doesn't mean that the job is done. To help, dive into our recommended reads which are brilliant to read aloud.