Have cloth or cardboard picture books with high contrast illustrations for your baby to hold and look at. New Jersey Birth to Three Early Learning Standards. (2013). New Jersey Council for Young Children. Zeece, P. (1996). Best beginning: Literature for the very young. Early Childhood Education Journal, 24(2), 107–111.
Babies’ environments influence their learning. To promote emergent literacy, babies’ first books should be very durable, touchable, bendable, and safe for babies to mouth. Such books may be made of nontoxic laminated cardboard, vinyl, or cloth.
Effective infant and toddler books are simply designed and brightly illustrated. They are often concept books with plain, uncomplicated backgrounds and brief, simple illustrations and texts.
These may include such things as rhythmical-language books, point-and-say books, touch-and-smell books, board books, and early picture storybooks. Kupetz, B., & Green, E. (1997). Sharing books with infants and toddlers: Facing the challenge. Young Children, 52(2), 22–27. Zeece, P. D., & Churchill, S. L. (2001). First Stories: Emergent Literacy in Infants and Toddlers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 29(2), 101–104.