10 Benefits of Reading Aloud to Kids
“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” - Emilie Buchwald
When children climb onto their mom or dad’s lap to read a book, something magical happens. An entire world is unlocked. New doors open, dragons are slayed, secret paths are taken, and surprise endings are found! Kids can gather information to help them grow in faith, character, and life skills while minutes later they can escape to fantastical, fairy-tale-like lands—all with safety and security knowing their parents or other caregivers are close by.
The value of reading aloud to your child is immeasurable. I truly believe that incorporating this routine into your every day can transform the bond with your child. This is because reading is a key that unlocks so many conversations, stories, and adventures to share together. Reading has all of these benefits and more!
Today, we’ll chat about 10 benefits of reading aloud to kids. The list of why reading aloud is important really goes on and on, as you’ll soon see. Additionally, when the book is a Bible story or filled with Christian themes, reading can also strengthen their relationship with the Lord—the best bonus of all! Let’s explore 10 benefits of reading aloud to kids and why it’s important to incorporate it into our everyday lives as a family.
1. Instills a love for reading.
This is perhaps the most important benefit of reading to your children. When you foster a love for reading in your kids, you’re giving them a key. A key that opens doors to new realities and adventures. Interested in exploring the dark depths of the ocean? Curious about the mysteries of outer space? Want to go an adventure with some forest animals as you learn about faith and character? If that last one is intriguing to you, then I think you and your kids will love my devotional Adventures in the Friendly Forest. It releases in February 2026, but you can preorder now here! No matter what topic excites your child, it can be explored through the love of reading.
When the day comes where your child can read on his or her own, you won’t have to work hard at convincing them to read because you will have already paved the way for them to love reading. This means that in their spare time, they’re more likely to pick up a book than an iPad, a magazine than a television remote, a Bible instead of a video game. What’s more, if we instill a love of reading the Bible specifically, we can create a path for them to follow where they want to pick it up by choice. Is there really better benefit than that?
2. Strengthens language development.
Spending time reading out loud exposes your child to rich language. It strengthens vocabulary, provides them with endless opportunities to hear rhyme, and exposes them to language they wouldn’t otherwise hear in everyday conversations. This is especially true when you’re reading a text that may be a bit above their level. So don’t be afraid to pull out a more complex text since it will expose them to a variety of new language and vocabulary.
3. Sparks their imagination.
New lands, new ideas, and new characters are all part of what makes a story so enchanting. When you read aloud, you help your child unlock their imagination and use creative parts of their brain. As you’re reading about a particular event, character, or setting, your child is busy creating and imagining all of it. Their minds are in full-fledged creation mode, which is a beautiful place for them to be.
While you’re reading aloud, your child is dreaming up what the setting looks like, what the character’s facial expressions may be at a certain time, or how a plot is going to unfold. They’re making predictions and inferences as you make your way through the story. In short, they’re becoming creators, innovators, and engineers as you’re reading!
4. Strengthens the parent-child relationship.
Spending time reading books to your children encourages bonding between the caregiver and the child. Whether your child is sitting upon your lap, next to you in bed, or you’re reading to all of your kiddos like it’s circle time, you can be confident that the bond between you all is growing and strengthening. Enjoying a story together while going through tales and plot twists creates memories for a lifetime. When reading together becomes part of your daily rhythm, you hardly even need to think about it. It’s just what you do!
Want to strengthen the parent-child relationship even more? Consider purchasing the Go Bible! This Bible can encourage the bond between parents and children as experiencing God’s Word together. And not only that, but with the easy-to-read NLT version, children will be able to access His word in an easy format. The Go Bible is full of engaging content geared especially toward 7-12 year olds to help them explore God’s Word like the Know, Grow, and Go mini devotions, Key Verse Challenges, Choose to Change Life Applications, and more! Opening the Bible with your kids also makes you seem more accessible for conversation about faith and questions kids may have about the stories they read. The mere fact that you’re reading it together opens up opportunities for them to grow in the Lord with you as their guide!
5. Promotes cognitive development.
Reading out loud improves a child’s cognitive abilities—lots of them! Everything from listening skills, to memory, to improved concentration, to developing critical thinking skills. It engages so many different parts of the brain and allows kids to ask their own questions about the text. When listening to a story, children also make connections to other texts and connections within their own lives. These text-to-text and text-to-self connections deepen their understanding of the literature and the world around them. Not to mention, they’ll need all kinds of memory and concentration skills as they enter and progress through the elementary school years!
6. Models how to be a good reader.
Parents guide these read-aloud times, and when they do, they have the opportunity to model good reading to their child. When we model good reading to them, we’re really teaching them what it means to sound like a good reader. In short, reading aloud actually helps kids become fluent. Parents should be engaged with the text, modeling prosody and pace, and showing their child what good reading looks and sounds like. Aside from fluency, you can also model what good reading is by stopping as you’re reading to ask questions, make predictions, wonder about setting, and chat about the characters. This shows them that good readers ask questions about the text.
I also want to mention that while modeling how to be a good reader is important, modeling how to be a good Bible reader is where the real treasure lies. When your kids catch you reading the Bible (whether this is out loud or to yourself), you’re showing your child that spending time with the Lord is important to you and should be a part of everyday life. As you read the Bible aloud to your child, you can ask questions, summarize the text, and pull out important verses to model how to read it. Memorize Bible verses together and share your progress with each other throughout the week!
7. It’s a good replacement for screen time.
Screen time has its place—in fact, apps like Epic! and Vooks make books come to life and are a great way for kids to “buy into” the idea of reading. But the great news about reading aloud to your child is that when this sacred moment is happening, your child is spending time with you, and not with a screen. No matter how creative the app is, kids can’t ask the app questions or delve into a text like they can with a parent. Nothing can replace the act of a human reading aloud to another human. This is because so much more is taking place other than reading—there's bonding, conversation, questions, and a deepening of a relationship.
Reading a book together is a great replacement for show time as you connect with your child. To boot, reading aloud is incredibly inspirational and launches their imagination into full force, so don’t be surprised if they skip the next TV show time and instead color a picture or create a story of their own afterward! You’ll hear way less “Mom, can we watch another one?” and way more “Mom! Look what I made!”
8. Reduces stress.
These days, there are so many outside factors that can make children stressed and anxious. But just imagine this: you go back in time to when you were a child sitting on your parents’ lap as they read your favorite story. The comfort, the physical closeness, the joy of learning together. You feel safe and seen.
Reading out loud brings kids comfort, reduces stress, and provides an escape for whatever may be worrying them. And honestly? The stress reduction works both ways and can be just as beneficial for parents. If you think about it, reading aloud isn’t so different than when we're listening to a calming audiobook or a podcast. But in fact, it’s better, because a parent’s familiar voice has the power to calm and bring warmth. It’s like coming home.
9. Enhances social and emotional skills.
Children’s books explore all types of social-emotional journeys and ideas. Children’s book authors often have a knack for choosing a character that can really drive home a theme or social norm. Kids relate to these characters as they journey out into their world.
Reading these stories broadens their emotional capacity, encouraging them to think of others, use empathy, and talk through their emotions and how to handle them. It raises social awareness and also gives them opportunities to learn what it means to engage in social settings. When you’re the one doing the reading, you’re able to stop and chat with your child about these situations they may encounter at school, home, or on the playgound. This opens the doors for conversations and maybe even some fun role playing!
If you’re interested in your child learning more emotional skills together, specifically about who they kids created to be, check out my FREE Made to Be Kids Devotional Set. This set might be the perfect read-aloud for you and your child, as they focus on how God made His kids in His own image with their own unique qualities as well. These devotionals discuss emotions, friendship, faith, and more. There are discussion questions and Bible verses for kids, along with tools that will help you and your child build a firm foundation in Christ!
10. Improves upon speaking skills.
Clearly listening to someone read will improve listening skills, but did you know that it improves speaking skills, too? Reading aloud to children not only models good reading, but it models good speaking. Reading with a certain cadence, changing your voice with each character, and reading with expression all show your child how books should be read. Since we all know that kids do as we do and not as we say (how I wish it were the other way around sometimes!), it’s important to model good reading and speaking.
Memories Made
It’s easy to see the benefits of why we should read aloud to our kids. And what’s more, reading the Bible aloud to your kids in particular provides a solid foundation for them well before they’re even able to read themselves. You’ll also see that reading aloud to your child doesn’t just enhance that time with them specifically. Rather, it enhances all other areas of life.
Making reading aloud part of your routine will allow for amazing and inspirational conversations to take place. You can go anywhere and explore new possibilities—and do it all together. When you take time to read aloud to your child, you’ll soon find that something changes within each of you because you’ve shared something special together. And that, my friends, is a memory you’ll want written in your book.
In Case You Missed It:
Check out these awesome resources that can help instill a love of reading and a love of God!