Many parents and teachers think of eBooks and paper books as an either-or type of decision. It’s often framed this way for adults too, after all. Traditional books and eBooks don’t have to be mutually exclusive for children, nor should they be!
eBooks are a great supplement to more traditional ways of learning, especially when it comes to learning how to read. There are many reasons that they’re great for children. Three of these reasons really jump out.
eBooks are Convenient for Children
If you’re a parent or teacher of young readers, you probably know how much kids love to collect things. And boy, do the books accumulate! A laptop or a tablet can weigh less and take up less space than more than only two or three books. This is especially useful when it comes to small hands. eBooks are also fantastic on the go. Whether you’re on a family vacation or just running errands, eBooks allow kids to take an entire library with them, and practice their reading anywhere.
eBooks also allow children to zero in on words they’re unfamiliar with, or are having a hard time reading or pronouncing. This is particularly important when children are using decodable readers as part of their phonetic development.
eBooks are a Great Use of Screen Time
There’s been a lot of talk about children and screen time over the past few years, and with good reason! This has been an especially relevant topic throughout the covid-19 pandemic, with children at home and learning remotely more than ever.
The American Society of Pediatrics recommends not only limiting childrens’ screen time, but also making it as engaging as possible. What’s more engaging for young readers than fun stories with immersive illustrations?
eBooks are More Interactive than Paper Books
eBooks often include a variety of add-ons to keep children interested and learning. This is very important with decodable readers in particular, which can often feel redundant and boring if it’s not part of a broader e-learning program.
Some e-learning programs – such as Phunics – include rich accompanying materials, like quizzes and audio. This helps to ensure that children aren’t just reading through the material and moving on, but are interacting with it from enough angles for the lessons to stick.
Phunics
There’s no doubt that paper books are still relevant, and an important part of childrens’ early reading experiences. Adding ebooks to the mix can be a great way to expand your young learners’ horizons, and engage them in ways that traditional books are unable to.
Even better than regular ebooks are ebooks with accompanying audio and quizzes. Phunics is more than just the largest library of decodable books in the world. It’s a robust quorum of learning materials designed to make phonics fun for young learners.
Signing up for Phunics is FREE. We’d love to see you and your young readers drop by!