The quiet magic of reading aloud: what the research really says

Most of us read to our children because it feels lovely, and that would be reason enough. But it turns out the science is firmly on the side of the bedtime story.

It lights up the parts of the brain that imagine

When researchers scanned the brains of three to five year-olds listening to stories, children with a richer reading environment at home showed stronger activity in the areas behind mental imagery and understanding a narrative, the very skills that underpin learning to read (Hutton et al., Pediatrics, 2015).

It fills their world with language

Children who are read to every day hear around 1.4 million more words by the time they start school than children who are not. And the language in books is richer than everyday chatter, full of words a normal conversation rarely reaches.

It helps the whole family settle

A consistent story routine is linked not only to better sleep, but to warmer parent-child time and calmer parents, with benefits showing within just a few days (Mindell & Williamson, 2018). The story itself matters, but so does the closeness of those few quiet minutes together.

You can read more of the evidence that shaped us on our science page.