Three Benefits when Using Personalized Books with Preschool Children
There are multiple benefits for shared reading with children in the early childhood years but do personalized books make a difference for learning, motivation, active engagement and connection?
The short answer - yes, however, there is limited research out in the field for the use of personalized books with children. The reason for limited research in the field could be the recent advancements of technology over the past 20 years to generate and create these personalized books. Most of the information in this blog post will be taken from a primary research article (cited below) and author, but in my own practice I have observed the increased engagement and excitement when using a personalized book during shared reading.
So what can a personalized book look like? A personalized book could be placing a child’s name in the text, tailoring the character to fit their age, gender, culture or race or taking actual photographs and placing your child in the story. Although these take some time to make, I will share some of my favorite tools at the end to create your own personalized books. Let’s get to the research.
Vocalizations and positive affect
Observational research found when children and parents were reading personalized books together there was an increase for smiling and laughing.
They also noted an even higher frequency of vocalizations and sounds when reading a personalized book vs a child’s favorite book. ( Kucirkova, N., et al., 2012 )
2. Learning New Vocabulary
The study also found reading personalized print books with preschoolers led to higher learning rates of new vocabulary within those personalized sections of the book.
The authors in this study hypothesized that the personalized features in the books created a familiar context which helped children’s assimilation of the new words. ( Kucirkova, N., et al., 2012 )
3. Active Engagment
A study also found higher levels of active engagement with personalized books especially if a child is involved in the production process. Higher levels of active engagement can lead to higher levels of learning. After creating a book with my own little girl (see below), letting her pose and pick backgrounds, I saw an overall increase in confidence to share and read the book to others.
Kucirkova, N., et al. found in their related work that personalization can not only lead to increased attention but a child actively contributing to a shared reading experience.
Now what? Need some tools to create your own personalized books? Try these:
Canva’s AI Generator to create custom photo or backdrops to add your child’s photograph ( make sure you ask parent permission)
Canva’s AI Generator can also create custom photos. Need to put a dinosaur sitting in the preschool classroom… go ahead!
Use Google Slides or PowerPoint to create your own personalized books for a student for a target themes or letter of the day.
Use symbol software tools and templates such as Boardmaker Online or Lesson Pix to create your own personalized books. Simply cut out student’s picture to add later or import into the story.
Use the books you have! If your student loves Curious George print their name and place it in the story. Add a picture of their face to the Man in the Yellow Hat.
If your student benefits from or loves certain sounds, grab free sound effects from Pixabay.com to add to the story.
Simply swap out your student’s name during shared reading. Instead of “We’re going on a bear hunt,” use “Marley’s going on a bear hunt!”
Visit TarHeel Reader and create your own digital books that are switch accessible.
Check out this example of a personalized story including names and photographs using Canva’s AI Image Generator and exported to PowerPoint.
Resources:
Kucirkova, N., Messer, D., & Sheehy, K. (2012). Reading personalized books with preschool children enhances their word acquisition. First Language, 34(3), 227-243. DOI
Scientific American. (2021, September 21). The Educational Power—and the Limits—of Personalized Children's Books. Scientific American. Retrieved from https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-educational-power-mdash-and-the-limits-mdash-of-personalized-children-rsquo-s-books/
Photo Credit: Canva using AI Image Generator
