When you have only one child, everything is new for you and for them. Everything is a first, whether you are the parent or the child. There are many things for children to learn as they grow through different stages and learn new things.

One thing that we don't know is how are they going to go at school. We rely on teachers and other childhood related professionals to tell us when something isn't right. As parents, we're all grown up, and it's a long time since we had to learn English, unless English is a second language for you.

Children learning English must be able to recognise rhyming words. There are different kinds of picture books you can buy that have single word rhyming words, like fox - box, usually with a picture accompanying it. Challenge your child to find a rhyming word when you offer the first word. If they get stuck and offer you a nonsense word, but it rhymes, you will know they have got it.

A google search for rhyming cards and other resources means that you can print off your own cards and you don't have to come up with these words yourself! Go over the words everyday, and speak to the child's teacher about it. They will have resources you can use too, to help reinforce this part of our language. Help them to conquer this stage so they don't fall behind.

Isn't the English language difficult! When you have a child, and they are starting out their journey learning how to read and spell, we realise how difficult it really is!

Rhyming is important because it:

1. Helps children to remember the words
2. Helps kids get a sense of rhythm through rhyme and song
3. Helps with spelling (many words often have the same ending, but they can recognise a smaller word in a bigger word)

Nursery rhymes have been around a long time and for good reason. Young children love having books read to them, so when looking at the pictures and hearing the words, they can also imagine what is happening. Rhythm, sounds, spelling and imagining scenes are all necessary when your child is learning to read and write.

Read rhyming books to your child. There are lots to choose from. My favourites are any from Dr Seuss but there are many others to choose from, like Pig the Fibber, or read Nursery Rhymes.

Photos used under Creative Commons from various brennemans, San José Library - text and logo added

Father's Day is just around the corner. What do you usually do in your house? Do you have any traditions? Do you stay at home or do you go out? Will you get the kids involved in anything? I've always had my children involved in something for their Dad. Usually they are involved in conversation about what they want to give as a gift. Sometimes it involves some colouring-in or drawing, writing on a card (or colouring-in a picture), and wrapping a present. They love giving gifts and talking all about what they gave and the story behind it. We usually have some kind of lunchtime celebration too.

So what can the kids give Dad I hear you ask! One thing that is easy for the kids is bookmarks. We've made it so easy for you too! Just print off these bookmarks, cleverly hand designed by Cassie Jene, and your child can colour them in and cut them out. Even better if you have a laminator, or print them off on card. Dad will love the personalised gift.

We have some books in our online store that you may like to consider too. Just click on the image below to go straight to our store. Scroll down for the link to the FREE printables.

Children's Book Week for 2015 is from Saturday 22nd August to Friday 29th August, and it is hosted by the Children's Book Council of Australia. Every year there is a theme, and this year's theme is:

The Children's Book Council (CBCA) celebrates it's 70th anniversary this year too. Each year they host the Children's Book of the Year Awards. At the end of Book Week, the CBCA's Award winners are announced.

Usually schools and libraries across Australia spend time during the week celebrating books by doing different activities. Some of these activities may involve reading books, having competitions, or perhaps even making their own book or writing a story. The core focus really being to highlight the importance of reading.

We've talked about reading to children before, like with Bedtime Storytime, and Reading at Toddler Level. It's important to read stories to your children from a young age, and continue reading stories to them right through primary school. There are a lot of big words in books that appeal to primary aged children, so if you've got a keen reader you can help them with the big words or even take turns reading pages.

This year's theme is "Books light up our world". In our house, picture books and story books have made a big difference. Luckily we kept introducing more books to our son when he was young and each birthday and Christmas he would receive more new books to add to his collection. They've widened his knowledge of children in other countries and other cultures, he's learned some science, and used that wonderful imagination he has. He's also read books about feelings, and lots of fun books like Dr Seuss and Scooby Doo! He has learnt a lot from looking at the pictures and now builds his vocabulary.

What activity (or activities) would you like to do with your children during book week? You have a couple of weeks to go to plan it out. Is there a special book you'd like to buy for them, or is there a craft activity you've been meaning to do? We've put together a list of things that would be easy enough to do at home:

1. Read a new story book (pick one shortlisted for an award this year)
2. Make up your own shortlisted favourite books at home, with your child picking the winner
3. Do a craft activity related to one of the books your child is reading, or their favourite book
4. Swap some books with some friends
5. This week would be a good time to organise your child's books onto their own shelf, or make a comfy reading corner for them. There's lots of inspiration on our Pinterest account.
6. If you don't already have a library card, take your child to the local library and sign up. They will be so excited to see all the books and we think they will have a hard time deciding which books to take out.
7. Now, what kid doesn't like dress ups! Do a Google search for ideas for book week, and you'll find some costume ideas. If your school does dress ups for book week, now's the time to start talking to your child about what they want to dress up as.

So what will you do with your kids for Book Week 2015? What does 'Books light up our world' mean to you?

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