Vegemite Little Aussie Reader Program

A national early childhood reading initiative which will encourage and support early childhood literacy and reading aloud to children from infancy has just been launched.

Called the Vegemite Little Aussie Reader Program, the initiative has the support of the Australian Government through the Council of Arts and has been developed to address recent issues surrounding young childrens literacy. The national program will provide free interactive resources for parents, caregivers and child care staff, designed to spark a love of reading and set a solid literacy foundation for children before they start school. To date over 360,000 scrapbooks have been distributed nationally to public libraries and day care centres.

Time poor Australian parents say the answer to bonding with their kids lies in books

Australian parents overwhelmingly recognise the importance and benefit of reading aloud to their children from a young age and believe it helps in strengthening the relationship between parent and child.

Three in four Aussie parents reveal they wish they could spend more quality time reading to their kids saying its a great way to bond with them (96%), whilst helping prepare for school (88%). Indeed, three in five parents say they have fond childhood memories of being read their favourite story sitting on their parents knee.

The insightful new research into parents attitudes to reading with their children was commissioned by Kraft Foods and coincides with the national launch of an early childhood initiative called The Vegemite Little Aussie Reader Program. The program has been developed by Vegemite and The Little Big Book Club with assistance from the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.

The initiative provides a comprehensive resource file to all public libraries and 4,693 accredited long day care centres across Australia and contains information sheets covering topics such as language development, reading aloud, suggested activities based on books and tips on choosing age appropriate books. On-going additions to the resource file will be available online each month.

For parents and caregivers of children aged between birth and 5 years, a unique Vegemite Little Aussie Reader Scrapbook will be available free to parents and caregivers via participating childcare centres and the 1700 public libraries throughout Australia. Over 360,000 scrapbooks have been distributed nationally.

This interactive resource will help and encourage parents to make time to read aloud to children from infancy. Designed in consultation with early childhood specialists and parents, the Vegemite Little Aussie Reader Scrapbooks contain:
* Tips for parents on reading aloud to their children
* Age appropriate booklists to help parents select appropriate books
* Sections to record family memories and words
* Actions to nursery rhymes, clapping and action songs

Fiona Lange, National Project Manager for The Little Big Book Club comments, "The key reason the Vegemite Little Aussie Reader program was designed is to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of reading aloud to children from infancy. With an increasing number of children in childcare centres the resource file and the on-going additions to it will support staff and parents in helping their childrens vocabulary and literacy development. The perceived value and demand for the resource file from within the early childhood sector has been overwhelmingly positive."

The research highlights that parents believe they should begin reading aloud to their children in the first six months of their lives to enhance development and learning. Australian childrens writer, Andrew Daddo, who has given his full support to the Vegemite Little Aussie Reader Program, says this is extremely encouraging.

"Literacy has become the great focus of my life and a lot of my time is spent urging parents and teachers to read aloud to children aged between 0-5 years. This program is a great initiative for parents and care givers and provides them with the tools and opportunities to really aid their childs development."

The research also showed the powerful memories parents have of being read aloud to when they were a child, with 63% saying one of their most treasured childhood memories was being read bedtime stories. Indeed, three in five parents said they remember having a favourite book and knowing all the words to the story by heart.

Vegemite, Corporate Affairs manager Simon Talbot says, "We all have our favourite memories of being read to as a child and as a parent myself, we in turn want our own children to have these tender, loving memories as they grow up. We hope that the resources were providing for parents will foster a lifelong love of books and reading for their children and help Aussie kids grow up to be happy little Vegemites!"

Available from today are 360,000 free Vegemite Little Aussie Reader Scrapbooks. To find out where you can pick one up from visit: www.vegemite.com.au