Hullo... I just wanted to let you guys know about a beary cool article that came out a few days ago. Believe it or not... scientists in Japan conducted a study on how stuffies (that's us) actually improve literacy in children! We've known that for a beary long time of course but... it's nice that the humans have finally figured this out. I see a new career for us stuffies!How Stuffed Animals can boost children's reading and imagination
"Designed to get children interested in picture books, stuffed animal sleepover programs involve children taking their stuffed animals along to a library and leaving them there for a sleepover. During the sleepover the animals 'search' for books they want to read, with staff and volunteers taking photos of the animals exploring the library and reading together. Children collect their stuffed animals the next day, along with the photos of their nighttime adventures and reading, and are given the books their animals chose to read."
Or... this might be a new career for our humans! Apparently the children showed more interest in picture books after the sleepover and even started reading to their stuffies!
"Although many parents read to their children it is a passive form of reading for the child, whereas reading to their animals helps develop children into more active readers. (my emphasis)
In addition to developing reading skills, reading to the animals can also help to develop a child's imagination, with the team commenting that many of the children really believed their animals had found and chosen the books, and can help boost children's prosocial behaviour by encouraging them to read the books the stuffed animals 'chose' during their sleepover.
The team also found that these beneficial effects are long lasting, with the children encouraged to read with their animals long after the sleepover took place."
Original article in Heliyon
There you go... we stuffies have a positive impact on children! As they say out there... "boom... mic drop"!!
