Highlights Your child's stuffed companion may help induce reading habits

Stuffed animal sleepovers are an effective way to get children to read

Stuffed animal sleepover programs were designed to encourage reading

The results of the study indicated that stuffed animal sleepover programs may help develop children's prosocial behavior by encouraging them to read the books the stuffed animals had chosen during their sleepover.The researchers from Okayama University, Kanazawa University, Osaka Institute of Technology and Kyushu University in Japan said that they hope their results support the global spread of this approach, which has a positive effect on children's reading habits.

Before the activity the children did not spend time reading the books in their play area at preschool while immediately after the sleepover, the number of children who read to the stuffed animals was significantly higher than the number who did not. The effect worn off after three days of the activity conducted. The researchers then tested a way for sustaining the effect. For which they reminded the children of the sleepover a month later, by hiding the stuffed animals and showing them the photos again the next day. This simple method led to a significant increase in the number of children reading to their stuffed animals.Dr. Okazaki added, "The photographs captured the children's imagination - many children believed the stuffed animals really found the books. But not every child who participated in the program began reading to the stuffed animals. There were individual differences in the results of this program. Because early childhood is the period when children begin to distinguish between fantasy and reality, their tendency to fantasize would be one factor that determines the effect of the stuffed animal sleepover."