The National Reading Days will take place from Wednesday 22 January to Saturday 1 February 2025. These days are intended to encourage reading to young children who are not yet able to read themselves. Led by Princess Laurentien, well-known Dutch people will read during the national reading breakfast to draw attention to the importance of reading. Nienke Plas, a well-known comedienne, content creator and actress, will open the National Reading Days on Wednesday 22 January at Kinderdagverblijf Koelemoes, one of the four daycare centres of Kinderopvang Huizen. Nienke will read the picture book of the year 2025 ‘Rinus’, by the writing couple Ingrid and Dieter Schubert, to the children.
Nienke, a mother of three herself, emphasises the importance of reading aloud: “It is a wonderful moment to dream away together in a sweet, exciting or funny story. Now that my youngest children cannot read yet, I like to sometimes tell something extra that is not there at all. That way I can practice my jokes live in front of an audience. But above all, we can sit together in the beanbag for longer”. Reading aloud is incredibly important for young children, it stimulates the child’s language development. Children are introduced to new subjects and new words. A child who is read to for about 15 minutes every day learns 1000 new words per year. That is why the pedagogical staff at Kinderopvang Huizen spend a lot of time reading aloud. Het Huizer Nieuws has published an article about this, read the entire article here Photo: Bob Awick