According to a new study by pioneering independent children’s publisher, Nosy Crow, commissioned in the National Year of Reading and Nosy Crow’s 15th anniversary, children who read daily are more likely to have sustained attention spans for a huge range of other tasks – including playing with other children, doing homework, playing imaginative games, participating in sports, taking part in arts and crafts, and completing puzzles – compared with children who read less than once a week.

Daily readers aged 0-12 have double the reading stamina of children who read less than once a week, meaning they are able to focus on independent reading for more than twice as long as irregular readers.

Additionally, they had significantly improved attention spans for other tasks, including being able to focus on homework for 39% longer, arts and crafts for 49% longer, playing with a peer for 12% longer, and playing sports for 18% longer, compared with children who read less than once per week. Children who read independently every day could stay focussed for longer on all activities measured in the report, apart from using a mobile device. Children who read less than once per week were able to focus on mobile scrolling for 23% longer than children who read daily.

The national survey of parents and carers found that daily independent reading peaks at age 10, before decreasing sharply. Meanwhile, reading with an adult at home (such as a bedtime story) peaks at age 4, with over half of respondents with children in this age group reading with their kids daily (57%), while only 8% of parents and carers read daily with 12 year-olds.

While boys are often reported as reading less than girls, the Nosy Crow study found that this is only true of independent reading, with boys just as likely as girls to read daily if reading with an adult, highlighting the power of parent/carer support at home.

When asked how children feel after taking part in different activities, parents and carers reported children feeling happy (31%), calm (31%), relaxed (27%), focussed (21%) and inspired/creative (16%) after independent reading, while they reported children feeling happy (24%) yet overstimulated (21%) after using a mobile phone or tablet.

Children in the South East are most likely to read independently at home daily (28%), whereas children in the North East are the least likely (16%). Children in the East Midlands (39%), Northern Ireland (36%) and Wales (34%) are the most likely to read with a parent or carer daily, whereas children in the North East are the least (26%). Parents/carers in Greater London, the South East and Wales reported their children as having the highest stamina for homework.

Kate Wilson, MD and co-founder of Nosy Crow, said: “As well as this being the National Year of Reading, 2026 is also Nosy Crow’s 15th Anniversary. To mark these events we are delighted to share the findings of our report which digs deeper into the importance of independent reading as a foundation for a range of other skills. Our findings are hopeful and definitely warrant further study. It is encouraging to see a clear correlation between building reading stamina by reading every day, and a wide range of creative, play and learning activities. For parents and carers seeking to support their children with building their reading stamina – whether they’re at the beginning of their reading journey, or somewhere along the way – we’ve created a free resource with our top tips to support reading at home.”

Nosy Crow is a multi-award-winning children’s publisher known for its child-focussed, parent-friendly approach to publishing for children aged 0-12, across print, audio and eBooks. From its distinctively colourful interactive board books, to its much-loved series for early and older readers including Pip & Posy and Unicorn Academy, Nosy Crow has been named Children’s Publisher of the Year three times at the British Book Awards in its 15-year history.

10 Simple Ways to Get Kids Reading

Nosy Crow’s in-house team of literacy experts has compiled their top 10 tips to support children with reading at home for the National Year of Reading:

1. Read a little

Don't expect your toddler to listen to books for hours on end, or your seven year-old to immerse themselves silently in a 200 page novel until lunchtime. Let them read, or read to them, or listen to an audiobook, in short bursts, if that’s what they want.

2. Read together

In experiments we see that when a parent reads to a child, their brainwaves synchronise: it’s a truly bonding experience. Evidence supports the benefits of reading to older children too. Other carers - grandparents, aunts and uncles, as well as older siblings - can make reading aloud part of their special time with a child of any age.

3. Read what they choose

Let the child choose. If you have books at home, make sure they're easy to get at from babyhood up. Read aloud what they want to have read aloud, even if you’re bored and it’s the 10th read that day. If you go to a library or a bookshop, let the child select the book they want to read. It's empowering and means they're invested in their own choice.

4. Read until they’ve had enough

It’s fine not to finish a book. If reading a particular book really isn’t engaging a child, try to find out why so that your conversation with them about what the book they choose next is more informed.

5. Read in series

Children often like what is familiar. It’s fine for them to power through whole series of books to the exclusion of everything else. This is particularly important when they are learning to read independently, which is hard work: the next book in the series gives the child the guarantee that the effort of decoding the letters on the page will give them the same sort of pleasure of the last book in the series that they enjoyed.

6. Read it again

Sometimes a child likes the experience of reading a familiar book, whether that’s a board book or a novel, so much that they go back to it over and over again It is great practice and a huge comfort: in an unpredictable world, stories and characters in books stay the same, but there's an opportunity to find a new detail every time.

7. Read by listening

Audiobooks are books too, and they’re available in lots of formats to buy and from the library. You can listen to an audiobook in the car or around the house… and maybe even switch back and forward from the print version to the audio version sometimes.

8. Read and talk

When you're reading aloud to your child, don't necessarily just stick to the word on the page. If you're reading a board book to a baby, you can break off to ask, "Where's the cat? What noise does a cat make?" When you're reading to a 9 year-old and something unexpected happens in the plot, you can ask, "Did you see that coming?!" It makes reading the jumping-off point for a conversation, for connection.

9. Read to learn

Some children love stories and reading. Some love football or cars or space or animals. Lean into their enthusiasm as a way of encouraging reading by helping them find books that help them to discover more about the thing they love.

10. Read yourself

Children learn by watching parents. If a child sees you enjoying reading, they associate it with calm, pleasure, and doing a grown-up thing. It inspires them to read for pleasure too.

Nosy Crow’s national reading survey was conducted by Censuswide, among a sample of 2000 UK parents/carers, aged 18+, of children aged up to 12. The data was collected between 17.07.2026 - 23.07.2026. Censuswide is a member of the Market Research Society (MRS) and the British Polling Council (BPC), and a signatory of the Global Data Quality Pledge; it adheres to the MRS Code of Conduct and ESOMAR principles.

Notes to editors:

Focusing on children aged 0-12, key findings in Nosy Crow’s report include:

• Compared with children who read less than once per week, children who read independently every day can focus on:

o Listening to an audiobook for 70% longer

o Taking part in arts and crafts for 49% longer

o Doing a puzzle for 45% longer

o Completing homework for 39% longer

o Listening to an adult read a story for 33% longer

o Playing an imaginative game for 22% longer

o Playing sports for 18% longer

o Playing with another child for 12% longer

o Playing with a toy for 10% longer

• Children who read every day have double the reading stamina of children who read less than once per week, with daily readers able to focus on independent reading for 109% longer

• Daily independent reading peaks at age 10 (36%), before starting to decline (26% of 11 year-olds read daily, and 22% of 12-year-olds), whereas children’s stamina for watching TV or using mobile devices continues to increase

• Boys and girls are equally likely to read daily with adult support – but girls are 23% more likely to read daily independently than boys

• Daily reading with a parent or carer peaks at ages 3 and 4 (54% and 57% respectively), thereafter declining sharply year-on-year, down to just 8% of 12-year-olds reading daily with a parent or carer

• Overall, 26% of parents and carers reported that their children read independently daily, while 80% of children read independently on a weekly basis

• 32% of children read with an adult daily, with 83% of children reading with an adult on a weekly basis.

• Over 30% of parents and carers said they are concerned about their children’s ability to concentrate on reading (33.55%)

• When asked what helps children concentrate on reading, ‘reading books about topics they enjoy’ and ‘reading before bed’ were the top responses amongst respondents (41%)

• When asked how children feel after taking part in different activities, parents and carers reported children feeling happy (31%), calm (31%), relaxed (27%), focussed (21%) and inspired/creative (16%) after independent reading, while they reported children feeling happy (24%) yet overstimulated (21%) after using a mobile phone or tablet

For more information please contact MIDAS: Edwina.Boyd-Gibbins@midas-group.com | Allie.Holtom@midas-group.com | +44 (0)20 7361 7860

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