What difference can reading aloud to a child make? If 30 minutes of daily reading begins in infancy, by the time the child is 5 years old, he or she will have roughly 900 hours of reading time! Reduce that experience to just 30 minutes a week, and the child misses out on 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales and stories. A kindergarten student who has not been read to could enter school with less than 60 hours of literacy experience. No teacher, no matter how talented, can make up for those lost hours. 

Hours of reading books by age 5:
If you read 30 minutes daily, the child has 900 hours by age 5.
If you read 30 minutes weekly, the child has 130 hours by age 5.
If you read less than 30 minutes weekly, the child has 60 hours by age 5.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, America Reads project