Parents know they need to read books to their children. And they usually know from pediatricians and parenting blogs that they should start reading to them from birth. But admittedly, that sometimes feels silly when babies and toddlers understand so little! Or when you have read the same book 5 times that day. Or when your child is in a more active and playful mood. So here are some engaging new ways to play with books:
Label pictures
On each page, introduce vocabulary by excitedly pointing to things you see:
“Look! A star! Ooo, a bear! Grrr.”
Since repetition is so important for learning, you can also use books that have repetitive images (“Goodnight Moon” or “Where’s Spot”). Make it a game to point to the same picture on every page:
“Dog!” Flip… “There it is! Dog!”
“Moon!” Flip… “Moon! In the sky!”
The child might start pointing to pictures too, and you can name them to model the vocabulary or the clear pronunciation.
Find pictures
Once you have introduced the vocabulary in a book, take turns with the child to find pictures you name:
“Hmm, where’s the star… Star!” as you touch it.
“Do you see a bear??” Child points… “Bear! Brown bear!”
Pretend play
Kids learn amazingly well through interactive pretend play. Adding play to book time builds even more vocabulary knowledge. Some books are built to be interactive (“Stir Crack Whisk Bake”), but any book can work!
If a page has an animal, pet or feed it!
If it has food, pretend to pick it up and eat it.
On a water or beach page, pretend to slash in the water.
Act it out
An extension of pretend play above, acting out book story lines is fun for the toddler age! They will practice using the book vocabulary while re-enacting, plus demonstrate listening comprehension of the story itself.
With books like “We’re Going on an Egg Hunt,” toddlers can pretend to run from the wolf and slam the door to keep him away from their chocolate eggs.
Or pretend that they are stuck in the mud like “Little Blue Truck.”
We love using books in speech therapy and often use literacy-based “lessons” (the kiddos think they are just reading and playing!) for early intervention, articulation, and fluency therapy!
