MY TIPS FOR USING BOOKS TO ENCOURAGE LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT AND MY RECOMMENDED FAVORITES!

• Many times parents are concerned because young children are not interested in books or will not sit for a book. Here are a few tips that will help!
  • Choose books that are interactive – flap books, sensory books (touchy feely books), pop books, shine-a-light books…make easy activities that go along with your books (e.g., matching animals to pictures or acting out animals)
  • Use words such as “two more pages then done” or “when we do two more pages then we will get a snack“.
  • Don’t fuss over the child listening to the words written on the pages. Shorten the story or just name pictures. Many times you get more out of a book by NOT reading word for word what is written. Be flexible… our goal is to increase attention and extend the amount of time the child will engage with a book.
  • Use voices (loud, soft, high, low), animal and environmental sounds…be excited! You will get more engagement and attention when you yourself are acting like a kid!
  • Try singing the words in the books or make-up songs to the pictures….hate how you sound? Me too! Kids don’t care….sing People, sing!
  • YES read the saaaaaaaame book over and over and over and over. Repetition is great for early literacy and children will be able to “read” the books themselves before you know it!

 
1. Dear Zoo –This repetitive, interactive flap book brings the zoo home.  With fun simple art and great descriptive words, Dear Zoo will help keep children engaged. 
2.  Open the Barn Door – This darling repetitive flap book is great to work on animal sounds, answering simple WHO questions, naming animals, and talking about what animals are doing or where they live. 
3.  If You See a Kitten – To work on vocalizing, imitating, and using simple sounds and vowels … you need this book! Pair an action with each exclamation for added effect and reinforcement.
4. Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  The repetition and predictability of this book is perfect for encouraging early language and vocabulary.  It’s a great way to pair 2-3 words together too with descriptive phrases and a consistent line throughout the book.
5. The Very Hungry Caterpillar One of my favorite activities with this book is to pair play food with the pictures and act it out!  I then expand it to talking about what foods we like to eat! 
6. From Head to Toe There is a reason that this is the third book on my list by Eric Carle … and that his books are bestsellers and award-winners.  He blends his illustrations and artwork in a delightfully effective way with his prose to make learning fascinating and fun!  This book engages children with imitation of playful actions as they do what the animals pictured do, a great way to teach imitation and use of action phrases!
7. Piggies Ten marvelous little piggies romp from fingers to toes … incredibly fun illustrations and descriptive phrases (“COLD piggies,” “DIRTY piggies!”) paired with your playful gestures and expressions will make this a child’s favorite, for sure!    (Like Eric Carle, the authors Don and Audrey Wood also demonstrate a unique talent for using expressive illustrations and engaging and repetitive language to make their stories come alive for little ones . . . you’ll also find me frequently using their books The Big Hungry Bear and The Napping House in therapy!)
8. My Truck is Stuck A must have for the truck, car, or bus lover.  This book has great rhyming and repetition and wonderful SOUNDS. Get your vocal cords ready for BEEPS, HONKS, and HEEEELPS! We love acting this book out with small vehicles during therapy.
9. While You Were Sleeping While young Daisy sleeps, animals play and swim and fly. When she wakes up, her mother tells her about each animal in turn. John Butler's lyrical text and rich, vivid pictures make this a special book and an excellent one for teaching verbs and use of action phrases.
10. Monster Books:    There’s a Monster in Your Book, Go Away Big Green Monster, and There’s a Monster in My House – KIDS LOVE MONSTERS… These are fun, interactive books with predictable lines and fun phrases to help ease kids fears and make monsters friendly and fun!
11. Blue Hat Green Hat Nothing gets little ones laughing like this staple from Sandra Boynton.  It is my absolute favorite book to target 2-word combinations and is always a success (remember that YOU bring the funny – react and make it silly and ridiculous and your child will follow your lead!)
12. Touchy Feely Books: – That’s not my tractor.   That’s not my goat.  That’s not my unicorn.  Usborne has a ton of these fun “That’s not my…..” books. They are simple and cute and the sensory components help keep young children engaged.