Sometimes you find a book that really strikes your fancy. When you can find one that entertains a one year-old for any length of time, you cherish it. Hectic Grandson is a great little guy, but he really needs a lot of entertainment. As his caregiver for 12+ hours every day, this old man (I can say that, I’m in my 50’s and I’ve earned that badge LOL), needs all the help he can get in the entertainment department.
This week I found not one, but two, new books that have been a total hit. Little Man carries a basket about the house with his favorite things (sorry UK folks, I still can’t add the “u” to favorite). A couple weeks ago, he was carrying the NYC book. This week, that was supplanted by Who Lives Here?
It’s fascinating that these two books surfaced. We are building our collection of new board books fairly rapidly, and with eight kids growing up in the house previously, we still have quite the collection. Our little guy picked these two books off the shelf, so it’s all the more interesting because they are both lifting flap books. Each book has some text on the page, and then you lift a flap to see more. How he ever found these two in the same week, I’ll never know.
We’re doing a fairly good job at reading every day, and with these two books in tow, he’s always ready to provide me with something to read. Since they’re board books, they are very quick reads…and we’re having a good time searching for the things displayed in the book amongst his toys. It’s made for a fun week of activity well outside the range of simply reading.
Who Lives Here?
We’ve also been working with little man on his sounds. At 13 months he has a small vocabulary that we’re working to increase. Part of the journey has been to introduce starting sounds for words. Despite the head cold that he has, we decided to focus on the letter/sound “p” this week. We’ve had a bit more spitting that was probably required, but he’s getting the sound down. Whenever we reach the Penguin’s page, even without lifting the flap, he’s making the “p” sound like a crazy man. Fortunately these are coated board books, so they have wiped quite clean with Clorox Wipes!
The combination of the rhyming text, cute illustrations, and photographs of actual animals has made this book a favorite this week and I anticipate we’ll be reading it for quite a while. As I’m writing this, he’s turning the pages and lifting the flaps by himself and chattering away. I’m sure he’s telling me what to write, but I’ll have to brush up on my toddlerese before I can translate.
For now we’ll suffice to say that this book is a keeper!
Let’s Count!: A First Book of Numbers has been our other big hit for the week. Another flip book, this one is formatted a bit differently. Each page is comprised of a single flap with a single number on the page. The numbers are illustrated in bright colors with a unique pattern for each number. The border outside the flap is in a different color with a different pattern. Quite honestly the patterns and colors don’t match and reminded me of how most of my kids spent their early years after learning to dress themselves: Stripes and Dots, Reds and Oranges, Blues and Greens, Checks and Hearts. It’s funny, but those odd combinations are actually quite soothing.
The entire page with the number is a flap, so we announce the number, point to it, and then Hectic Grandson flips the flap upwards. The flaps are quite large, and initially I was concerned that he would rip them. They appear to be sturdy enough to take the flipping of a toddler, although I’m still a bit concerned. He’s not a rough one, so I would have a bit more apprehension if he was more like either of my other boys. They would have probably had a stack of the flaps alongside the book. Then again, Hectic 19 ripped a board book to shreds one day when we thought he was quietly reading, so I’m not sure he’s a great one to use as an example.
When you raise the flap, the number is represented by illustrations. There’s one sun, two kittens, three cars, all the way up to ten cherries. The illustrations are named on the back of the flap, ensuring that everyone reading the book calls the illustrations the same thing.
We’ve started to ask Hectic Grandson to bring us a book to read, and Let’s Count!: A First Book of Numbers has been a strong contender. While he doesn’t seem to like to read this book as much on his own, he’ll sit for up to 10 minutes looking through the book in guided reading. Ten minutes is an eon toddler-time, so I’m pretty pleased with this book!
Any week that I can find two books that will occupy our little reader for any amount of time, I’m elated. The fact that these are both flip books makes them dramatically more interactive, which is a big plus!
Remember, reading is one of the easiest things you can do with your kids. It helps stimulate their brain, teaches them a lifelong habit, and it a great way to spend time together. So get up and go grab a book or two and read to your kids. If they’re old enough to read to you, be a good listener and have them read to you. What better way to help them learn?
Make it a great day!
thank you for linking to the #weekendbookclub.
I love the look of that lets count book. I am working on number recognition soon with Daniel so books like this are great x