Board books for toddlers...

FICTION BOARD BOOKS

Shelves in book stores are filled with a variety of board books. The obvious reason they are a preferred choice for the toddler is after you have shared the book with your child, you can place it right in those tiny hands for your baby to explore. The durable nature of these books makes them a number one choice for Baby.

How do i 'share' the book with my child...is there a right way?

It is important to share when you have time to devote to it and when Baby has time. You may want to do the whole 'book thing' with your toddler, but it may not be on Baby's agenda at time. So, watch your child throughout the day and you will learn when the sharing time will work best. Then you can capitalize on that time.

Sharing the book

• Hold Baby on your lap and place the book where both of you can see.
• Show the pictures on the cover. Say words on the cover.
• Take time for Baby to see the words and the pictures...if it is a familiar topic, you can discuss that. (For example: if the book shows a collection of animals, and there is a dog on the front, and you have a dog. you can use that to engage baby further in the book.).There you can connect it to real-worlld, real life, spark, spark, ...another element in the toolbox... a new wrinkle in baby's developing brain.
• You may spend all of the time on the first few pages the first time you do this.
• Continue on through the book in the same manner.
• You will know when baby is done for the day. Finished my grandson would sign...and..off he would go with the book.
• Hand the book to baby to explore alone.
• Do not be surprised if Baby is soon right up next you, sharing the book with YOU.

NONFICTION BOARD BOOKS

When selecting books, for your very young, preschool age child, look for a variety of books.colorful.life like pictures or photographs.

Books containing a number of photographs of babies will be a hit with your baby. TIme after time you will find your baby searching out that book and studying the pictures and smiling and 'talking' to the pictures! Other nonfiction board books will provide the same experience.

Books showing photos of animals are another favorite as was mentioned above.The pictures are easy for Baby to relate to and they eagerly learn about the new, unfamiliar animals found there too.

From the time my grandson (17 months of age now) was first able to crawl around, he has been drawn to books that contain pictures of real, everyday objects, people, animals.. real-world images he has seen or can understand. As I mentioned in an earlier hub, he has 'loved' one book so much, it is now two books...as durable as the books are, after a while, a long while, they may finally come apart. But the pictures and words remain..

The same sharing model described above for fiction can be followed for nonfiction books as well. The more you read and share with your baby, the more you will learn what is of interest and how long to spend and ....you will find Baby brings you the books more and more often.

What's next?

During the time you are sharing this way with Baby, continue to read stories to baby..at resting times during the day or at bedtime, lull baby to sleep with an old familiar book or a new one that will soon become a favorite.

There is more you can do to build awareness of letters and sounds and the letter, sound, word connection. No one can really tell you when your baby is ready for the next steps. YOU will discover that as you interact with your baby.

More titles on this topic...click and go....

• Books to read while holding baby
• Books by Richard Scarry for very young children

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