We all know that reading with young children is good for them. Reading promotes language development, exposes children to an expanded vocabulary, leads to earlier letter and sight-word recognition, helps little kids understand how books and reading work, and just generally gives children a leg up so they will be ready to learn to read when they go to school.
But sometimes reading to little ones turns into a chore. Not every child likes to sit still and be read to. Some kids are just natural wigglers, which is delightful and completely developmentally appropriate for a young child but can be frustrating when you’re trying to get though a book together.
This blog post is dedicated to those movers, those kinesthetic learners, who need to be up and moving and engaging with the world through their sense of touch. Never fear. The library has books for those kids, too. Sitting still for any amount of time is a learned skill, and just like every other skill, it comes more easily to some than to others. And really, every child loves a silly, movement-oriented book.
Our programming theme this season is “Spring into Action,” which got us thinking about the kinds of picture books that encourage movement. If you’ve ever taken a child to a library Storytime, you know how active those can get. Far from sitting quietly and being read to, the children (and grownups) jump and move and sing and play, soaking up early literacy skills the whole time. If you have a Baby-to-Preschool-age kiddo in your life and you haven’t been to a library Storytime, please check out our schedule and come on by or tune in to our online Storytime videos. We encourage you to carry the spirit of Storytime with you into reading you do at home, and to that end we have a few approaches to reading picture books to propose.
Moving Pictures
Many books invite the reader to emulate the movements in the story. Sometimes these books make that really clear, as in From Head to Toe by Eric Carle, where each page features a child copying the movements of an animal and asking the reader if they can do it, too. Another example is Here are My Hands by Bill Martin Jr, John Archambault, and Ted Rand, which lists body parts and says what each are for. As we learn that hands are for “catching and throwing” and eyes are for “seeing and crying,” it is natural for adults and children to hold up their hands, point to their eyes, and so forth.
Those simple books appeal to children from the very beginning and grow with them. As they get slightly older, finding inspiration for movement in longer books with more complicated plots, like Caps for Sale (where a child can’t resist shaking their fist like a naughty monkey) and Guess How Much I Love You (where adults and children stretch their arms as high as they can reach) can keep children engaged.
Touch the Book
Young children are primed to experience the world with all their senses, so it is no wonder that they want to use their sense of touch, not just sight and hearing, to experience books. In fact, touching books, holding them, and turning pages are all part of learning to read. Folks talk about early literacy skills (like learning the alphabet and sounding out words), which lead to reading fluency, but before early literacy comes pre-literacy. Learning about books as objects to interact with helps build those vital pre-literacy skills, the foundation the first steps into reading are built on.
Examples of great books to interact with in this way include pop-up, lift-the-flap, and touch-and-feel books, but public libraries don’t often have those in our collections because they just don’t hold up to the heavy use our books get. They’re great to add to a home collection, though. Board books, with their sturdy cardboard pages, are great for helping babies and toddlers get familiar with holding books and learning to be gentle with them. Additionally, there are some wonderful picture books that encourage readers to tap the pages, shake the books, turn them upside down, or trace the images on the pages. Some favorites in that vein are Let’s Play! (or anything else by Hervé Tullet), Tap the Magic Tree by Christie Matheson, and our old friend The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle.
Sing Along
Young children learn about language through rhythm and rhyme. Familiar clapping songs and nursery rhymes like If You’re Happy and You Know It, Hickory Dickory Dock, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star give children an instinctive understanding of phonemes, syllables, and the meaning of words. Any and all singing is good, and when you come to Storytime, you’ll pick up some songs right away, but if your memory needs a boost, we have books for you!
A collection like Marc Brown’s Playtime Rhymes will take you back in time and remind you of songs and rhymes you haven’t thought about since you were little. Some other good ones to get you going are The Wheels on the Bus by Raffi, the Five Little Monkeys books by Eileen Christelow, and If You’re a Monster and You Know It by Rebecca Emberley.
Dance Break
There’s nothing like a dance party to get the wiggles out, and there are many books that encourage creative movement. Of course, you can always put on your favorite tunes and get down in your living room without a book, but if a little inspiration sounds fun, take a look at Farmyard Beat by Craig Lindsey, Bear Can Dance by Suzanne Bloom, Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle, or I Got the Rhythm by Connie Schofield-Morrison.
For other kinds of movement try, Ready, Set, Skip by Jane O’Connor, Silly Sally by Audrey Wood, or You Are a Lion! And Other Fun Yoga Poses by Taeeun Yoo. Sometimes bodies just need to move to learn, and for some children a movement break will mean that they will be more able to focus on a book afterward. Think about recess at school. Some exercise, followed by a transition back to calm bodies (and maybe a snack) can make for excellent learning (or reading) time.
Choosing books you and your children can move to is a way to make it clear to them that books are fun. Especially when a child isn’t sure that they like books and reading, or if adults and children find reading together to be stressful, books that invite play and movement take the pressure off and let everyone relax and enjoy the book together.
If you’d like to explore even more books that lend themselves to movement, take a look at this book list and ask your local librarian for some of their favorite Storytime books. I bet you’ll find some new favorites, yourself.