Using Books to Explore, Engage, & Grow

Posted: May 14, 2024

Using books as a tool for addressing therapy goals and fostering developmental skills is not only beneficial but also incredibly enjoyable. It provides valuable one-on-one time with your child, and the best part? It's free! With access to your local library, you have a great selection of book options and other resources at your fingertips. man looking at a book with a young girl

While reading with your child, you can take the opportunity to:

Address pre-reading & reading skills
- Book Orientation: Have your child identify the cover of the book and understand its orientation (front/back).
- Page Turning: Teach your child how to turn the pages gently, encouraging them to follow along.
- Letter and Sound Recognition: Point out words as you read and encourage your child to identify letters and their corresponding sounds.
- Once your child is learning to read or reading: work on sounding
Work on your child’s understanding of language, as well as, their verbal expression
- Have your child describe what’s happening in the pictures before reading
- Identify known and unknown vocabulary
- Provide models for targeted therapy sounds, have your child imitate, fill in the blank or answer questions to practice their sound(s)
Social Skills
- Taking Turns
- Identifying emotions of characters, talking about our own emotions while reading the story
- Staying on task/topic with the book being used

Those are just a few things you can work on while reading and then you can do various activities AFTER reading to continue the fun. arts and crafts supplies on a table with kids and a grownup in the background

arts and crafts supplies on a table with kids and a grownup in the background

Check out these books and enjoy these activity ideas you can complete during and/or after reading for inspiration! Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes (By James Dean and Kimberly Dean)

Bake cupcakes
If child can read, sequencing, following directions, measuring

The Very Hungry Caterpillar (By Eric Carle)

Get foods from the book to cut or eat during reading
Find play foods to cut and play with during reading

The Mixed up Chameleon (By Eric Carle)

Draw a chameleon on a clear plastic bag and place different colored paints in bag and let your child mix them up to make a mixed up chameleon after reading.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (By Judi Barrett)

Make a pot of spaghetti noodles then let them cool completely. Place toys in the noodles in a plastic bin and let your child mix and hide items in the noodles.

The Color Monster: A story about emotions (By Anna Llenas)

Save toilet paper rolls and paint or color them to match the emotions in the book. Draw eyes on or use googly eyes!

What books have you read and loved recently? Have you done any fun extension activities after reading? Let us know in the comments! And if you pick up any of the above books and do an activity we’d love to hear about it & possibly feature you in our next newsletter or social media!