Eva's Bookshelf: Spring Is Finally Here!

Spring is a wonderful time of year for exploring and appreciating the beauty of the outdoors and the beginning of a new season. Have fun creating experiences that help foster the connections between what you read and what you encounter in your daily life such as stomping in puddles, losing a boot in the mud, or planting a garden. There are numerous opportunities to talk with your child about seasons, the weather, and how to respect and protect the Earth (i.e., conserve water, recycle, reuse materials for art projects, pick up trash, etc.). Here are a few books that do a particularly good job of building your child’s knowledge and vocabulary on this season’s subjects.

The setup: Below are a variety of interactive books about spring topics with each book providing a different format for learning. Targeted concepts to focus on include animals, animal sounds and animal categories (farm, pets) as well as spring vocabulary. These books offer plenty of opportunities to practice identifying and labeling pictures.  

"Baby Loves Spring" by Karen Katz (lift-the-flap book)

Baby is learning and discovering what enjoyment springtime can offer.

"Where is My Baby?" by AZ Books (lift-the-flap with sounds book) 

Find the baby animals hiding behind the flaps and then be rewarded with the animal sound when the correct animal is located.

"My Big Animal Book" by Roger Priddy (single words and photographs)

Colorful photographs of many animals across different animal categories.  

"Duckling and Friends" by Priddy Books (touch-and-feel book)

Experience the textures of animals in this book and press a button to hear the animal sounds.

Also consider...

• "I Am a Bunny" by Ole Risom 
• "Big Red Barn" by Margaret Wise Brown
• "Time For Bed" by Mem Fox 
• "Little Blue Truck" by Alice Schertle

Short stories about animals with simple text, delightful story lines, and great illustrations. These are books to enjoy at this age and many years to come. 

 

Why they work: Early speech sounds that develop include the consonants p, b, t, d, h, m, n, and w. Babies begin to form words and produce syllables that combine a consonant+vowel (neigh, baa, moo). Speech development can be supported by practicing animal sounds and the names of animals.

Keep it going: Visit local farms to see animals. Explore books with different formats. Sing songs about animals such as "Old MacDonald Had a Farm." Put together a puzzle by matching animals to their picture and corresponding sounds (try Melissa and Doug's Farm Sound Wood Puzzle). Play with a barn and animal figurines playset.

The setup: Help! Help! Who can help? Duck is stuck in the muck and he asks for help from his animal friends. This book contains rhythm and rhyme and the repetition of lines. Concepts in this book include counting, animals, actions, adjectives, and onomatopoeia which are sound words.

Why it works: Predictable books use repetitive language and sequences including use of rhythms, rhymes and repeated lines of words, phrases, or sentence patterns. Predictable books allow early readers to predict what the sentences are going to say thereby increasing enjoyment, participation, and helping to build vocabulary and memory skills. 

Keep it going: Discover other predictable repetitive books and have your child participate by providing the repeated line. Some kids think they are “reading” and they may feel a sense of pride for their success.

 

The setup: Baby Bear wakes up from hibernation and journeys with his mother to explore how colorful nature is in the spring. Concepts to address include identifying and naming a variety of colors and talking about those elements as they are found in nature.  

Why it works: Building and expanding on a child’s vocabulary is an ongoing venture. When kids listen to and enjoy hearing stories as well as talk about the stories they can develop stronger skills in auditory comprehension and oral expression.  

Keep it going: Have fun using stickers with seasonal themes or magnetic scenes to create motivating opportunities for talking. Arts and crafts projects are always fun too! 

The setup: In this interactive book children can experience the magic in their fingertips. kids will be amazed at what happens to the tree when specific directions are followed. Concepts to address in this book include seasons, actions, predictions and cause/effect. 

Why it works: Following directions is a foundational skill. Children need to learn to understand and act upon directions in order to be successful at school, home and in life. Directions contain embedded concepts (I.e., time, location, sequence etc.) therefore understanding those concepts is important as well. 

Keep it going: Explore other interactive books such as "Mix it Up" and "Press Here" by the author Herve Tullet.

The setup: Frog is excited it is spring but Toad is less than enthusiastic. Read this book to find out Frog’s plan on how to get Toad out of hibernation. Concepts to address include discussing the humor, identifying the problem and the solution as well as talking about the calendar. 

Why it works: It’s important to teach children analytical skills. These skills help children think about and talk about what they have learned and apply that knowledge to other experiences. These skills are also utilized in writing. By asking children why and how questions it helps them develop the skills to explain, support and justify their knowledge. 

 

Keep it going: Delight in reading all of the short chapters in the Frog and Toad book series. Each chapter in the Frog and Toad All Year book targets a specific seasonal event. All of these books are my family’s favorites!


Ask your librarian about the Merrimack Valley Consortium, where you can access books from more than 30 library collections!