Many grownups remember their favorite childhood books, especially ones their parents and educators read to them. Or even fairy tales or older siblings’ textbooks. Some children, though, are energetic and may struggle to sit silently and listen to reading. Thankfully, interactive books can entertain children while helping develop vital skills in literacy, communication, and vocabulary.
Kaplan Early Learning Company says that interactive reading between adults and children is essential when it comes to children’s early literacy skills. Interactive books engage infants and capture their natural curiosity. Unique features, such as textures, lift-flaps, moving parts, pull-tabs, or die-cut pages, help support young children’s sensory development.
Pull-tabs and lift-flaps can especially aid in developing toddlers’ pre-reading skills. Vicki, a former teacher and a mother, says on her blog that these book features provide parents and educators with an opportunity to help children develop their basic skills. For example, asking toddlers what they think they will find behind each flap is a fun way to teach them how to make predictions.
Some of Star Bright Books’s titles contain unique features that can help toddlers develop their essential skills. Shapes at Play by Jin Choi is a casebound board book designed for children to discover shapes in bright primary colors. This wordless book with lift-flaps will help toddlers learn basic geometry and geometric concepts, shape relationships, scale, and proportion, especially if adults ask them questions about what they see and what they might find with flaps closed and opened.
Our Small Talk Books® series, written by Ellen Mayer, features books like Red Socks and Rosa’s Very Big Job that include a note for parents, caregivers, and teachers. Each note advises adults on how to hold rich conversations with toddlers to help develop and nurture vocabulary and emotions. This activity sheet, for example, can be paired with some of Star Bright Books’s laundry-specific books and is a fun way for adults and toddlers to sort clean laundry together while comparing sizes of clothing items.
With unique interactive features, children’s books are an excellent way for toddlers to develop basic skills, expand knowledge, and remember precious moments with their families and educators forever.