Reading is one of the best activities we can do with our kids.
But have you ever tried doing more with a picture book besides just read it aloud?
I was once stuck in a waiting room with my 18-month-old daughter. Half an hour later, we had run out of snacks and I only had a single board book with me (Daddy Hugs by Karen Katz, a really sweet book!).
This was when I discovered there’s a lot more to books than just reading them straight through.
12 Activities Using a Picture book
So, here are a few activities you can do with pretty much any type of picture book.
- Count objects in the pictures.
- Hunt for letters throughout the book.
- Find and name shapes.
- Play “I Spy” with colors in the pictures.
- Point to and read familiar/sight words.
- Trace a picture from the book and color it.
- Act out the story. Run with this and find or make props to add to the fun! Have kids put on a show for the whole family.
- Retell the story using only the pictures.
- Read a sentence, skipping a word, and see if kids can fill in the missing word. This works really well with rhymes!
- Play Mad Libs with sentences from the story. Leave out nouns and adjectives and come up with the silliest possible sentences.
- Imagine together what the characters do or see after the story is over. What else might the children see looking at them in Brown Bear, Brown Bear? Will the three little pigs be happy together in the brick house?
- Make up names for all the characters in the illustrations. Some books don’t name all or any of the characters and it would be fun for kids to come up with special names.
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Our Family’s Favorite Board Books and Picture Books
LMNO Peas by Keith Baker: There’s a lot to look at on each page! This book goes through the alphabet with adorable little peas characters who tell us what kinds of jobs they have.
The Wonderful Things You Will Be by Emily Winfield Martin: We like the illustrations in this book, and it is a really sweet poem that just tugs at my heartstrings.
Ten Tiny Toes by Caroline Jane Church: I started reading this with my girls when they were babies. They were able to learn body parts with the rhyming refrain and we also enjoy doing the motions together.
Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton: This quickly became a family favorite to read and act out. Square dancing with barnyard animals is a whole lot of fun.
Daddy Hugs by Karen Katz: Count and hug your way through this book. My girls probably ask me to read this one more than they do their Dad!
The Find It Book by Margaret Wise Brown: Favorite nursery rhymes are woven into each detailed illustration. We love finding all of our favorite nursery rhyme characters on each page.
Cinderella: Our version is this padded hardcover from Parragon Books. I’ll admit, I bought it (and several others from the same publisher) because I liked the cover, but the story is a classic and the illustrations beautifully done!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle: This is a simple story about a hungry caterpillar who eats and eats until he becomes a butterfly. There’s lots to learn, count, and talk about with this book. We also did a craft to go along with it!
Corduroy by Don Freeman: One of my childhood favorites, this is a story about a bear in a department store who is looking for his missing button.