Talk, Sing, Point with Your Preschooler Using Stories
There is an abundance of great picture books that can spur conversation with your preschooler. Some of the best are “wordless.” Wordless books can open up dialogue between you and your preschooler. As you go through the wordless picture book, point out and talk with your preschooler about what is happening in the pictures and story. Wordless books can employ “dialogic reading.” Dialogic reading is just children and adults having a conversation about a book. This type of interactive reading can help develop and improve language skills in children.
You can find wordless and almost wordless books at your local library, bookstores, or via online book vendors. Try these recommended titles:
A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka
A spunky puppy named Daisy who loves her favorite toy and is crushed when it is destroyed by a bigger dog. Raschka is able to communicate such strong emotions-the joy and sadness of a beloved toy- without the benefit of any words. The illustrations are just that magical!
Flashlight by Liz Boyd
A charming story told solely through images: Through neatly drawn illustrations and a spare yet dramatic color palette, artist Lizi Boyd offers an enchanting exploration of night, nature, and art with Flashlight.
Float by David Miyares
A boy’s small paper boat and his large imagination fill the pages of this wordless picture book. It’s a rainy day and he decides to head out to play in the water with his paper boat. Follow along in the story to see how his day with his paper boat unfolds.
Flotsam by David Wiesner
A young boy at the beach stumbles upon a box camera floating in the water. The camera and its secrets take the boy on an extraordinary visual journey into an underwater world where he makes connections across continents and through time!
Have You Seen My Duckling? by Nancy Tafuri
A duckling is missing! Mother Duck sails frantically around the pond, but no one has seen the little duckling. But clever readers can see that duckling isn’t lost at all–just adventuring, and never far away.
Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola
Missing ingredients and mischievous pets create one humorous complication after another for a little old lady determined to make pancakes for breakfast.
Red Sled by Lita Judge
This almost wordless book sparkles with the joy of sledding. Find out what happens when a cast of unlikely woodland friends discover a well-loved sled outside a cozy cabin in this whimsical wintertime Classic!
The Snowman by Raymond Briggs
A little boy rushes out into the wintry day to build a snowman, which comes alive in his dreams that night. The experience is one that neither he nor young ‘readers’ will ever regret or forget.
Trainstop by Barbara Lehman
A ride on the train is exciting. There’s always something new to see, even if you’ve been there before. But some train rides are better than others… What if the doors opened in a strange, new place? This is one train stop you won’t want to miss!
Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage
Bored with life at the zoo, a happy-go-lucky Walrus escapes to the outside world in search of adventure. With the zookeeper in hot pursuit, Walrus cleverly tries on all sorts of hats to disguise himself.