Object inquiry skills
Toddlers practice naming familiar pictured items.
[Invite several toddlers to join you to look at pictures of things we may see or use every day.]
Our book has pictures of many different things. Let’s try to tell the names of the different things we see in our book.
[Point to the balloons on the book cover.]
These are balloons. Sometimes there are balloons at birthday parties.
Have you ever seen or played with a balloon?
[Encourage toddlers to tell about their experiences with balloons.]
[Use the following steps for each page:
We know the names of many different things! We said the names of things shown in our book. We talked about the things we looked at in our book.
The activity supports the larger goal of helping toddlers understand that all objects and actions have specific names. The activity promotes a toddler’s attentiveness to characteristics of the object and association of a specific word to a specific object. Most toddlers will be familiar with many or most of the items shown in the book, but some may not know the names.
Sensitively respond to toddler words that are not the customary name for the pictured item. A toddler may respond with a word related to a picture, such as “eat” for the picture of the bowl and spoon or the name of the dog in his/her family for the picture of the dog. Positively acknowledge the response by connecting it to the name of the pictured item. Example: “We eat with a bowl and spoon! We ate applesauce with a bowl and spoon at lunch today!” If a toddler responds with a word that seems unrelated to the pictured item, enthusiastically recognize his/her verbal effort. “Thank you for telling us about this picture, James. We usually call this a flower. Let’s all say together the word ‘flower.’”
Approach the activity with a fun and supportive atmosphere that encourages toddlers to try new words. If you are concerned that toddlers may experience the activity as a test, omit the strategy of asking toddlers to say the name of the pictured item. Instead, say the name and then encourage toddlers to say the name with you.
Extra support
Enrichment
Object inquiry skills
A toddler practices naming familiar pictured, and actual, items.
Be Prepared: Gather items that are similar to those shown in the book—such as a shoe, sock, bowl and spoon, ball, and teddy bear. Place the items in the box or other type of container.
Invite a toddler to join you to look at some things we may see or use every day. Use strategies suggested in Option 1. After looking at and naming all pictures in the book, introduce the box and invite the toddler to take an item from the box. Encourage the toddler to say the name of the item he/she selected. Repeat the name. Provide the name of the item if the toddler seems uncertain or reluctant to verbalize the name. Encourage the toddler to say the name with you. Then invite the toddler to find the picture of the corresponding item in the book. Repeat this procedure with all items in the box or until the toddler loses interest.
This activity supports a toddler’s awareness that specific characteristics of an object can be different, but the object still has the same name. Example: a smaller ball, a larger ball, a red ball, and a blue ball are all called balls. Finding the picture of the item in the book that corresponds to the actual item also supports this awareness because the actual item and the pictured item are unlikely to be identical.
If a toddler is especially eager to remove items from the box, you may wish to rework the activity so items are named and compared to a book picture after all objects are removed from the box.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: Baby Touch and Feel: First Words by DK Publishing, items used in Option 2
Place the book and Option 2 items on a low table. Invite several toddlers to point to and hold an actual item that corresponds to an item pictured in the book. This offers the challenge of moving from picture to actual item rather than actual item to picture as pursued in Option 2. Another possibility is to encourage toddlers to find items in your room that correspond to several pictures in the book that you identify.
Materials Needed: Baby Touch and Feel: First Words by DK Publishing, basket
After looking at and talking about the book’s pictures with toddlers and preschool-age children, invite children to go on a treasure hunt in a specified part of your setting to find some of the items in the book. Pair older and younger children to find objects to bring back and put in the basket. You may wish to suggest that a specific pair of children find a particular item shown in the book. When all children have returned from their hunt, review by name each item in the basket.
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