UPDATE: The book originally featured in the three options of this activity plan (Wave Hello, Wave Bye-Bye by Pamela Chanko and Scholastic) may be challenging to secure. Two additional book possibilities have been added to revisions of the activity plan. The three revised options offer examples from the high-contrast book Hello, Baby Animals!, but each of the activity options may be easily adapted for use with the books suggested in Materials Needed.

UPDATE: The book originally featured in the three options of this activity plan (Wave Hello, Wave Bye-Bye by Pamela Chanko and Scholastic) may be challenging to secure. Two additional book possibilities have been added to revisions of the activity plan. The three revised options offer examples from the high-contrast book Hello, Baby Animals!, but each of the activity options may be easily adapted for use with the books suggested in Materials Needed.

Invite an infant to sit on your lap to read a book. Introduce the book by pointing to and describing the cover. Example: “This is a picture of a turtle. The turtle is swimming. The turtle is using its legs to swim (paddle).” Point to turtle’s legs. “The animals in our book are saying ‘Hello!’ We can wave hello and goodbye to the animals in our book.” Use the following strategies to engage the infant in the book:

• Invite the infant to help you turn the pages of the book.
• Describe and point to animals and what they are doing. Example: “Here is a picture of a puppy. The puppy is playing with a ball.”
  [Point to ball.]
• Describe the infant’s attention to the book. Example: “You are looking at a deer. The deer is eating (nibbling) this plant.”
  [Point to plant.]
• Spend more time on pictures that seem to be of particular interest to the infant. Example: “You are reaching toward the picture of the panda bear. The panda bear looks like the teddy bear in our room! The panda bear is white and black. Look at the panda’s little black ears!”
  [Point to each ear.]
• Respond to gestures and/or vocalizations. Example: “You are smiling and waving your arms. You are watching me wave goodbye to the penguin! Bye-bye, penguin!”
• Help the infant connect book information to his/her own experiences and developing knowledge. Example: “The kitten is purring. Have you ever seen a kitten?”
• Recognize the infant’s participation in the book sharing. Example: “We had fun reading this book together, Sydney. You looked at the pictures of the animals. You smiled when I waved bye-bye to the animals! You helped me turn the pages. I think you liked this book.”

UPDATE: The book originally featured in the three options of this activity plan (Wave Hello, Wave Bye-Bye by Pamela Chanko and Scholastic) may be challenging to secure. Two additional book possibilities have been added to revisions of the activity plan. The three revised options offer examples from the high-contrast book Hello, Baby Animals!, but each of the activity options may be easily adapted for use with the books suggested in Materials Needed.

Invite an older infant to read a book with you. The infant may wish to sit or stand next to you while you read. Invite the infant to help you hold the book and turn the pages.

Once the infant is comfortable and ready to read, point to and describe the picture on the book cover. Example: “Here is a turtle on the cover of our book. The turtle is swimming. The turtle is looking toward us! Point to turtle’s eyes. Our book is about animals saying ‘Hello!’ We can wave hello and goodbye to the animals in our book!” Use the following strategies to engage the infant in the book:

• Use your own words to describe pictures. Point to features you mention. Use hand gestures to show actions you describe. Example: “This is a bunny. Here are the bunny’s eyes. Look at the bunny’s ears. Here are some carrots for the bunny to eat.”
• Invite the infant to point to objects that you name. Example: “Here is a puppy. Where are the puppy’s eyes?
• Spend more time talking about pictures that seem to be of particular interest to the infant. Example: “You are looking at a penguin. Here is the penguin’s head. Here are the penguin’s eyes. The penguin has flippers.”
• Respond to gestures and/or vocalizations. Example: “You said bye-bye to the puppy!”
• Help the infant connect book information to his/her own experiences and understandings. Example: “We waved goodbye to the animals in our book. You waved goodbye to your daddy this morning. Later today you can wave ‘Hello!’ to your mommy!”

Recognize the infant’s participation in the book reading. Example: “You helped me hold our book, Javier. You looked at the pictures of the animals. You pointed to the picture of the puppy. You pointed to the bunny’s ears! We had fun reading this book together.”