Receptive language, Expressive language
A toddler participates in a wordless book sharing focused on a dog taking care of a baby.
[Invite a toddler to join you to read a book. Sit close to the toddler, show the cover of the book, and point to the dog on the cover.]
Our story is about this dog. The dog’s name is Carl.
[Open to the first page and point to words as you read them.]
The words on this page tell us what the book is about. I am going to read the words on this page.
I just read some words in our book. But our book is special. Our book does not have a lot of words for us to read. The pictures in our book tell the story. We will use our own words to talk about what is happening in the pictures.
[Use a conversational style to tell the story. Describe what is shown in pictures that contributes to the story. Example: “The mom in our story is wearing her coat. She is carrying her purse. The mom is going somewhere.”
Point to features of pictures you name or describe. Example: “Oh no, the baby is swimming in the fish tank! A fish tank is where fish live. Do you see the fish swimming with the baby?”
Pause on each page so the toddler can look closely at an illustration. Respond to the toddler’s gestures or vocalizations.
Say the names of objects shown in pictures and offer brief descriptions of objects you highlight. Example: “Carl and the baby are opening the refrigerator door. A refrigerator keeps food cold.” Also, see above example of describing a fish tank.
Ask questions aimed at keeping the toddler engaged in the developing story. Example: “Uh oh, look at the mess Carl and the baby made! What do you think Carl is going to do next?”]
The pictures in our book told us a story about a baby and a dog. The dog’s name was Carl. Carl took care of the baby when the mom was away. The baby and Carl did a lot of different things. This was a silly story!
One of the challenges in telling a wordless picture book story is to make sure each picture is described in a way that contributes to the story line. The absence of text puts full responsibility on the storyteller to help the listener make sense of the plot and characters. It is appropriate and beneficial to talk about features of pictures that do not directly contribute to the story’s development. This is a good way to respond to a child’s interests and to promote vocabulary knowledge. At the same time, it’s important to remember a toddler will appreciate your help in connecting one picture to the next, so the sequence of events can be easily followed. Look for signs that a toddler understands what is happening in a picture before moving to the next one.
A wordless book offers an opportunity to promote a toddler’s awareness of the difference between pictures and print. This important literacy understanding develops over time. The current activity’s opening segment suggests how to explain the source of words you offer in the book sharing.
Extra support
Enrichment
Receptive language, Expressive language
A toddler helps a caregiver tell a story shown in a wordless book’s pictures.
Invite a toddler to help you tell the story of a dog and the things the dog does. Show the book cover to the toddler. Explain that most of the pages in the book do not have words that tell the story. But the pictures show us what happens. We can look at the pictures and talk about what we see. Show some of the book pages to demonstrate there are no words.
Read the words on the first page of the book as you point to each. Then show some of the subsequent pages of the book to demonstrate there are no words. Turn to the next page. Pause for the toddler to look closely at the illustration. Then use a relaxed, conversational style to describe what you see in the picture. Use short sentences. Avoid saying too much about the picture. Focus on the dominant images and action in the illustration. The intent is to demonstrate how you and the toddler can approach each picture.
On the next page, encourage the toddler to describe what he/she sees after a brief pause that gives the toddler time to look at the illustration. Examples: “What is happening in this picture?” “What do we see in this picture?”
The toddler’s response may be a single utterance or a pointing. Build on the response by repeating and then elaborating on the toddler’s utterance or describing what the toddler pointed to.
Use the toddler’s responses to a picture as a possible opening for encouraging toddler talk. Example: “You are laughing at this picture. What is making you laugh?”
Include yes-or-no questions that can help the toddler focus on a specific aspect of the story. Example: “Do you think the baby is having fun riding on the dog’s back?”
In addition to asking picture-specific questions, consider asking the toddler what he/she thinks might happen next.
Pause each time you turn to a new illustration so the toddler can look at what is happening. Encourage the toddler to contribute to your shared talk about each illustration by asking an open-ended or yes-or-no question or pointing to an item you name.
Conclude the session by enthusiastically recognizing the toddler’s contribution to telling the story. Example: “We looked at pictures. We talked about what was happening. It was fun to tell the story together.”
This book sharing is driven in part by the toddler’s language skills. Anticipate one- and two-word utterances, gestures, and pointing that you can build on to support the toddler’s active participation and emerging word knowledge. This activity option is intended to promote a higher level of toddler participation in the book sharing than Option 1. Toddlers who are familiar with the book through participation in Option 1 or a similar book sharing may find it easier to engage in the current approach than toddlers who do not know the basics of the story.
Extra support
Enrichment
Materials Needed: Wordless picture books—such as Good Dog, Carl by Alexandra Day (Options 1 and 2 book), Carl Goes Shopping by Alexandra Day, A Ball for Daisy by Christopher Raschke
Encourage toddlers to look at wordless picture books, including the Carl Goes Shopping book about the main character of the Options 1 and 2 book. The pictures in wordless books are engaging in their own right. Toddlers can often figure out the basics of a story by looking at the pictures in a wordless book independently. Enhance toddlers’ experiences with the books by asking questions and offering comments about pictures and the story line, and encouraging toddlers to tell you about pictures.
Materials Needed: see activity description
Invite a preschool-age child to participate in Option 2 and a school-age child to be the storyteller in Option 1 with a toddler. Reading two books about Carl may be of particular interest. An infant will enjoy listening to and watching peers engaged in a book sharing while holding a soft toy.
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