Some toddlers may participate by pointing and nodding, whereas others know more words that help them share their ideas. Maximize the advantage of a one-to-one setting by paying close attention to the toddler’s nonverbal and verbal responses to a page. Be sure to acknowledge each type of response. You may notice the child looking at a specific item on a page that you can use as a focus of discussion. Remember, a highly interactive story time helps a toddler strengthen language and communication skills.

Extra support

• Summarize or repeat key parts of the story as you read it to help the toddler follow along.
• Support engagement by encouraging the toddler to help hold the book and turn the pages.
• If the toddler seems to be losing interest in the book, skip several pages or come to a close and offer to read the book at another time. There may be another book the toddler would like to look at with you.

Enrichment

• Encourage the toddler to relate their experiences to the story. Examples: “Did you visit a farm with a horse, Maria? Let’s see if there is a horse in our story.” “Max, I think you have a dog. Does your dog look like the dog on this page?” “The animals in this story sleep in a barn. You sleep in a house.”

There are likely to be differences among toddlers in how much they invent small stories around their animal figures and barn. Toddlers who are familiar with the Big Red Barn may enjoy enacting what they recall about the book. Or they may expand upon the book’s story by creating their own versions of how the animals play. There may be hints of children’s own peer play experiences in their uses of the figures. Example: “The cow doesn’t like to play with anyone. The cow likes to play by itself.” Some toddlers may limit their participation to moving an animal figure in and/or out of the barn or simply watching and listening to what is happening around them. Accept and positively acknowledge all forms of participation. Remember that your words provide a language model for toddlers. At the same time, be careful not to direct the play or talk all of the time. Offer pauses that indirectly invite toddlers to talk and to move their animal figures. Encourage toddlers to talk about what they can see and touch.

Extra support

• Repeat and expand upon toddlers’ utterances. Example: “Nighttime. Sam said it is ‘nighttime.’ Does ‘nighttime’ mean it is time to go to sleep?”
• Describe what is happening in the gathering. Example: “Emma is taking her chicken out of the barn. The chicken is awake.”
• Use each toddler’s name.
• Offer verbal connections across toddlers’ different uses of the animal figures. Example: “We just pretended our farm animals were getting sleepy. The cow is having a hard time holding up its head. How do tired animals get into the barn so they can sleep?”

Enrichment

• Encourage toddlers to think about similarities and differences across the animal figures, such as big/small, color, furry/feathered, what they eat.

Toddlers may have different responses to this activity depending on how familiar they are with the story, and how comfortable they are participating in a small gathering. Toddlers who are new to the story, or the items depicted in the story, may watch and listen, whereas other toddlers may repeat the text and provide guesses about the next animal the girl sees. Some toddlers may include characteristics of the anticipated animal, such as its color. While it is important to maintain a lighthearted approach to toddlers’ predictions, it is also helpful to draw children’s attention to clues that toddlers may use in predicting what animal the girl may see next. This moves the toddlers’ participation beyond random guessing and potentially introduces more words or concepts connected to animals. Example: “Josiah thinks the girl will see a dog. I wonder if the picture of the yellow tail on this page gave Josiah the idea of a dog. Josiah, did the picture of a yellow tail help you guess what animal the girl might see?”

Maintaining enthusiasm and a playful tone during the story will encourage participation. Toddlers enjoy communicating when they are having fun and don’t have to worry about their responses being “wrong or right.” Observing and acknowledging each child’s response to the story strengthens their language development and understanding of words.

Extra support

• Remember that some toddlers may prefer to stand next to you. Be sure to positively recognize a toddler who chooses to leave the activity. He/she may return before you are done with the book.
• If the “walking” and formation of pretend binoculars is too challenging for some toddlers, encourage them to use one hand for “walking” and making pretend binoculars or simply watch others engage in this fine motor part of the activity.
• Toddlers who show keen interest in the book may wish to remain for a repeat of the book or participate in another sharing of the book later in the day.
• A child who is slower to participate in a small gathering may enjoy reading the book in a one-to-one setting with you.

Enrichment

• Encourage toddlers to say the repetitive words on each page.
• Invite toddlers to predict what animal we may see on the next page (based on the clues in the story). Acknowledge, restate, and expand upon each prediction. Example: “Ben thinks the tail belongs to a cat. Ben thinks the girl will see a cat on the next page!”