Talking Tips

Talk about the Pictures 

You don’t have to read the book exactly as it is written. Try to follow what the child is interested in and talk about that. Some key words to emphasise in this book might include:

• Names of animals: ‘elephant’, ‘snake’
• Actions: lift the flap and say ‘open/close’
• Describing words: 'tall giraffe', ‘scary lion’, ‘so cute’
• Greetings: ‘hello/goodbye’

Create Opportunities for Children to Join in

Some ideas to encourage children to join in with Dear Zoo are:

• Let children take it in turns to lift the flaps.
• Model the animal sounds and pause to allow the children to copy.
• Pause after some of the phrases to give the children an opportunity to join in, e.g. ‘he was too...’ ‘I sent him ...’ 

Build Interest and Excitement

• Make lots of noises: animal noises, ‘oh no!’, ‘knock knock’ on the doors.
  
  
• Use gestures, actions and props: use animal toys whilst telling the story, act out the animals, use your hands to gesture sending the animals back.
  
  
• Use tone of voice and facial expression to convey feelings: grumpy camel, scary lion, express frustration that the animals aren’t right, excitement that the puppy is perfect!

Keep the Story Going

• Re-enact the story using toys or props
  
  
• Play hide and seek with toy animals
  
  
• Help children to hear the key words from the book throughout the day, e.g. if you emphasised ‘too big!’ you could find other big items and comment on these e.g. ‘big tree’ or ‘big bus’.

More Ideas

Have conversations about the story, e.g. Talk to the child about animals they like.

Talk about the Pictures

You don’t have to read the book exactly as it is written. Try to follow what the child is interested in and talk about that. Some key words to emphasise in this book might include:

• fruit, animals, numbers/counting

Create Opportunities for Children to Join in

Some ideas to encourage children to join in with Handa’s surprise are:

• let children have a go at naming the animals and fruit
• pause at points of the story to build suspense and give children the opportunity to respond

Build Interest and Excitement

• Make lots of noises: to introduce each animal, have children try making its sound
  
  
• Use gestures, actions and props: have fruit toys that children can take turns picking as the story is read
  
  
• Use tone of voice and facial expression to convey feelings: use voice to build tension and suspense when each fruit is being taken from Handa.

Keep the Story Going

• Re-enact the story using toys or props
  
  
• Help children to hear the key words from the book throughout the day, e.g. tangerine, passion fruit, giraffe

More Ideas

Have conversations about the story, make a shopping list together, make a fruit salad and talk about the ingredients, find information about different animals

Talk about the Pictures

You don’t have to read the book exactly as it is written. Try to follow what the child is interested in and talk about that. Some key words to emphasise in this book might include:

• Names of animals: ‘monkey’, ‘lion’, ‘fish’, ‘bull’, ‘wolf’,’duck’
• Actions: act the actions in each page while commenting e.g., ‘flying’, ‘swing’, ‘swimming’, ‘climbing’, ‘falling’,
• Describing words: ‘big whale’, ‘loud lion’, ‘colourful fish’,
• Location words: ‘under the sea’, ‘behind the tree’ ‘top of the mountain’

Create Opportunities for Children to Join in

Some ideas to encourage children to join in with Walking through the jungle are:

• Let children take it in turns to flip the page
  
  
• Model the animal sounds and pause to allow the children to copy
  
  
• Pause after some of the phrases to give the children an opportunity to join in, e.g. ‘I think I see a .........whale’

Build Interest and Excitement

• Make lots of noises: “whoosh”, “hiss”, “growl”
  
  
• Use gestures, actions and props: act out the actions (e.g., swimming, climbing)
  
  
• Use tone of voice and facial expression to convey feelings: pretend to be scared when each animal chases the girl

Keep the Story Going

• Re-enact the story using toys or props
  
  
• Help children to hear the key words from the book throughout the day, e.g. “I think I see . . .”

More Ideas

Have conversations about the story, e.g. what you can see when you’re outside, what people / animals around you are doing

Talk about the Pictures

You don’t have to read the book exactly as it is written. Try to follow what the child is interested in and talk about that. Some key words to emphasise in this book might include:

• Pictures: ‘moon’, ‘egg’, ‘sun’, ‘caterpillar’, ‘strawberry’, ‘apple’.
• Action words: ‘eating’, ‘looking’
• Describing: ‘warm’, ’big’, ‘beautiful’, ‘red’, ‘green’
• Sounds: ‘pop’, eating sounds, ‘mmm’

Create Opportunities for Children to Join in

Some ideas to encourage children to join in with The Very Hungry Caterpillar are:

• Pause before the last word of the sentence, e.g. he ate through one (pause) apple.
  
  
• Pause after turning each page and once the child responds to a picture, comment on what they show interest in,

Build Interest and Excitement

• Make lots of noises: ‘mmm’, eating sounds, ‘crunch’, ‘uh oh’
  
  
• Use gestures, actions and props: include objects from the book, e.g. (toy) apple, toy caterpillar.
  
  
• Use tone of voice and facial expression to convey feelings: hunger, full, big, beautiful

Keep the Story Going

• Re-enact the story using toys or props
  
  
• Help children to hear the key words from the book throughout the day e.g. different foods, colours, “big”,“hungry”

More Ideas

Have conversations about the story, e.g. Talk to the child about food they like, talk about what different animals eat, talk about how animals grow

Talk about the Pictures

You don’t have to read the book exactly as it is written. Try to follow what the child is interested in and talk about that. Some key words to emphasise in this book might include:

• Pictures: ‘dog,’ ‘chair’ ,’bear’, ’clock’, ’snake,’ ’piano’, ‘stairs’, ‘monkey’, ‘bed’, ‘crocodile’, ’box’, ‘penguin’, ‘rug’, ‘turtle’, ‘basket
• Action words: “look”, “lift”, “find”, “hide” Describing: “in”, “under”, “big”, “small”

Create Opportunities for Children to Join in

Some ideas to encourage children to join in with ‘Where’s Spot? are:

• Pause before the last word of a sentence, e.g. Is he behind the (pause) door?
  
  
• Pause after turning each page and once the child responds to a picture, comment on what they show interest in.

Build Interest and Excitement

• Make lots of noises: ‘woof’ (dog barking), ‘roar’ for the bear, ‘sssssss’ for the snake
  
  
• Use gestures, actions and props: include objects from the book, e.g, toy dog, toy snake, banana for the monkey, basket for Spot
  
  
• Use tone of voice and facial expression to convey feelings: scared, happy, tired, big

Keep the Story Going

• Re-enact the story using toys or props
  
  
• Help children to hear the key words from the book throughout the day, e.g. different animals, colours, objects, “behind”, “under”
  
  
• Ask question about the story before reading the text, e.g. ‘Is he in the box?’, ‘Is he under the bed?

More Ideas

Hide objects and search for them (you can give clues where to look), talk about where you would find different animals

Talk About The Pictures

You don’t have to read the book exactly as it is written. Try to follow what the child is interested in and talk about that. Some key words to emphasise in this book might include:

• Nouns: ‘monster’ Actions: ‘shake shake’, ‘tickle’, ‘blow’, ‘tilt’, ‘wiggle’, ‘spin’, ‘running’
  
  
• Describing words: ‘louder’, ‘little monster’, ‘tired monster’

Create Opportunities for Children to Join in

Some ideas to encourage children to join in with there’s a monster in your book are:

• Encourage children to join in with the actions, e.g. shaking the page, blowing, wiggling, tickling the monster
  
  
• Encourage children to make a noise and get louder
  
  
• Pause after the repeated phrases and allow children to fill in the blanks, e.g. ‘still in your.... book’

Build Interest and Excitement

• Make lots of noises: ‘ahhh’, ‘shhh’
  
  
• Use gestures, actions and props: demonstrate the actions in the book, e.g. by shaking the book, tickling the monster
  
  
• Use tone of voice and facial expression to convey feelings: emphasise the repeated phrases, e.g. ‘STILL in your book!’, use an exciting voice and repeat the actions, e.g. ‘shake shake’, ‘tickle tickle’

Keep the Story Going

• Re-enact the story using toys or props, e.g. getting a toy monster to do different actions
  
  
• Help children to hear the key words from the book throughout the day, e.g. acting out the different action words

More Ideas

Have conversations about the story, e.g., Why might the monster be in the book? Why wouldn’t you want a monster in your room?

Talk about the Pictures

You don’t have to read the book exactly as it is written. Try to follow what the child is interested in and talk about that. Some key words to emphasise in this book might include:

• Objects: broom, witch, cat, hat Actions: flying, falling
• Descriptions: wet, scary, sticky, broken

Create Opportunities for Children to Join in 

Some ideas to encourage children to join in with Room on the Broom are:

• Pause before the last word in some of the phrases and point to the picture for children to fill in the word, e.g., “There bounded a . . . ”[point to dog]

Build Interest and Excitement

• Make lots of noises: oh,no!; uh-oh, roar, meow, woof woof, whoosh
  
  
• Use gestures, actions and props: act out the action words (e.g., leap, flutter), have toy objects to act out the story or use pictures,
  
  
• Use tone of voice and facial expression to convey feelings: upset, relieved, happy, worried, scared, surprised

Keep the Story Going

• Re-enact the story using toys or props
  
  
• Help children to hear the key words from the book throughout the day, e.g. down, searched, tapped, room
  
  
• Pause before words that are repeated throughout the book and see if you child can fill them in, e.g., “They searched for the X but . . . “, “The witched tapped the broomstick and . . . “
  
  
• Emphasise the rhymes

More Ideas

Have conversations about the story, e.g. What things fly?, talk about new words in the story (e.g., “yowl”, “clutched”) and use them in different situations

Talk about the Pictures

You don’t have to read the book exactly as it is written. Try to follow what the child is interested in and talk about that.

Some key words to emphasise in this book might include:

• Names of items: ‘tea’, ‘cake’,
  
  
• Actions: ‘knock-knock’, ‘open’, ‘eating’, ‘drinking’ Describing words: ‘yummy’, ‘big’, ‘hungry’, ‘thirsty’, ‘greedy’ Greetings: ‘hello/goodbye’

Create Opportunities for Children to Join in 

Some ideas to encourage children to join in with The Tiger Who Came to Tea are:

• Let children take it in turns to flip the pages
  
  
• Pause after some of the phrases to give the children an opportunity to join in,e.g. ‘he ate all the....’ and point to the food items to allow children to name them

Build Interest and Excitement

• Make lots of noises: eating/drinking noises, ‘roar’ (tiger), ‘meow’ (cat) Use actions, gesture and props: toy tiger and food items, gesture / act out opening the door and eating the food
  
  
• Use tone of voice and facial expression to convey feelings: ‘I wonder who that can be’ - use tone of voice and exaggerated expressions, shock/surprise when the tiger eats all of the food and leaves a mess, relief when they have a lovely supper at the end

Keep the Story Going

• Re-enact the story using toys or props
  
  
• Help children to hear the key words from the book throughout the day, e.g. “all the...’ , food items

More Ideas

Have conversations about the story, e.g. talk about what food the children like to eat, for children with more language you could ask if they would invite the tiger to tea. Talk about how the different characters might feel.

Talk about the Pictures

You don’t have to read the book exactly as it is written. Try to follow what the child is interested in and talk about that. Some key words to emphasise in this book might include:

• Pictures: ‘hare’, ‘tree’, ‘grass, ‘moon’, ‘trunk’, ‘cloud’
  
  
• Action Words: swinging, bouncing, hopping
  
  
• Describing: beautiful tree, green grass, long grass, rough trunk, furry hare, long ears, long arms Sounds: squeak, tree sounds- swoosh, swish, rustle

Create Opportunities for Children to Join in 

Some ideas to encourage children to join in with ‘Guess How much I LOVE YOU:

• Pause before the last word of sentences, e.g. ‘I love you all the way up to my (pause) toes!
  
  
• Pause after turning each page and once the child responds to a picture, comment on what they show interest in.

Build Interest and Excitement

• Make lots of noises: squeak, swoosh, rustle (rustle of leaves)
  
  
• Use gestures, actions and props: toy hare, toy tree, leaf, open arms wide, reach up
  
  
• Use tone of voice and facial expression to convey feelings: ‘very long ears’, ‘Big Nutbrown Hare’, ‘Little Nutbrown Hare’, beautiful tree, big tree

Keep the Story Going

• Re-enact the story using toys or props
  
  
• Help children to hear the key words from the book throughout the day, e.g. ‘Big Nutbrown Hare’, ‘I love you this much’, ‘I love you all the way up to my toes’, ‘bouncing up and down.

More Ideas

Have conversations about the story, e.g. Talk to the child about feelings and ‘I love you this much’. Talk to the child about hares. Talk to the child about nature.

Talk about the Pictures

You don’t have to read the book exactly as it is written. Try to follow what the child is interested in and talk about that. Some key words to emphasise in this book might include:

• Places: ‘grass’, ‘river’, ‘mud’, ‘forest’, ‘snowstorm’, ‘cave’
• Concepts: ‘over’, ‘under’, ‘through’
• Describing words: “big’
• Emotions: ‘scared’

Create Opportunities for Children to Join in 

Some ideas to encourage children to join in are:

• Pause after ‘we can’t go’ and use a hand gesture to show over/under/through. Wait to see if they say or do something.
  
  
• Build anticipation when they find the bear

Build Interest and Excitement

• Make lots of noises: ‘swishy swashy’, ‘splash splosh’, ‘squelch squerch’, ‘hoo woo’
  
  
• Use gestures, actions: use actions for ‘over’, ‘under’ and ‘through’ children can copy
  
  
• Use singing: include the song / rhyme “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ so children can join in with this
  
  
• Use tone of voice and facial expression to convey feelings: scared 

Keep the Story Going

• Re-enact the story using toys or props
  
  
• Help children to hear the key words from the book throughout the day, e.g. beautiful, over, under, we’re going on a . . .
  
  
• Pause before repeated phrases to encourage children to join in, e.g. “We’re going on a . . . “, “We’re not . . . “

More Ideas

Have conversations about the story, e.g. talk about the places in the story (e.g., the forest), talk about other animals you might look for and where to find them

Talk about the Pictures

You don’t have to read the book exactly as it is written. Try to follow what the child is interested in and talk about that. Some key words to emphasise in this book might include:

• monkey, penguins, kangaroos, bats, elephants

Create Opportunities for Children to Join in 

Some ideas to encourage children to join in with Monkey and Me are:

• count the number of animals they see, have children name each animal before you do

Build Interest and Excitement

• Make lots of noises: what noise does as elephant make?
  
  
• Use gestures, actions and props: have children walk like a penguin, hop like kangaroos
  
  
• Use tone of voice and facial expression to convey feelings: use a tired voice at the end of the book when child is sleeping after tea

Keep the Story Going

• Re-enact the story using toys or props
  
  
• Help children to hear the key words from the book throughout the day, e.g. monkey, see
  
  
• Encourage children to join in with repeated phrases (e.g., “Monkey and me”)

More Ideas

Have conversations about the story, e.g. ask children what they think the animals are doing at the zoo during the day, talk about what is unique about the animals.