Shortly after Little One (my eldest daughter) was born I bought a selection of books from a lady whose little girl had outgrown.
The books I bought from her were in fantastic condition and it included this book, Usborne Look and Say: Beach.
I had never seen this book before nor the other books in the series but I approved of the fact that it would be a tool to encourage language development and a way of introducing new vocabulary.
Each double page has one page looking at objects with captions and the other page is a scene incorporating those objects.
One element of this book that stands out and something Little One often comments on, is the amazing hand made models made by Jo Litchfield. They are just so lovely to admire.
My youngest, Baby (8 months) now enjoys this book too and adores the page tabs. The tabs allow her teeny fingers to explore the book far easier then without. Also, babies seem to adore tags, on toys, clothes, cushions and the page tabs are really not too dissimilar.
As Little One is maturing her use of the book has changed. She no longer requires the book to ‘Look and Say’ but is now using the pictures of scenes to create stories. Some stories she’s even shared with her little sister.
We visited the beach a few days ago and took this book along with us. At times Baby and I were enjoying this book and then I was reiterating the vocabulary by showing objects we had in front of us like a bucket, spade, pebbles. Little One was also joining in and repeatedly saying the words to Baby which was quite cute to observe. Also, research has shown that showing physical objects which children can touch and move around can have more benefit then that just of pictures.
These type of books are an insight into a new topic for children and a slice of non-fiction fun. They can be just as fun as a story book and can be further explored through questions you ask your child.
Does your child have a book like this in their collection? Are there any look and say books you would recommend? I would love to read your thoughts on this.
My son has a book called “Thank you Allah counting book” and one of the things I love about it is that it includes every day objects. For example a toothbrush, so like you do with this Beech book , I use his story book to show and try to teach him names of objects 🙂
That sounds like a lovely book. It’s great that you unpick the illustrations highlighting various objects. That is such a fab way of extending a child’s vocabulary, seeing those objects in context and also making them more observant of illustrations. Thank you so much for sharing Rabia.