Skip to main content

Peek-a-boo Books

Peek-a-boo play helps teach object permanence. Peek-a-boo books cue peek-a-boo play. They make great reading for babies.

What is object permanence?

It is the rabbit in the hat, out of sight, but still on stage. It is knowing that people and objects carry on after they leave your field of vision. Imagine a cement truck pouring a concrete foundation for thinking skills development. Object permanence is in the mix. Once set, babies think about people and things differently. Labels and attributes stick. A sense of security builds. Expectations and attachments form. According to developmental psychologist Jean Piaget, object permanence emerges at about nine months of age.

My favorite peek-a-boo book for young babies is Peek-a WHO? (2000) by Nina Laden. Six mitt-sized, peanut-shaped holes cue hands-on reading. Peek-a WHO? Turn the cover page and find an owl. You can Peek a MOO! and Peek a CHOO-CHOO! A large mirror insert fills the last page: Peek a YOU! The book itself makes a fun screen for peek-a-boo play.

Classic Pat the Bunny (1940) by Dorothy Kunhardt has two pages of peek-a-boo play: Judy can play peek-a-boo with Paul. Now YOU play peek-a-boo with Paul. He's hiding under a fabric flap.

PEEK-A-BOO! (1997) and PEEPO! (1999), the UK version, by Janet and Allan Ahlberg offer a more detailed text and illustrated page. Circle cut-outs prompt peeks at baby's day.
Here's a little baby,
One, two, three
Stands in his crib
What does he see?

A page turn shows a sleepy mom and dad in bed surrounded by cozy clutter to pick through and label: a pair of boots, a duck, a clock, a toy piano ....
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Is a Concept Book?

The short (or long or tall) of it: A concept book is a picture book that teaches a broad concept to young readers. Examples? Alphabet books, number books, books about c o l o r s , opposites, feelings and emotions.   A concept is an idea, an abstract notion. Here's the rub. Very young readers are concrete thinkers, very "here and now." Luckily concept books do not have to teach the alphabetic principle, or algebra, or color theory. They teach what toddlers and young preschoolers can see, hear, touch, and feel - the upper and lowercase, quiet and loud, and happy and sad face of things.   Three concept books by DENISE FLEMING: LUNCH (1998) from Henry Holt and Co. Concept: Colors. A toothsome mouse called Mouse eats his way through the primary and secondary colors and then some. The pictures are deliciously big. Bon appetit! The emergent literacy bent: The text is sparse and the letters large, fostering print awareness. Point out a few words as you read. Clever...
4 comments
Read more

All A Board! All About Books for Babies

Hello! I've moved to Poughkeepsie (New York, not Arkansas) and started a free online magazine about books for babies. It's called All A Board! and can be accessed via a title search at issuu.com or by clicking here . It offers a peek at new and upcoming board titles. Age icons help match babies to books based on stages of development. Articles focus on the people that make board books happen and early book sharing. The first issue is out. What's on top of your read-aloud stack?
1 comment
Read more

Books Take a Bite Out of Vegetables

It's tomato season in Louisiana. Translation: Tomato sandwich season!  Two slices of white lightly toasted, thick slabs of juicy red goodness, Blue Plate mayo, a sprinkle of salt. Summer HEAVEN.   Does your tot take to tomatoes? Does she beam at the sight of green beans? Does eggplant egg cite him? I thought not. Board books can help.   In their 2014 article Let's look at Leeks! Picture Books Increase Toddlers' Willingness to Look At, Taste and Consume Unfamiliar Vegetables , UK r esearchers Philippa Heath, Carmel Houston-Price and Orla B. Kennedy conclude that reading books about veggies to a two-year-old can increase his interest in the nutritious fare.  Study participants were more apt to eye, try and eat more of a vegetable that they'd read about with their moms, given the vegetable was new to them.  The children in the study were 19 to 26 months of age, which is important because strictly speaking study results relate only to same-aged kiddos. Moms wer...
5 comments
Read more