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Concept Books


Pintosrock
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I'd get several and see what the kiddo liked best. I've never paid that much attention to the concept books, but I do recall liking some better than others, but they usually appealled to me more than my kid.

 

I remember Jr liking the most simplistic books for what seemed like an unbelievably long time, then suddenly he wanted nothing to do with them. :huh:

 

How old is your little kid?

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We always pick some, but mostly at random. Daughter is 3.5, and like a whirlwind in the library, so I don't have time to really peruse them. But for the cost (free!) I don't mind if we end up with some duds.

 

We're trying to increase her exposure to colors, counting, and letters. All she knows is pink (and we were trying NOT to raise a princess!) so we're trying to increase her knowledge gently. I tried counting random things in her favorite storybooks, but she hates going down side paths and cries, "Read, read!" or "Turn page!" So I was hoping dedicated concepts books would get around that.

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I'm far from a pro, but I think that recommendations for concept books are kind of hard to give. As far as I know, libraries purchase them at random, almost to fill a quota so there is small chance that your library will have the same books that mine might have. They all tend to be kind of generic, but you can google Best Concept Books for Toddlers/preschoolers to get some ideas. Maybe you can get a lot of them on eBay.

 

My suggestion is to just continue to grab several at a time for check out and when you find one that you like note the title and check it out a lot, but continue to check out several at a time.

 

Since she knows pink, I would begin doing little activities that contrast another color to pink. IE put two cups on the table and ask her for the blue one. Since one cup is pink, the other must be blue.

 

Get a pack of construction paper and lay out 2 or 3 sheets at a time. Put a line of tape on the floor as a starting point. From the starting point, Jump on PINK! Jump on BLUE! Jump on PINK, Jump on PINK. Jump on BLUE! Hand me a PINK, Jump on BLUE. Jump on PINK. Hand me a blue. Each time she goes back to the starting line and jumps to one of the colors.

 

 

Slowly add in more colors, but start with a few sheets of pink and a few sheets of a color that is NOT pink. Decide what that second color is going to be. Once she knows pink + 2nd color. Add in a third. Once she knows 3 colors, add in a 4th, and so on.

 

Cut out big shapes in the construction paper and have her jump on the Pink CIRCLE, blue TRIANGLE, Pink HEART, etc...

 

Don't stress about introducing books to your little one, find games that let her move, move, move, move, move and cover concepts at the same time.

 

Have you seen the Kumon books on mazes, tracing, cutting and pasting? Do you think that she would like any of those?

To encourage my sons speech and observation skills (Even though he doesn't have a speech problem) I like to look online for "Picture scenes for Speech Therapy" or "Picture scenese to describe" and we discuss a picture. There are no words, we just discuss.

 

"What is in this picture? What color is this mans shirt? Do you see the sky? What items are in the top of this picture? What is on the ground?" etc, etc, etc...

"I see someone wearing a blue shirt, do you see them? What is that person eating?" those types of things.

 

If you really want some books then try and get some of those I Spy books, they rhyme but require you to locate various objects. 

Alternatively you can just print out scenes/pictures and just play I-Spy with pictures.

You can segue from playing I-Spy on some pictures to studying/observing the pictures. There are books published by Usborne that are all about finding specific things in Scenes.

 

Really, I think that making up lots of little games will allow you to cover more ground. My little guy LOVES to move. He attends an outdoor preschool. When he's not at school, he swims. He rides his balance bike. He runs all over the place and plays in the backyard. He tumbles, jumps, rolls, climbs, and the more he moves, the more receptive he is to academics/books and learning things that we adults deem "important".

 

It can be hard not to compare, and it's easy to want her to be "on track" but if you leverage her abilities and strengths and design your lessons to work with her, not against, then I think you'll find better results and a less stressed mom and kid.

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I really don't think books are the best way to teach colors or counting. I think it's better to do things that encourage this - talk about colors every day, ask her to identify colors, play I Spy. Count cookies, count carrot sticks, count grapes, count stairs as you climb them, play games where she hops or jumps a certain number of times.

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