Preschool Books.
Grom, the best 3 1/2 year old in my world, loves books. We go to the library weekly and load up. We've also done very well at garage sales and with Freecycle. He has quite a few books. We had to get them under control. I was tired of bedtime meltdowns because I wouldn't (couldn't) read a book he wanted to read.
Quickly I found out that his books seemed to fall into 3 basic categories.
- Story Books
- Activity Books
- Activity Books (need supervision)
I like to read story books at night before bed. Classic books are best. Books like "Katy No Pocket", "Corduroy" and "Blueberries for Sal" build vocabulary and are interesting. Unlike books written about television shows. If I try to limit Grom's TV watching why would we want to read about TV shows. We keep our Bible story books with the story books but are quick to start each book with "This is a true story. It REALLY happened" to make sure Grom knows these stories are from the Bible. The story books are kept together so Grom can easily choose his books for the night.
Grom takes activity books to bed with him at nap time. These are books that have windows and doors that open, or music to play. They are something to do rather than something to read. Alphabets, shapes and colors are often the subject. They are not fun for me to read because they are really made to be played with.
Surferman and Grom have a lot of fun with the activity books that need supervision. Grom has some great pop up books. They are probably a little old for Grom, but they are really cool. He and his dad have boy time and read them and see how they work. These books are kept out of Grom's reach. The pages are delicate and it's sad when I can't repair one of the elaborate pop ups.
Sorting the books has really cut the bedtime meltdowns, and that works for me.
And as we're always looking for a great book - leave your favorite children's book or books in your comments.
Read more Works for Me Wednesday posts at Rocks in my Dryer.
First off, let me congratulate you for having a 3 1/2 year old boy that still naps - mine gave his up almost a year ago. Great post - we love to read also. Luckily, as a former elementary school teacher I have a ton of books from my classroom days. Thank you for the great post.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a timely encouragement! I was just looking in our book cupboard yesterday and thinking that I need to do some sorting and organizing but wasn't sure where to start. THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteI'm curious--in addition to story books, do you also read nonfiction books to Grom? My children loved poetry books, like Shel Silverstein, and science books. There are many good nonfiction children's books on the market. My son developed a love for history and geography from the time he was a preschooler. I remember reading him a historical fiction chapter book when he was about 3, one chapter at a time. Take a look in your library at all the different nonfiction books that are available--you may be surprised!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to mention the nonfiction books. We do Before Five In a Row and have a lot of nonfiction books attached to those stories. If our book of the week is Katy No Pocket - about a kangaroo, we'll get books about kangaroos.
ReplyDeleteYou're right nonfiction books are great.
We are in the middle of moving...which means I keep buying more and more books for my daughter. Hubby groans everytime he sees something from half.com. :) I'm glad she loves to read too.
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