Staff Book Picks: Our Favourite Books to Read with Kids!

Books are a wonderful way for children to connect with the world, use their problem solving skills and, of course, develop literacy skills. We asked BridgeWay staff members to spotlight their favourite book and tell us why they enjoy reading this book with kids. Watch the video below to hear from our staff! Scroll below for more information about why these books are so valuable to children’s learning.

What Does Reading Look like for Kids?

For children in the early years (infancy to 6 years of age) reading can look like:

• Flipping through a book (even if that book is upside down!)
• Pointing to the pictures on the page
• Labelling pictures in the book (pointing and saying ‘meow’ or ‘cat’ while pointing at a cat)
• Listening to a story
• Making up words and pretending to read
• Remembering the words in a book and re-telling it on their own

Why We Love These Books

Repetitive Text

Books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See and Pete The Cat: I Love my White Shoes have lots of repetition. This repetition lets children practice making predictictions; like knowing the words to Pete the Cat’s song even though the colour of his shoes changes each time! Repetition also helps children memorize the text which means they can re-tell the story on their own, building confidence in their literacy skills.

Problem Solving and Critical Thinking

Books like Dear Zoo and Who Am I? incorporate guessing games. Theses books describe animals and give hints through the illustrations so children can guess what animal is being described. Children need to use their previous knowledge of animals while thinking about the hints they’re given in the book to come up with an answer.

Opportunities for Interaction

Books like Peekaboo! and Tap the Magic Tree give children even more opportunities to interact with the stories. Tap the Magic Tree has prompts like “shake the tree” so children can shake the book or pretend to be a tree and shake their arms and legs, while Peekabook! let’s you wear the book like a mask and pretend to be the animal on the page!

Social-Emotional Skills

Social-Emotional Skills are all about feelings, self-awareness and self-regulation. Books like Big Feelings and My Heart Fills with Happiness foster these skills. Big Feelings puts a name and illustration to the different emotions we all experience – many of which can be very hard to navigate for kids. This book encourages children think about these feelings and consider the different ways to express them. My Heart Fills With Happiness focusses on joy and encourages children to reflect on what or who makes them feel happy!

Songs and Rhymes

Songs and rhymes can make books even more fun and engaging for children! Songs and rhymes introduce the concept of rhyming words while making a story more playful, memorable and easier to understand. The book My First Music Book featured in the video (above), is filled with nursery rhymes and even includes sheet music for each of the songs. In Pete the Cat: I Love my White Shoes, Pete repeats the same song throughout, changing only the word that describes his shoes.

Math and Science

The Very Hungry Caterpillar is filled with math and science! You can count the food as the caterpillar eats (each day he eats more!) and learn about the lifecycle of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly. Tap the Magic Tree includes counting when it tells you how many times to tap the page – be sure to count as you tap! It also includes science, by showing how trees change throughout the different seasons.

Did you know? BridgeWay offers FREE EarlyON programs for families with children birth to 6 years of age where we read books just like these! Check out programs like Songs and Stories and Family Time offered in Brampton and Mississauga.