Try reading something new with your family. Wordless picture books are a great way to jumpstart the imagination. The best part is that you don't need to speed through. Try these three strategies for your next family story time:
Structure and Sequencing
Picture books that do not feature text or words are wonderful for practicing sequencing skills which are a building block of reading comprehension.
Practice asking questions about what happened First, Next, and Last with your young reader. Retelling the story in order is a great sign that they are following the plot even if it is shared without words.
Asking and Answering Questions
Talking about what is happening in a book is an important reading strategy. Model asking questions with some of the following:
- What is happening?
- Tell me about the characters.
- What is the character thinking? How do you know?
- What do you think the character is saying? Why?
Making predictions
Readers need to pay attention to detail to know what is coming next in a story. When you ask your young reader "What will happen next?" they need to look for more information in the illustrations. If you follow up with "How do you know?" you can model supporting your answer with details and information from the book.
Mr. Wuffles ignores all his cat toys but one, which turns out to be a spaceship piloted by small green aliens. When Mr. Wuffles plays rough with the little ship, the aliens must venture into the cat's territory to make emergency repairs.
A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka
In a wordless book with gentle, dreamlike spreads, Daisy, a feisty, black-eared dog plays with a beloved red ball indoors and out, before a climactic encounter with another dog in the park.
Discovering a seemingly magic bag of chalk while visiting the park on a rainy day, three children are astonished when their drawings of the sun, butterflies, and a dinosaur amazingly come to life, in a wordless tale told through acrylic paint and colored pencil artwork.
While scouring the beach for flotsam--anything floating that has been washed ashore--a young science enthusiast stumbles upon an old underwater camera that contains secrets from beneath the sea.
Followed by a flock of seagulls, a girl runs delightedly to where waves break on the shore. She surveys the sea and together they begin a silent dance. She chases it as it recedes, runs from it as it surges, splashes in it when it calms, taunts it as it rises, and finally succumbs to it crashing down upon her and discovers what treasures the waves can bring.
Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann.
A zookeeper finds his normal nighttime routine upset when a mischievous little ape steals his keys and lets all his animal charges out of their cages.
Descriptions adapted from the publisher.