The Benefits Of Using a Wordless Picture Book
When choosing books for your young child, you may overlook the power of what picture books with little to no words have to offer. Wordless picture books can be very beneficial for every child! They provide an opportunity to target vocabulary and listening skills. They also help a child learn about context clues and using pictures to guide the story narrative. Kids enjoy retelling and changing the stories of these book as well!
Wordless picture books are also used frequently in speech therapy to target speech and language goals, and when learning how to read. Reading can become less intimidating with few words presented on a page. The illustrations help your child to tell the story and use their imagination. Wordless books welcome any child to read, regardless of their reading abilities. It is important to let children now that reading pictures is considered reading.
At times, children may show hesitation or loss of interest with wordless books. This is because we teach children to read using words. Encourage your child to explore the book and tell the story using their imagination. Provide examples to your child to expand their vocabulary and language and make predictions about what is going to happen next. If your child appears lost on where to begin, take initiative, and start the story using the illustration on the first page, then take turns with your child by each of you adding onto the story following the illustrations.
There are many wordless books out there, however, here are a select few that are great for expanding your child’s imagination and language skills:
- Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann
- Nope! by Drew Sheneman
- Rosie’s Glasses by David Whamond
- CHALK by Bill Thomson
- The Red Book by Barbara Lehman
- Wolf in the Snow by Matthew Cordell
- Flashlight by Lizi Boyd
Let us know your favorite wordless picture book and how you like to use them with your child!