{"id":100302,"date":"2023-10-10T05:00:03","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T09:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/?p=100302"},"modified":"2023-10-11T10:26:03","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T14:26:03","slug":"using-seek-and-find-books-build-early-literacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.readbrightly.com\/using-seek-and-find-books-build-early-literacy\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Ways To Use Seek-and-Find Books To Build Early Literacy Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do your kids love seek-and-find books<\/a>? They are in constant rotation at our house. My kids browse them alone, snuggle up with them together after school, or grab them for car rides or waiting room time. I always made sure one was on display for the children in my Pre-K through second grade classrooms, too. Besides being fun, I love that seek-and-find books naturally help build early literacy skills. Win-win! <\/p>\n

Seek-and-Find Books Boost Vocabulary<\/strong>
\nA hallmark of seek-and-find books is that their pictures contain items and situations to notice and talk about. The toddlers in my life adore searching for Momo in Let\u2019s Find Momo!: A Hide-and-Seek Board Book<\/i><\/a> by Andrew Knapp. While they search, they also exclaim over everything else in the pictures. My five-year-old daughter adores all the Highlights Hidden Pictures<\/a> titles, and I credit them for her knowledge of many household items \u2014 she certainly doesn\u2019t see an iron or a thimble much around our home. <\/p>\n

Seek-and-Find Books Can Help Train Kids\u2019 Eyes for Reading<\/strong>
\nBy design, seek-and-find books require visual discrimination. \u201cIs that really Waldo<\/a>? Do his hat and glasses match the cover picture?\u201d Building these careful abilities to look, notice, and match details to a model helps kids do the same with letters and words. <\/p>\n

With a little guidance, seek-and-find books are also excellent for helping kids build their concept of directionality. Even toddlers giggling over Richard Scarry\u2019s Super Silly Seek and Find!<\/i><\/a> can learn to work through the list of things to find from left to right and top to bottom. When a kid can\u2019t find an item, I like to share my \u201csuper-secret finding trick,\u201d which is to start in the top left corner and drag your finger across the page in rows, like you\u2019re \u201creading\u201d the picture. This is the same thing we ask beginning readers to do when reading lines of text in a book. <\/p>\n

Talking About Finding Items Can Build Language and Grammar Knowledge<\/strong>
\nOne potential downside of seek-and-find books is that items lose their appeal once you find them. My kids taught me otherwise, however. They love being the experts who help less capable searchers (i.e., me, their dad, their grandmother, etc.) Giving clues about where to find items on a page is the ultimate chance to use prepositions; Is the elusive item inside the castle? Under the rainbow? Near the drawbridge? Practicing language skills in a fun context is always the best way.<\/p>\n

Seek-and-Find Books Can Encourage Kids to Notice Text<\/strong>
\nSeek-and-find books often include written lists or labels on items to find. Noticing how these words are spelled is a natural way to call kids\u2019 attention to letters and sounds. Find Fergus<\/i><\/a> by Mike Boldt is a longtime family favorite. One of the best parts of the book is that after we finish hunting for Fergus, we turn to the funny list of other items to find at the back. It\u2019s easy to motivate kids to notice the beginning letters or point to each word in \u201cA pair of socks\u201d because they are motivated to see what\u2019s next on the list. <\/p>\n

Check out the books mentioned in this post below and this list of 11 Of the Best Seek-and-Find Books for Kids<\/a>. <\/p>\n

no yes 9781594749582 Let’s Find Momo!<\/i> by Andrew Knapp 9781644722473 Highlights Sticker Hidden Pictures Pack<\/i> by Highlights 9781536228618 Where\u2019s Waldo?: The Great Speed Search<\/i> by Martin Handford 9780593310229 Richard Scarry’s Super Silly Seek and Find!<\/i> by Richard Scarry 9781984849021 Find Fergus<\/i> by Mike Boldt <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These books provide hours of entertainment while boosting a child’s vocabulary, helping build language skills, and more!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":100775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[59,62,1040,1135],"coauthors":[1053],"class_list":["post-100302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-picture-books","tag-learning-to-read","tag-seek-and-find-books","tag-activity-books","ages_stages-baby-toddler","ages_stages-pre-k","ages_stages-growing-reader"],"yoast_head":"\n4 Ways To Use Seek-and-Find Books To Build Early Literacy Skills | Brightly<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"These books provide hours of entertainment while boosting a child's vocabulary, helping build language skills, and more!\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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