Interactive Books - Fondulac District Library

When you mention “reading to children,” lots of people envision curling up in the rocking chair with little kids sitting quietly and listening to the story from beginning to end. Those day are wonderful and make lots of happy memories! However, there are also the times when kids are flipping the pages, crawling down off the chair, or crying because they have better things to do.

This happens occasionally during story time at the library, too. Kids are just finding their feet and going on adventures as they learn to move around. Children are often very busy! There is so much to explore, who can sit down?

On days when your children don’t want to sit down and listen to a story, interactive books may just be the ticket! Not only do interactive books let the child participate in the reading, there are also developmental benefits.

Touch and feel books offer sensory experiences. Pushing, pulling, turning, and lifting tabs help with the development of fine motor skills, as do touching and tracing the images on the pages. Tracing the words, starting at the top, moving left to right, down to the bottom of the page also gives children a very important beginning skill for learning to read.

Movement books help with the development of gross motor skills. Children learning how to walk, dance, run, jump, and wiggle will have lots of fun acting out the stories in these books. Interactive books make it easy to take a break from reading and ask some questions. Taking time to ask children questions throughout the story can help develop critical thinking skills. A great question is “What do you think will happen next?” This will help children make predictions, a skill that is very important throughout life.

Here are some fun books and activities that you and your child can interact with.