Pram Jam with Beth – Look and Find books for babies

How can it be October already? In a minute it will be Christmas, with all the craziness that December brings and we will be rushing about preparing for the fabulous family time that comes along with the holidays… and presents! We will be back hunting for meaningful gifts for our loved ones. For me, I always consider books as gifts for family members. You can’t really go wrong with books 😉  But what about those nieces and nephews that are a bit tricky? Age-wise, reading level-wise, likes and dislikes-wise??? This is where the good ‘ol Look and Find books come in!  Everyone loves them, they’re always useful and engaging, there’s new things to spot each time you pick one up, there is a huge range to choose from and they’re eternally popular – think about how many Where’s Wally dress ups we see every book week!
There are so many look and find type books to choose from at your local Cockburn Library!  Don’t forget to check the non-fiction collection at the J793 area – these ones are great fun!
But these books aren’t just the perfect solution for the tricky extended family cohort – your toddlers and preschools can get great enjoyment and benefit out of them as well!

They are a wonderful literacy tool, and can be very useful to introduce the idea of Visual Literacy which Jessica wrote about a few months ago. Look and find books are great at linking together images and words in toddler’s brains and increasing their vocabulary and item recognition from a very young age.

Cockburn libraries has a million and one ‘look and find’ style books for you to choose from – and they can be a bit hard to search for, so I will add quite a few to my suggestions in this blog.

Beginner ‘Search and Find’ books for toddlers+

Roger Rhino’s search and find! / Richard Scarry.

This new incarnation of the classic Richard Scarry books challenges young readers to find all the things hiding in plain sight in a bedroom, in the snow, on a car trip, and at the barbecue. A simple introduction to the idea of Look and Find books for youngsters.

Cover Image for Roger Rhino's search and find! / Richard Scarry.
Cover Image for Where is the happy cat? : a spot the difference book / Jake McDonald

Where is the happy cat? : a spot the difference book / Jake McDonald

Jake McDonald creates the cutest, engaging board books which have so much more to talk about than what we read on each page. This one is a great lap-sit book, with a whole range of emotions to work through from cover to cover.

Frank finds a tiger : a seek-and-find book/ by Katie Abey 

Frank is on a secret mission! Where could the tiger be hiding? Is it at the Car Park? Is it in the Maze of Tea? Can you help Frank find the missing tiger? And what else will you find on your search? Filled with vibrant, wacky look-and-find illustrations from the amazing mind of Katie Abey, join Frank on his search and be amazed and amused with every page! Be warned, there is only one tiger in this whole book… but there is plenty more ridiculousness to see!

Cover Image for REPLACE WITH TITLE OF ITEM
Cover Image for 1001 animals to spot / Ruth Brocklehurst and Susanna Davidson

1001 animals to spot / Ruth Brocklehurst and Susanna Davidson

Travel the world on an amazing animal spotting expedition, from lions in the African grasslands to seals in the Arctic and armadillos in the rainforest. This picture puzzle book is teeming with animals to find and habitats to explore, with a map of your journey and fantastic animal facts. The Usborne books include a wonderful series of these 1001 titles, it is well worth exploring the different options!

Once your little one gets the hang of the look and find books, you’ll see that they spend more and more time on each page, finding more details to chat about. One of the fantastic benefits of these styles of books is that they help to develop toddler’s memory and recall skills, which – just a warning – makes them very competitive Memory/Match Up competitors! My 4 year old stopped needing extra turns from very early on when we verse each other at Memory, he always ends up with a bigger pile of cards matched up than I do.

Some ‘what do you see?’  song suggestions to share together with your child:

So, if you find a Look and Find style book while browsing the Junior Kindy and Board Book collections with your baby or toddler, don’t overlook it! They make wonderful bedtime books, quiet time books and solo reading books, they contribute perfectly to your baby’s brain development, memory skills and vocabulary building, and all in all, they’re just great fun 🙂 I have chosen this great Bingo song to end with today, as it’s a cute variation and great to show memory building skills for little ones. Happy reading and singing, everyone!