Find It and Point

from 22 months · 10-15 min · Quiet & calm

What you need

Open a busy page in a book they already know well.
Say: 'find the dog and point to it'.
Wait while they look. This can take a while on a busy page.
When they find it, say what it's doing, then ask for something else on the page.

A picture book is a quiet, still place to practise listening to two parts at once, with nothing moving and nobody hurrying.

Holding two things in mind: Find it, then show it: two steps, and the looking takes real concentration.
Listening for the word: Finding the one you named on a busy page means they heard exactly what you said.
Loving books: Hunting for things on a page is one of the ways a book becomes a favourite.

Watch for them scanning the page rather than pointing at the first thing they see.

Mix these in with just reading the story. A book that's all instructions stops being a book.

Easier: use a page with only two or three pictures on it

Harder: ask for something small and hard to spot