By Natalie Lay, M.S., CCC-SLP

The book Swish, Swish, Swish, Little Fish! By Ann Tobias is a great story to help relate print concepts to what your toddler is learning in everyday activities, such as a vacation to the beach or an outing to the pool.

This book for toddlers is a winner because it easily engages kids of different needs. The hardback copy is easy for toddlers to hold and their little hands will be able to turn the thick pages. The plastic fish that are glued to the top of the cover have movable tails that “swish” when you shake the book. Great for keeping the attention of the “active learners!”

There are also many early developing language skills that can be targeted effortlessly when enjoying this book. Parents may find reading the text word for word lets their child enjoy the rhymes. However, simply describing the pictures and asking your child questions about the visuals can allow you to focus on some of the following speech and language skills:

• Size concepts – big and little
• Action words (swimming, painting, reading, exploring, eating, sleeping, etc)
• Colors
• Counting (there are not many fish in this story, allowing a “reachable” number to count along to when seeing how many fish are on each page)
• Environmental noises (the fish sound, shhhhhh for sleeping, a munching or crunching sound, ohhhhhh when the fish find treasure, and ring ring for a bell)