Looking for a way to change up reading time with your child? Many kids enjoy exploring seek and find books like Where’s Waldo and I Spy because they like the challenge of finding specific objects in a picture scene. Here are some fun ways to use these books as tools for building language skills with your child.

• Practice WH questions: Use the picture scenes as a vehicle to ask your child questions like “What is the astronaut doing?” to work on basic subject + verb combinations, or address prepositions with questions like “Where is the yellow cat?” to prompt them to explain where an item or character is. With the illustrations, you can point to the answers together while you provide verbal labels, or encourage your child to use words to tell you what they see.

• Make connections to real-life: A great skill for young readers to develop is the ability to relate content in books to their own lives. Talk about how what is happening reflects events or places the child has experienced. For example– “What a cool playground! Didn’t we have fun at the playground with grandma last week?” You can also compare and contrast illustrations to real life–for instance, “This playground has a swing set and a sandbox, and our playground has a jungle gym and a slide.”

• Play I Spy: Practice describing an item in a scene using its characteristics to see if your child can find it. Then switch roles and let your child provide clues! As a variation, try looking for members of a particular category, such as vehicles or animals. You may discover new vocabulary words and ways of describing familiar items.

• Use their favorites: Many popular kids’ characters can be found in these types of books, such as Avengers, Paw Patrol, and Disney. Classic book characters like Curious George and Busy Town (Richard Scarry) are also on the scene. If you have a less-than-motivated reader, these familiar faces can help engage them in the book.

Try out some of these tips the next time you open up a seek and find book with your child. Make sure to check out our other blogs for more tips!

Written by Mary Stanton, M.S., CCC-SLP