I am always on high alert for fun, interactive children's books that have so many different language opportunities embedded within the text. I'm a Hungry Dinosaur is one of those books. It's about a cute, little dinosaur that loves cake (making, baking and eating it!). I love the simple creativity of the scenes. The artist used real frosting and sprinkles on the cake, and cocoa powder smears to create darling little pictures.
When I am looking for a book I can use in therapy (or to be well loved by my own children) I always ask myself, will I enjoy reading it? I get gobs of books from the library but if I'm actually going to spend my money on a book that I want to see in my house for the rest of time, I want to make sure I like it! I don't want to be stuck reading some book thousands of times (yes, you read that right) that I don't even like. We have owned this one for over two years, and I still like reading it.
So, how can you work on strengthening your child's language skills with this book?
Here are Five Ways you can target language and literacy skills while reading I'm a Hungry Dinosaur.
Verbs! This book is full of cooking verbs. Verbs matter because in order for a child to speak in sentences, those sentences must contain a verb. It won't be a sentence without a verb. For young children not speaking in sentences yet, you are building a foundation for them! For example, "I truck" (not a sentence). "Drive truck" (sentence! with Drive being the verb).
Chanting: No I'm not talking about some weird cult chant. But, this book reads in a very chant-like (and fun!) way. Kids get really into repeating portions of the book while it's being read to them. Believe it or not, but saying things in unison is a helpful way to give kids confidence with their speaking. More confidence means more practice talking which means more skills built over time.
Gestures: I love to encourage kids to act out the verbs on each page while we are reading the story, ("Tip, tip, pat, pat and smooth it best I can."). Using gestures has been linked to building comprehension skills. When kids are hearing the word (pat, pat) and doing the action, it creates a stronger connection in their brain to that word. For my toddler, she prefers sitting in my lap and having me move her hands to do the gestures (e.g. similar to how I read the story on the IG Reel).
Sequencing: This is recognizing what comes first, next, last. After reading this story, talking about the steps the dinosaur took to make the cake reinforces that for some things order really does matter. E.g. first he pours in the ingredients and mixes them together BEFORE pouring them into a pan and THEN baking the batter in the oven. Sequencing is a foundational literacy skill.
Bake a Cake! After reading this story, put all that new knowledge into action and bake a cake with your child! Talk about all the steps (a box mix is a great place to start if you haven't baked with your child before.) and highlight the different verbs you just read about. "Hey that little dino was mixing and now we are mixing our ingredients together!" Pour the batter into the pan!" If that seems too ambitious you could consider setting up a pretend play area for them to bake their own cake. Pull out a few bowls, spoons, measuring cups and a pan and watch the magic happen! What verbs do you notice them using? Are they imitating the hand movements?
Have you read I'm a Hungry Dinosaur before? What other cooking themed books are favorites in your home?
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