At night-times we like stories. We like calm, gentle tales to lull us in to a sleepy state.
In the daytime we like ferocious, carnivorous adventures of predators and prehistoric beasts. From killing claws to tyrant lizards, the roarier and gruesomer the better!
So imagine our joy when Little Tiger sent us a copy of ‘Age of Dinosaurs’: a pop-up, non-fiction gem of a book by Christiane Engel.
Non-fiction books are a wonderful way to pique interest, raise questions and stimulate play. This was no exception.
Little man loves to unleash a roar and looking through the book it was clearly the T-Rex that shook the very foundations of the house.
With non-fiction I don’t always opt for cover to cover. We often dip in and out. Today I decided I would use the amazing pop-ups to help me instigate some writing practise.
Harry has not shown an iota of interest when it comes to letter formation but with the help of ‘Age of Dinosaurs’ and a bargain ‘trace and erase’ book from the Oxfam charity shop, he got stuck in!
I set the table with some of my resin letters, a smattering of dinosaurs, some Dino stickers and foam shapes and of course our two books.
He loved matching the beasts in front of him to the powerful pop-ups. We tried to form the letters of the initial sounds with varying degrees of success.
By far his favourite was the Triceratops. I’ve never seen him so controlled as he traced the outline of the three horns, over-looked by his pop-up pal!
That was just one day… how will we use the facts tomorrow? How will we explore the beautifully laid out information? Sorting his models by their description? Reenacting some of their behaviour in our sand tray?
Or just reading, enjoying the wonderful illustrations and roaring really loudly?
The Unyoung Mum 