As Drake gets older, I like to encourage more imaginative play with him.  He is at the perfect age where he enjoys talking and sharing his thoughts, and often will make up silly songs and riddles on his own. I really like hearing what he thinks and I’ve discovered that wordless books are a nice way of expanding on both his imagination and his vocabulary.

It started when I noticed that he enjoyed Good Night Gorilla, which has very few words in the story.  I would ask him questions about the story, and he would answer and ask questions of his own as well.  He also noticed the expressions and emotions of the characters and would ask whether they were happy or sad.  I decided to see if I could find a few more wordless books to add to our library and enhance this story telling experience for us both.

ADVERTISEMENT
Tell Me a Story Cards– Drake got a pack of these for his birthday which I mentioned in my Three Year Old Gift Guide post.  While not a book these cards also help expand storytelling as not only do they not have words but you can also pick and choose and arrange them in any order you choose.  Sometimes I pick the order and tell Drake a story and sometimes Drake will pick them at random and either tell me a story or ask me to create one from his picks.  Either way the choices are endless and the stories ever flowing.  Its a nice activity to do when holding Juliet too as I can ask Drake to show her the cards and make up a story for her which he likes doing.

Wave – Drake loves stories and pictures that do with the ocean, which I always found amusing as he is actually terrified of the actual ocean.  I knew a story that had beautiful pictures of the ocean would immediately capture his attention.  I ask him to tell me what the little girl is doing in the photos and what he would like to do when we go see the ocean.

Journey – This book makes me think of a more elaborate and fanciful version of Harold and the Purple Crayon.  A little girl and her red crayon draw a door into a new world filled of magic, intrigue, and danger.  For some reason when I see the pictures I am reminded of a comic series calledAmulet that my artist friend gave Drake when he was born.  Drake is too young for the Amulet series, but perhaps this book with its similar style might help pave the way for him to grow into the Amulet series when he is older.

Little Star – This book doesn’t seem to be readily available anymore, but I found it on Amazon when I was looking for other wordless books.  I am hoping to find it as this is another ocean story I think Drake would like.  It’s about a little starfish and its adventures from sea to land to sky back to the sea.  I can see Drake enjoying this one a lot and wanting to give the starfish emotions and feelings as it goes on its travels.

Shadow– This is the same author that created Wave.  I love her illustrating style and was so happy to see she made another book after Wave.  I like the way she creatively draws so that the images are a reflection with one side showing the real objects and the other the shadows.  When I hold the book in my lap and Drake stands on the other, he sees another view than if he sits in my lap and he often will walk around the book taking it in from different angles  This leads to lots of questions and expands on the story experience.

Flora and the Flamingo – I just ordered this one recently as Drake has become obsessed with flamingos as of late (I have no idea why); he loves standing on one foot and saying he is a flamingo.  When I saw this book I knew he would love it.  A quick glance inside shows beautiful illustrations and I read in reviews that children like to imitate the flamingo’s stances and I know that will be right up Drake’s alley.  I’m very excited for this one to come and see what stories and flamingo imitations will come from this book!

Do you have any wordless books in your LO’s library?