Musical Books

In the teacher portion of our Maggie's Earth Adventures activities we are currently discussing the various genres. Sign up in the box to the right if you would like to receive these FREE materials! But different genre are not for elementary age children alone. Preschoolers benefit from exploring a wide range of books, too.

With this in mind, collect a variety of books. Try to find books spanning the genres:

Traditional Literature – These are folk tales, tall tales, and fables. Books that highlight the cultural tales of various like The Legend of the Lady Slipper by Lise Lunge-Larsen and Margi Preus help children see a world beyond their own.   

Fantasy – Toys, crayons, and other objects might come to life as in the book Corduroy (Don Freeman) or The Little Engine That Could (Watty Piper). 

Realistic Fiction – These are books based on what really could happen like the Henry and Mudge series (Cynthia Rylant).  

Historical Fiction – Even our youngest children may enjoy reading about people from the past. Families with preschoolers have recently told me their young children benefited from the rich ideas in Lillian's Right to Vote by Jonah Winter and Shane W. Evans.  

Poetry – Poetry helps children learn the beauty and playful aspects of words. Any of the Dr. Suess books give children an opportunity to play with language. Anna Dewdney's Llama, Llama books help children learn to rhyme.    

Nonfiction and Informational – Many preschoolers are fascinated with the physical, biological, or social world. They love to look through How Things Work (David Macaulay) or books about animals newly published by ABC Press. 

Biography - Even our youngest book lovers appreciate the stories of someone's life, often this includes the stories of a famous person's childhood. One book we have found fun for this winter weather is Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin.

A Fun Game To Introduce Children to Many Kinds of Books!  
You can give all children a chance to explore various genre by arranging your chairs as if children are going to play Musical Chairs - only there is a chair for everyone and no one has to leave the "game." Put a book on each chair. When the music stops, the children sit in the chairs and look through the book on their chair. Give them a few minutes to turn the pages and interact. Then play the music again. This allows your class to expand their literary horizons! 

Standards Alignment:

NAEYC - 2.E.03 & 2.E.04.

Head Start - VII.A. & VII.D.