You Choose!

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Disco dancing - in the section on what you would choose to put in your house there is a glitter ball and a lava lamp. Try to get hold of these, put on some music and have a dance! Rhyming words and alliteration - have fun thinking of words that rhyme with choose (lose, snooze - include nonsense words). Try and think of words that begin with the same sound as something in the book - e.g. 'bed' - bus, banana, bear, bangle- are any of these things in the pictures in the book? Blowing bubbles - ask the children to help make big bubble wands out of wire and fill up some washing up bowls with bubble mixture and blow big bubbles outside.

You Choose is great fun to peruse by yourself but it works particularly well as a book to be shared. That’s because it’s impossible to look at the book with another person and not have a conversation about the pictures. Perhaps because we tend to talk more freely when looking at something else rather than each other, we’ve often been told how helpful the book is for speech development, increasing vocabulary, enhancing communication skills and as a bonding tool. Here are some ways it has been enjoyed, as related to us over the years. Lots of these ideas have come directly from children. Dressing Up - have a selection of all sorts of outfits, including hats and shoes, to dress up in. Give the children things to dress up for - a fancy dress party, a ball, going to work etc. Sorting - use a doll's house and furniture as an opportunity to talk about sorting into rooms, counting and organising. Follow the children's interests - there may be a part of the book the children show a particular interest in, such as animals or hats. The children could make some animal tails (fluffy bunny/stripy zebra/swishy horse/curly pig etc) for a 'guess whose tail this is?' display. Or they could decorate hats for a hanging display.

There are three other You Choose books now. You Choose in Space follows the original format but places everything in an extra-terrestrial setting. You Choose Your Dreams stimulates imaginations by asking how it would feel to be gigantic or tiny or a wild animal or made of cheese. And the sequential nature of You Choose Fairy Tales increases the storytelling possibilities. Homes - the book has pictures of different kinds of homes - talk with the children about the kind of home they live in. Look at the similarities and differences. Which outfit? - there are lots of games available that involve putting together a head, body and legs in different ways to make up different outfits. Emphasise choice in everyday situations - e.g. which colour apron would you like/would you like milk or water to drink/shall we read this book or this one? Choices - this book is all about choosing between things. Sometimes it can be quite hard to make up your mind. Do some circle times on choosing things. For example, have two toys that the children have to choose between and say why they chose the one they did.

Odd one out - Invite the children to make an interactive 'odd one out' display, using all sorts of groups of animals, with an odd one out. Use hoops, boxes and baskets to display the groups in. The children could have fun mixing up the groups and changing the odd one out.

Books by Pippa Goodhart

You Choose" offers lots of starting points for learning and is the perfect book for following the children's lead in the activities you do. "You Choose" is the sort of book you could focus on for a week or two, followed by another couple of weeks on just one aspect of the book that the children really showed an interest in, like animals or transport. There is something in here for everyone -so go ahead and let them choose! Personal, Social and Emotional Development