Reading, with a twist!

Materials: 

• Book series by Kane Miller available for purchase through Usborne Books & More

Skills: 

• Observation
• Reading for information
• Prediction
• Fine-motor skills 

Age: 4-8

How can you not like this? It is a book that is made to be PLAYED WITH. Seriously, I think it is ingenious. Kids have a book full of tons of information about something they are already most likely excited to learn about, and then on each page they can use a flashlight to reveal a hidden image. So cool!

So, how does it work? 

Open up the book and inside you find nicely illustrated pages with interesting information about the topic, in this case “trains.” You can just read the book and it is interesting enough, but each right-hand page has a hidden picture that can be revealed by shining a flashlight behind it.

The page looks like this without light…

…and this with light.










I like to hold the light back away from the page so I can see the whole hidden picture at the same time, but my 4-yr-old likes to hold the flashlight up close and reveal just a small piece at a time. Both ways work great!



Reading is such an important part of early childhood. Kids gain so many skills from looking at books, listening to read-alouds, and interacting with books. Giving children a chance to physically interact with their stories not only builds interest, but it helps them absorb more of what they are reading about. It triggers them to use more areas of their brains, and therefore improves and deepens the learning experience. And through it all the kids think they are playing! Shhh… don’t tell them they are actually learning!

[Disclaimer: I am an independent consultant for Usborne Books & More, however, they do not employ me to review their books or compensate me in any way for my reviews. These are my personal thoughts and do not reflect the views of the company.]