- Tips and expert advice
Ideas for bookish play with Usborne THAT'S NOT MY® series books
Sometimes your little one may be a little too lively to read a book with you. But don’t worry – there’s lots of other ways you can bring books into your baby’s day and help them learn to love and talk about books.
Usborne THAT'S NOT MY® series books are perfect for bookish play. Here’s some games and ideas from our readers that provide lots of opportunities for your toddler to talk about and describe things, and learn about colours and sorting. For lots more ideas, follow #ThatsNotMyBookishPlay on Instagram. And let us know your ideas too!
Colour games
Let your child choose a book, then together, find toys of the same colour and collect them in a box or basket.
For another colour game, ask your little one what his or her favourite colour is, then find books of that colour.
Make a rainbow
Find books of different colours and stand them together, with the spines outwards, to make a rainbow. For a proper rainbow, you’ll need purple, indigo (or dark bluey-purple), blue, green, yellow, orange and red books. That's not my... books make lovely rainbows!
Animal snap
Lay out several That’s not my... books (or other books featuring animals) and ask your child to find animal toys to match the books. You might end this game by reading the story to the animal friend!
For another version of this game, put some toy animals on the table and ask your child to find or point to a book to match each animal.
Where do I live?
Find some animal toys, or books featuring animals, and ask your child to sort them into groups, for example, farm animals, pets and wild animals. You could then talk about where the different groups live – and find books about each of them.
Touchy-feely games
For some sensory play, find your favourite That’s not my... book and talk about the textures, for example furry, rough, shiny or silky. Then help your child find similar textures at home.
Animal noises
Choose several books featurng animals and ask your child to make a noise like each animal. What noise does a unicorn make!?
Colouring
Print out and colour in the activity sheets on the THAT'S NOT MY® series page at Usborne.com (Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the activity sheets.) Then find a book to match each animal. Younger children can just scribble - but encourage them to choose a colour that matches the animal.
About the Author
Lisa Watts worked as an editor at Usborne in the 1970s and '80s. She wrote and edited many of the Usborne Computer Books, which were the very first full-colour books about computers, coding and computer games for children. After moving to live in the Middle East and the USA with her young family, she continued to work for Usborne, researching and writing the first Usborne science and nature encyclopedias. In the 1990s, Lisa worked on Usborne CD-ROMs - cutting-edge technology at the time - and, with the advent of the internet, set up the very first Usborne website in 1999. Shortly afterwards, in 2001, she was instrumental in launching Usborne Quicklinks, a huge library of links to kid-centric websites, carefully curated to support and enhance Usborne books. As Director of Digital Development, Lisa continues to keep Usborne ahead of exciting digital opportunities.
