Where is Baby’s Belly Button? is one of my favorite books for young children! If you have a 0-4 year old and have not heard of Karen Katz books, you need to check them out! These Lift-the-flap books are great for young children, kids that are more significantly impacted by a disability, and kids who use augmentative communication. You can also watch it being read by an adorable sounding kid on Youtube here.
Here are some tips for skills to work on while reading this book at home!
Language Skills:
Learn body parts! Name body parts in the book, on dolls, on yourself, and on your child. You can give directions "touch your nose!" or give lead in phrases, "here's my ------ EYE!" and see if your child will fill in the blank. If you feel body parts are a strength for your child, ask them about their wrist, heel, finger, thumb, forehead, cheeks, chin, and calf.
Practice pronouns by asking questions like “Where are MY eyes? Touch YOUR tongue.”
Does your child have difficulty telling you if they are hurt? Put an ice pack (and/or heat pad) on their body parts and have them practice saying, signing, or using pictures to say “cold head” or “hot knee” so they become familiar with sensation in these areas and more understanding when you help them say “hurt head”- as we cannot control the (hopefully few!) times they get hurt.
Practice prepositions: hide your child’s eyes under their hat, behind their cup, and all of the places in the book- and use words to describe what you are doing- “OHHH your eyes are UNDER your hat”. Emphasize those prepositions! Ask “Where are your eyes?” and see if your child can answer using words like under and behind.
You can also practice prepositions with a beloved toy and a box (or tupperware!). Teach prepositions by showing your child. For example, if you wanted to teach the concept of “under”- you can put their toy under the box. Then put it over the box, and on top of the box. Use words to describe what you are doing. I like to teach with opposites- over/under and behind/in front would be great to talk about with this book. You can teach them the first day, then have them follow directions the next: “Put the bear behind the box”, and if they are able to communicate, ask “where is the bear?”
Talk about body parts on teddy bears, or pets, learn about parts of animals like tails, horns.
Talk about senses too! (You see with your eyes, and touch with your hands). Find things around your house and talk about what senses you use to explore them (for food- you can touch, taste and smell).
Check out Toes, Ears, and Nose by Karen Katz if your child enjoys this book and could use more practice with body parts and prepositions.
Play:
Play Simon Says: Use body parts “Simon says touch your eyes”, and try two step directions in one step is easy for your child- “Touch your eyes then touch your toes”. For more advanced kids, use more difficult wording “Before you touch your head, touch your nose”, or “Don’t touch your wrist until I sit down.”
Get out bandaids and put them on owies (draw them on toy animals or dolls with dry erase markers!) and talk about body parts. Kids also love putting bandaids on themselves and their parents!
If your child is interested, you can even pretend to go to the doctor with your hurt dolls or animals. The parent can be the doctor and child can be the patient. Ask questions like a doctor would, “What seems to be the problem today?” and switch roles. This would also be great to use dolls/action figures as doctors and patients too.
Bath time or water table play is great! You can practice learning toy vocabulary, add bubbles for “pop! Oh no! oops!”, you can practice “my turn” and “your turn”, answering where questions, practice “over/under”, “wet/dry”, “in/out”, and if you have bubbles, you can feel the items under the bubbles, describe them and guess what they are. Kids love this and won’t even know you are teaching them because they will be having too much fun!
Learn through media:
Learn about body parts from songs on YouTube- do actions with your child- you can help them do the motions if they need it! One Little Finger, Head Shoulders, The Body Parts, The Hokey Pokey Shake, and My Teddy Bear are all great songs. Also sing these songs without the video!
Listen to songs: Brush your teeth, Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Hokey Pokey, If You’re Happy and You Know It, One Finger One Thumb, The Goldfish (LOVE this one!), On Her Head, and Ten Little Fingers are all fun.
If this is your first time visiting Mrs Speechie P, I give tips to work on speech and language regularly on my Facebook and Instagram pages, so be sure to follow me on social media! And last, if you have any comments or questions, let me know! I’d love to hear from you!
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