Everyone knows “10 little monkeys jumping on the bed”. This well-known finger play comes to life with popping buttons built into a durable and colorful board book. Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed has reoccurred time and time again in songs, books, finger p
lays and short videos. All versions help to teach children an understanding of numbers counting backward from five or ten, depending on the version. Each version encompasses a different learning style such as: tactile, visual, or auditory.
Poke-A-Dot 10 Little Monkeys embraces three different learning styles all in one book. The popping buttons provide both a tactile and auditory response while the exciting illustrations and bold numerals give children a visual response. As the reader interacts with the individual pages, they will pop each button counting up until all the buttons are popped. Then as they turn each page, there is one less bubble to pop, gradually counting back through the pages from 10 to 1.
This book can strengthen a child’s concept of number as early as age 2. The number concepts that this book focuses on are: counting up from 1 to 10, counting down from 10 to 1, developing counting strategies, retaining the last number counted, identify numerals paired with numbers in sets, and identifying one less.
Many counting books don’t have the tactile component like the buttons in this book, which could make those books useless for a child who already struggles with counting. The buttons in this book not only embrace different learning styles, but they also help children to develop a counting strategy. It is much easier to keep track of the pushed buttons than simply touching an illustrated monkey on the page. Many children struggle with keeping track of objects they have already counted, especially when those objects are immovable.
The monkeys and their buttons are randomly scattered throughout the page creating a crazy jumping on the bed effect. This not only helps to tell the story with just the picture, but also challenges the child to count in a natural form and not in nice little rows. The randomly placed buttons in this book set it apart from any other when helping a child to count.
This book isn’t only about counting; it also encourages early reading with repetition and clear text. After a few times reading the story with your child, he or she will be able to tell the story to you. Then after a few more times with the story, your child will start to follow along with the words. And before you know it, your child will be reading this story and loving it too!
You might also be interested in these other Poke-a-Dot books from Innovative Kids as well as another wonderful counting book by Eileen Christelow that features the same poem.
