In the wordless book Wave by acclaimed artist Suzy Lee, a little girl's day at the beach is depicted in the stunning illustrations that create a vibrant movement of the ocean water crashing into waves on the beach.
Wordless books may seem counterintuitive, but books without text can actually boost literacy skills. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a great picture book is priceless. Wordless picture books help visual thinkers play to their strengths by boosting confidence through taking the pressure off. They incorporate context clues. A lot is left to the child’s imagination, the pictures simply guide their plot to ignite a storyline which is great for comprehension skills as well as story structure/sequencing. They become active participanta in the story telling. Whether you ignite questions or the child does, it creates an open dialogue exploring cause & effect to elaborate. This can also bring about acquisition of new vocabulary.
To integrate this literacy experience into a sensory exploration, take a Ziploc Bag fill the bottom with blue tempera paint, middle with shaving cream, and top with sand.
Next have your child crash the ocean water (blue paint) into a wave (shaving cream).
Sensory bags such as this allow the child to explore, discover, imagine, create, and learn while engaging many of their senses to connect to the literacy experience. They are a great mess free sensory play that parents can appreciate and also in a COVID-19 classroom can be a great individualized activity.
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