Tactile Books videos

Watch Amelia enjoy the sounds and textures of Off to the Beach, a tactile book available to children and families with additional support needs.

Amelia is quite busy playing on her rocking horse – but that doesn’t mean she isn’t engaged with the story. She joins in with words – repeating and chatting through different pages – while playing at the same time. Amelia may not explore all of the textures in the book, but instead responds to the way Corinna reads the story, especially the sound effects. These sound effects, whether from the way the book is read aloud, or created with props, really bring the book to life. After the story, Amelia is very engaged with the rain stick and creating the effect of water. It’s a great way to keep the story going. Even without the book, they can carry on discussing the beach, and working that theme into play.

There are some lovely moments of interaction in this video. Liam’s mum invites him to come and share a book, and he dips in and out of the activity. He starts the book, but immediately wants to turn the pages. His mum is so responsive and follows his interest. They have lots of great interaction and play when they find the page with the ball – a page that is clearly of interest to Liam. Mum uses lots of rich vocabulary and they spend lots of time playing and exploring together.

This is a great video to show that sharing a book doesn’t always mean you have to read from cover to cover. Even when he wanders away, Mum does a great job of drawing his attention back and trying to engage and interest him. Mum adds in lots of extra gestures like blowing for the wind, and walking fingers up and down the slide. All these things are great for helping language development, understanding of the story and also engaging Liam. This is a lovely, relaxed interaction and it’s clear that both mum and Liam have a lovely time playing with different pages and chatting about the book.

Lachlan is excited to join in with this book. Jill and Lachlan share the story at a lovely pace and really make sure he has time to enjoy each page and explore the different textures. She also links the clothes in the books to what Lachlan is wearing which is a great way of bringing the book to life and helping children make connections. Jill uses lots of clear, simple language to share this story. This lovely book is a great way to explore simple routines with children.