Books That Inspire Play

One of my favorite toys growing up was a reversible doll. On one side was Little Red Riding Hood in a cape, holding her basket of treats for her granny. When you flipped her over, suddenly you would get the wolf dressed in Granny’s nightgown and cap!

What a surprise! What fun! What endless hours of flipping, flipping, flipping and re-playing the classic fairy tale, with invented dialogue and new wacky scenarios. (Could Little Red and Wolf go on a boat trip to Capri? Play together on the same soccer team and win the championship? Why not?)

Not every play scenario needs to have a narrative or book as inspiration, but this bit of childhood memory does point to the importance of play itself in developing young minds. In fact, education researchers have identified play as particularly effective in creating cognitive pathways to support learning to read.

It’s one of the reasons the Tulsa City-County Library emphasizes play in our Build A Reader storytimes, offering “Stay and Play” times (usually scheduled right after storytimes) for children to play with developmentally appropriate toys.

(Check the library’s event guide for exact dates and times.)

Here are just a few (very funny) books that can be easily used to inspire your child’s play:

“Oh, Are You Awake?” written by Bob Shea and illustrated by Jarvis

Bob Shea is one of the most playful authors and illustrators working in children’s books today. In this one, a sleepy penguin is friends with a not-so-sleepy lion, and their back and forth is great fun to imitate with your child in play.

“The Wrong Book,” written by Drew Daywalt and illustrated by Alex Willmore

Warning: This may start a long-running contest in your household to come up with the funniest WRONG statement, as the narrator identifies firefighters that shout “Ding Dong!” before putting out a fire, or a bicycle that loves toast. Playing with language can be super fun, but so can picking up a shoe and asking if it wants to go out for a nice lunch.

“Don’t Think of Tigers,” by Alex Latimer

When you say, “Don’t think of tigers,” guess what you’re going to think about? There are many opportunities to play the unmentionable tiger as well as other animals in this fun and funny book!

“Don’t Eat Bees: Life Lessons from Chip the Dog,” by Dev Petty

Chip the Dog wants to give you lessons on how to live your best doggy life! This is an especially good book to use as a model in playing eating dinner or at a pretend tea party. Should you eat these important papers, Grandpa’s teeth, Mom’s shoes? Chip the Dog says: yum yum, yes!

Toys at the Library

Did you know you can find toys at the library? Every Tulsa City-County Library location has toys available for children to play with in the library! From puppets to train sets, baby dolls to blocks, these toys are hard to resist because of their fun potential!