A Teaching Tool in an Adorable Picture Book for Toddlers Who Put Everything in Their Mouth Essay

Parents with babies and toddlers know that everything is a possible object for exploring and tasting for young children. Babies and toddlers put almost anything in their mouth as they explore their world. Picture books are a great tool for teaching concepts and this adorable picture book in board book form is the perfect tool to begin teaching babies and toddlers about appropriate things that should be tasted and things that are not appropriate for tasting. Cree Lane and Amanda Jane Jones created Yum Yummy Yuck for teaching about things that belong in the mouth and things that do not belong in the mouth. This sturdy little board book can also survive a toddler’s experiment to find out if the book tastes good.

Yum Yummy Yuck features pictures of healthy food items that go in our mouth and familiar objects that do not belong in our mouth. Simple and colorful pictures of familiar food items are featured on each page. Familar items such as crayons and a bucket of sand are items that do not taste good at all. Toddlers will easily recognize these items and learn to use the word “yuck” in the simple text for these items. How about yummy fruit and milk instead of crayons, sand, and soap for tasting? A bit of humor is part of Yum Yummy Yuck when a picture of broccoli is part of the Yummy category. Toddlers may be confused by the picture of the toothpaste and toothbrush that are featured as “yuck”. The page next to these items explains that one should not swallow the toothpaste.

Each item is illustrated with pastel colors and the one-word text for “yummy” and “yuck” are easily understood. Toddlers will soon learn to repeat these language-friendly words when they see these items in real life scenarios.

Yum Yummy Yuck was published by Prestel Publishing and is recommended for babies and toddlers. It has an ISBN of 978-3-7913-7405-5.

Teachers and caregivers who teach a toddler class will find this adorable board book to be a fun tool for teaching the concept of things that we eat and things that do not belong in our mouth. It is always a challenge for early childhood teachers to monitor what their toddlers are putting in their mouths every day. The easily recognizable illustrated items that belong in our mouth and things that do not belong in our mouth along with the simple words “yummy” and “yuck” are easy for toddlers to begin to use. Teachers will also enjoy using this picture book to teach about healthy foods in a separate learning experience.

*Read Yum Yummy Yuck in your story times session or sit with individual babies and toddlers and read the book together.

*Take the opportunity for vocabulary development and name each item on the pages. Toddlers will soon begin to name the items. Point to the words “yummy” and “yuck” on each page after naming the object. Language development in toddlers is a part of the reading experience alng with the concept of printed text associated with the illustration.

*Have an assortment of real items that are featured in the book for toddlers to explore. Demonstrate tasting the yummy things by using the word “yummy” and say no to the items with the word “yuck” as you shake your head to the yucky items.

*Take the opportunity after reading on another day to teach about food items that are healthy and that taste good. Set out a variety of real foods such as vegetables and fruits that are healthy and are “yummy”. You might even like to include broccoli florets with dipping sauce to encourage your toddlers to taste broccoli and learn the word “yummy”. Tasting parties are always a fun activity in a toddler classroom.