There are some books our little ones will want us to read over and over, and for my twin toddler girls, Red is Best by Kathy Stinson is one of them. 

In the book, Red is Best, Kelly’s mom ‘does not understand about red.’ The brown mitts are warmer, but the red mitts make better snowballs. Red boots are not just for rain; they take bigger steps. A red cup does make a difference; juice does not taste as good in a green cup. In Kelly’s mind, there is no second-guessing “Red is best.”

I fell in love with this little book years ago while working with preschoolers because there are a few skills covered throughout, that lend themselves to the reviewing of skills or the introduction of new concepts for our little ones.  

Some areas covered in the Book Red is Best are:

Repetition that lends itself to language development and the mastery of skills being practised. 

Repetition forms the basis for learning, skill development, and accomplishment. Repetition is considered as any interaction that provides children with opportunities to practice a skill or knowledge area. In the Story Red is Best, Kelly is getting dressed, and she is choosing all things red while she compares them to things of other colours.

Expression:

In the story, Red is Best, Kelly is continually sharing her preference for the colour red. She shares her mother’s opinions and then shares why she is wearing her red clothing because they are best. 

It is important for our little ones to learn how to express themselves because expression helps children to:

• Communicate when they need help.
• Express their wants and needs.
• Express their opinions
• Explain their emotions
• Share when they are uncomfortable in a situation.

Winter vocabulary words:

When children learn new words, they can make sense of the world around them. When a child is continuously learning and adding new words to their vocabulary, they are able to put their emotions into words, socialize with people and therefore learn how to communicate more effectively. In the story, Kelly is getting dressed in her stockings, jacket, boots, mittens and pyjamas.

Colour words:

Learning colours and colour-words help our little ones to make sense of their environment which leads to them being better able to express themselves. Knowing colours also help our little ones to sort and classify objects based on their attributes.

Sight Words: For older children, the book can be used for sight word practice when they are learning to read. In the story kelly is constantly reusing the words my, that, I, like, is, the, your and you. 

This week we are reading Red is Best. Below are pictures of one of our activities.

The girls already know their colours, so we read the story because it lends itself to our theme for the week, Winter. 

When we played, the girls were able to:

1. Identify the numbers we are working with on the blocks.
2. Work on their one-to-one correspondence as they counted the bugs.

1. Work on developing their social skills as they shared the contents of the bins.
2. Work on developing their vocabulary and oral language skills as they identified the items in the bins and worked at their pronunciation of words.
3. They were able to identify items that are edible and items that are not.
4. They worked on their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination as they scooped and poured the sensory base.
5. Most importantly, they had a whole lot of fun exploring!