בעקבות יונתן, תוכלו לשוחח ולשתף: מה יכולה להיות משמעות הביטוי “לפתוח את הלב”? האם יש תמונה או חפץ שמזכירים לכם אנשים אהובים וגורמים לכם להרגיש שהלב נפתח והרגשות עולים?
בזכות צרור המפתחות האבוד, יונתן זוכה בהצצה לשגרת יומו של אביו. ומה אתם עשיתם היום? תוכלו להציג זה בפני זה בפנטומימה מקום בו ביקרתם או פעולה שעשיתם: בכל פעם אחד המשתתפים מציג ושאר בני המשפחה מנחשים איפה היה או מה עשה.
האיורים של יוסי אבולעפיה מרובים בפרטים. כדאי לעצור ולהביט: אילו בעלי חיים אתם מוצאים באיורים? האם הם מופיעים יותר מפעם אחת? מה עושים האנשים ברחוב? ועכשיו הביטו שוב באיורים, גיליתם דברים שלא ראיתם בפעם הראשונה?
Reading books is a wonderful way by which to get to know a child’s world. While reading, you may want to pause every once in a while, and allow your child to respond to the events depicted in the book: How do the characters feel? How do we, as readers, feel? Has something similar ever happened to you?
Have you ever helped to make a salad? Have you ever fallen and hurt yourself? You may enjoy recollecting together, parents and children, moments when you felt big, and managed to do something all on your own, and other incidents when all you wanted was to be hugged and comforted. This may be a good opportunity to get to know your child’s experiences, while sharing special moments with them from your own childhoods.
Pick up two objects and compare them – which of them is small and which is big? Now, replace one of the objects with another, and check again: Is the teaspoon big or small when compared to a bottle cap? And what happens when it is next to a broom? You can use yourselves as one of the objects and check whether you are big or small. And what happens when you stand next to other family members?
While reading, you may enjoy looking at the illustrations and searching for interesting details: What is Matan doing? How many animals can you spot? Who is large and who is small? Where can you see a cat? And which of the illustrations is your personal favorite?
Let’s play hide and seek! We can hide our fingers in the palm of our hands, cover our nose and reveal it, hole up under a blanket, conceal ourselves behind the couch, or hide a toy behind our backs.
Reading from an early age plays a key role in toddler development; however, like anything new, the question is – how do we find the way? We suggest getting acquainted slowly and gradually; let the toddler connect to the book in their own way: Touching, opening and closing, and even “tasting” it with their mouths. Afterwards, you can read: A little each day, patiently and with pleasure. At first you could even read a single page, introducing it and getting accustomed to it, and hey presto – you have turned a book into a friend!
Hide & Seek
שְׁמִירָה
Sifriyat Pijama an opportunity to read together, at any age
You can also build a house out of a box. All you need is a large cardboard box, some free time, and a good mood. Now you can invite friends over to spend time with you in the house you have built. If you can only find a small box, don’t worry, you can turn it into a dollhouse.
Where is the best place to hide? Just like Mom and Yasmin, you too can play hide and seek, with toddlers hiding and parents looking for them. Were you able to find them? Then how about starting another round and inviting the rest of your family to join you?
We recommend reading the book alone first, before reading it as a family. Prior familiarity with the book helps to read it seamlessly later, at a pace suitable for toddlers. Enjoy reading this book!
We can all help others, even toddlers. You may want to ask your toddlers how they can help others, or tell them that they are helping when it happens: “Remember when you helped me set the table?” “Look at you helping me put away the toys!”
Would you like to listen to the book Noni and his Mom Walk Homefrom Kindergarten? Please scan the QR code to find a recording of this book. You could listen to it while traveling, playing, or sitting together while turning the pages of the book.
The illustrations are part of the story, and using them, toddlers identify and recognize the plot and some of its details. You may enjoy looking at the illustrations together, and searching for the items that Nomi gives his mother: ‘Where do you see an illustration of a bag?’ and ‘Where can you find an illustration of a coat?’
Inspired by the items piling on top of mom in this book, you may want to take turns building a tower out of various items: Very carefully, one on top of the other, you can place building blocks, toys, hats, bags, and anything else you might want to add.
The poems in this book present small moments in life. Every time you read together, we recommend selecting one poem, and reading it together. Does the poem remind you of something that once happened? This may be a good opportunity for you, parents, to share a childhood experience with your child, creating closeness and intimacy with them.
When did Hagit Benziman start writing? What does she write about, and why? You may want to scan this QR code to find out more about this author and her work.
You may enjoy looking at parents’ family photo albums together, searching for special childhood moments. You could also look at early childhood photographs of the children, and share information about the moments captured. Which memories do they evoke in you?
Do you have a favorite poem among those included in this book? If so, how about acting it out together, with the grownups playing the parts of the children, and vice versa.
Having read this book, you may enjoy a discussion about why, you think, Uncle Simha (Hebrew for joy) is named so. What about the things he does or says that make you smile?
Would you like to hear a story? Go ahead and scan the QR code to listen to the book My Uncle Simha. You may enjoy listening to it together while turning the pages whenever you like.
Which songs make you happy? Perhaps you could make a playlist of all the songs that make your family happy, and sing along together. You could even sing in funny voices – a high-pitched voice, the deepest of basses, or a whisper – adding some dance moves for greater delight.
Take turns asking a question while the other players try to come up with a “confused” response. For example: What’s your favorite drink? Tea with a touch of mustard! What do you do when it rains? Wear sunscreen! What sound do birds make? Where should we go on our next trip?
Following this book, you may want to embark on searches together with your parents, grandparents, or other relatives: What have you found? Were you surprised? Do you enjoy searching and finding?
A game for both seekers and finders. Scan the QR code Print out, cut out and fold according to the instructions. Have you searched? Have you found? Would you like to play again?
This book contains both colorful and black and white illustrations. Can you figure out when the illustrations are in black and white, and when they are multicolored?
A game of “what’s missing?” Place several items in a row and look closely. Take turns hiding one of the items while the rest of your family members have their eyes closed. Once it has been removed and hidden, the other players can open their eyes and start searching – Which item is now missing? Where was it hidden?
I’m similar to a frog but smaller. I can be found in Israel, mostly on trees, eating insects and laying eggs in the water. I’m a protected species and therefore cannot be kept in a jar, only in nature.
It is worth sharing the reading of the story with the toddlers: Where is the key? What do you do with the string, and what are the crumbs for? What surprise is hiding in the small pocket?
Hide an object in a garment pocket and let the toddler guess what you hid with the sense of touch. You can provide clues, reveal a fraction of the object, and eventually disclose the item and demonstrate what it is used for.
Grandfather and the child are talking, sowing seeds, and feeding the rabbit. What do toddlers love to do with adults in the family? With grandparents and other family members?
“A key in order to open”; “A ticket to ride the train”; and what is a basket for? Or a spoon? You can walk around the house and choose items, then talk and check together what they are called and what they are used for. Matching Game –What Belongs to What – is waiting for you when you scan the code:
What can toddlers do at home? Many things! They can put glasses on the dining table, sweep with a small broom, feed the pets, and… offer cookies. It is worthwhile to talk and show what the toddler is helping with at home, and what else they want and can participate in.
The child in the story hands out cookies to other family members: grandmother, uncle, sister, cousin. Who are your family members? You can talk about family members, say their names and thier roles, such as: “Grandma Braha,” “Uncle Baruch,” use family photo, and use family photos.
You too can prepare refreshments together, such as chocolate balls, a plate of fruit, or a sliced cucumber. You can prepare “pretend” refreshments using play dough and offer to the dolls at home.
Do you know the game “Grandma made porridge”? “The child had cookies” can be played in a similar way, in which the toddler opens her, or his hand, and the parent begins to count: “The little boy/girl had cookies and gave one to Grandma (holding the thumb), and one to Uncle (holding the forefinger) etc. And so you count the fingers by allocating a family member to each one. Who will you give the last cookie to?
You may want to look at the illustrations together, and compare Gal’s home and kindergarten to the area in which Grandpa Raphael lived so many years ago. Together you may enjoy imagining what your life would have been like had you lived in another place, at another time. If you happen to have old pictures documenting the roots of your own family, you could show them to your child, and try to identify your family members together, as well as the places in which they lived back then, and now.
Does your child know why they were so named? Having read this book together, you may want to share the meaning of their name with them, and the story leading up to choosing it for them. You could also tell them what made your parents so name you.
Do you know the tune to the song Our Village Todgha by Yehoshua Sobol performed by music group Habreira Hativ’it (The Natural Selection)? Perhaps you would like to sing it together with your child
Just like Gal, many children enjoy listening to stories about the past. Do you remember any festive occasion from your days in kindergarten and school? Perhaps you could share your learning-related childhood memories and family traditions with your child.
Young children learn from enjoyable activities, such as licking honey-dripping letters. There are many ways of teaching the alphabet: you could put names and words together from various materials, cut out letters from newspapers, identify familiar letters that appear on signs and packages, play word games, and so on. The most important thing is to have fun while you learn!
Sweet Aleph-Bet is the last book on the PJ Library books list for this year. We hope you have enjoyed the books, and wish you an enjoyable summer, and a smooth beginning in your new kindergarten or school!
Where’s the Afikomen? 
Berale Berale What’s in the Basket? 
The Hill Tickle Tickle 
The Key to My Heart 
Sometimes Big, Sometimes Small 
Why Do They Always Remind Me? 
My Uncle Simha 
I Like to Look For… 
Sweet Aleph-Bet 
שִׂיחָה
שֵׁמַע
מִשְׂחָק
חֵקֶר
הַשְׁרָאָה
קְרִיאָה
שִׂיחָה
סִרְטוֹנִים
מִשְׂחָק
קְרִיאָה
הַשְׁרָאָה
מִשְׂחָק
מִשְׂחָק
קְרִיאָה
סִרְטוֹנִים
קְרִיאָה
שִׂיחָה
מִשְׂחָק
סִרְטוֹנִים
הַשְׁרָאָה
קְרִיאָה
שִׂיחָה
שֵׁמַע
קְרִיאָה
מִשְׂחָק
הַשְׁרָאָה
שִׂיחָה
שִׂיחָה
שִׂיחָה
הַמְחָשָׁה
הַשְׁרָאָה
שִׂיחָה
כְּלָלִי
לָצֵאת הַחוּצָה
מִשְׂחָק
הַעֲשָׁרָה
שִׂיחָה
מִשְׂחָק
יְצִירָה
מִשְׂחָק
שִׂיחָה
קִשּׁוּר
הַעֲשָׁרָה
שִׂיחָה
מִשְׂחָק
שִׂיחָה
מִשְׂחָק
סִרְטוֹנִים
שִׂיחָה
שִׂיחָה
בִּשּׁוּל
מִשְׂחָק
סִרְטוֹנִים
שִׂיחָה
שִׂיחָה
כְּלָלִי
שִׂיחָה
מִשְׂחָק
כְּלָלִי
בִּשּׁוּל
