Many books describe toddlers’ daily challenges: difficulty sharing, difficulty parting, the challenging transition from daytime to nighttime, and many more. When identifying a challenge with which your toddler is struggling, choosing a book on the subject and reading it together can be a good idea. Books invite us to share our feelings and experiences, and can offer empathy, encouragement and coping ideas. Lea Naor was born in 1935 in Herzliya. She has written books, plays, screenplays and children’s poetry, and has also translated many books into English, such as the Dr. Seuss series. Her books and translations have won her many awards.
You can discuss the things that are shared by all family members as opposed to those that belong to each of you separately. For instance: “We each have our own toothbrush – what does your toothbrush look like?”, “We all share this house together, who lives in our house?”
You can dramatize this book using stuffed animals and have fun together: Swap the toys between you along with the song, and in the refrain az tekhef nihye shutafim bekhol hadvarim hayafim (“so soon we will share all the beautiful things”), you can hold the toy together, and demonstrate sharing.
A cat, a dove, a turtle, a puppy and a young bird – all in one book! You can look at the illustrations, choose an animal together, imitate the sound it makes and act just like it according to the description found in this book. For example, if you choose the turtle “with its entire house on its back” – you can place a cushion on your back and walk on all fours. And how does the puppy with the spot wag its tail?
Who says that stories must be read at bedtime? Maybe you prefer reading them in the afternoon? Or lying together on the rug, or having a stuffed toy join you while reading? Every toddler has his or her own personality and needs, and grownups, of course, have their own preferences too. You can look for the best reading time and method for you and your toddler, and create your own special story hour.
While you read, you can shoo the fly away together with your toddler, just like the child in this story: You can clap, jump with your entire body, or move only your hand, or sneeze ever so loudly, and then look right and left for the fly that flew away.
Would you like to sing with the fly that got lost? Scan the code and listen to the song the “Fly That Got Lost”. You can dance, fly, and make buzzing sounds together.
Your finger can become a fly too: Make buzzing sounds and wiggle your finger in the air as if it were a fly. You can see your toddler following the “flying” finger. You can place your finger on another area of your toddler’s body each time: his or her nose, cheek, arm or ear. You can say: “Buzz on the forehead” out loud, while going over the names of their body parts and laughing together. Once your toddler has become familiar with this game, you could invite him or her to make a finger a fly too.
When reading a songbook, you can focus on one song at a time, read it several times, or sing it, if it has a tune. Try looking at the drawings together, and note where the toddler’s attention is drawn. Every so often, you can add another song from the book and see what reactions it evokes, and whether it’s fun and intriguing.
You will encounter various animals in the book. The toddlers will know some of them. Others will be new and exhilarating. Whenever you encounter animals nearby, you can draw the toddler’s attention to what’s special about the animal – “the bird has a beak”, “the ants march in a line”, or “the snail carries its house on its back”.
You can use gestures as you sing. For example, when you sing “Come, Little Butterfly”, you can invite the butterfly with a beckoning gesture, flap your hands, and tap on the toddler’s hand. Which gesture would you use for a monkey cracking up? Or a bear climbing a ladder?
A shirt? A swimsuit? Perhaps a dress? How about taking a look inside your closet, finding clothes you like, and saying when you usually wear them: Winter clothes, summer clothes, fancy clothes for special occasions, and all-time favorite clothes.
The verses of Why is the Zebra Wearing Pajamas? have been set to music and turned into a beloved children’s song. You may enjoy scanning the QR code, and proceed to sing and dance together.
The zebra’s friends feature in the book’s illustrations: You could leaf through them together, find the various friends, name the animals together, and introduce them. Next, you could say the name of an animal you know, and then look for it in among the illustrations contained in this book.
Books of poetry tell small stories from a children’s world of imagination, emotion and experience. You can choose in which order to read the poems or not even read all of them. You can choose to read a poem because of an intriguing illustration, an interesting title, or because it suited your mood. You can decide to read just one poem at a time, or skip ahead. You may enjoy discussing the poem: Did you like it and why?
He painted Israel in bright colors and told children’s stories in words and illustrations. If you scan the QR code, you will be able to discover Nahum Gutman’s books and paintings, and take a virtual tour of the Nahum Gutman Museum in Tel Aviv.
Take turns with your family selecting a poem and acting it out without speaking. The other players will try to guess which poem it is. You can also choose one that you all like, and act it out together, or read it out loud while adding matching dance moves.
There are blank pages at the end of the book which you can use to make your own illustrations and then write stories just like artist Nahum Gutman and authoress Mira Meir did. Perhaps you and your family would enjoy writing a whole series!
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.
Look together and let the toddler find: Where is the bird? Is it on additional pages? Who accompanies the child to kindergarten? How do we get to kindergarten – by bicycle, walking or some other way? Who wears a hat and where is the dog?
Look at the last page and ask: “What are the children in kindergarten doing? What do you like to do at the nursery?”
Ask: Where to, where to? And each time choose a different place: To… The bath, the balcony, or to… The playground? Go together to the place you’ve chosen, hug each other and then say aloud: Where to, where to? To… the next place!
The Sixteenth Sheep is an anthology of songs and stories that one can read one after the other, or select one at a time, according to the season, particular experience, or one’s mood. Could you write a song or story together about an everyday experience of yours? How about adding another verse to one of the songs found in the book?
While reading, you may want to discuss and examine the thoughts and feelings that emerge within both younger and older readers following the song. Does it remind you of experiences you have had? Parents, you may enjoy sharing your feelings and experiences nowadays and as children with your child.
Many of the poems in the book have become songs, and this may be a wonderful opportunity to listen to them, sing them together, and enjoy the tunes composed by Yoni Rechter and other musicians. You could record yourselves singing together, play along as you sing, or add a dance routine to your favorite songs.
Inspired by your favorite songs, you could be artistic in many ways: you could paint the green man using several shades of green, draw yourselves from the back, take a photo of a kindergarten when it is closed, or create the sixteenth sheep using cotton wool. When you have finished, you can show your work and ask: which song or story has inspired me to do this?
Inspired by your favorite songs, you could be artistic in many ways: you could paint the green man using several shades of green, draw yourselves from the back, take a photo of a kindergarten when it is closed, or create the sixteenth sheep using cotton wool. When you have finished, you can show your work and ask: which song or story has inspired me to do this?
What can you see out of your window? What can you only see in your home? Can you see it through the window? What else makes you special as a family? Do you have a favorite song, or an activity you like to do together? Is there a fixed ritual on special occasions in your family, or something that will always make you all laugh? Perhaps there is a phrase or word that you have invented, or a word with a special meaning, that only your own family members understand? What is missing from your family that you wish to add? Something that would be seen through your window – a character, object, or animal? Perhaps something on which you could play a song?
Who is this child? And who is this adult? – You may want to play a family game for boys, girls, adults, and children:
In each game round, a member of your family will think of one of the participants, and describe them indirectly. For instance: “The child I have in mind likes to play ball”, or: “The person I have in mind likes to drink coffee in the afternoon”. After the participant is described, everyone has to guess who the child or adult the player is thinking of is. You could also add friends and relatives with which all participants are familiar that are not physically present.
Israeli children’s poet and author, Anda Amir, was born in Poland, and immigrated to Israel in 1920. She wrote many children’s poems that accompany Israeli children to this day, among them The Hedgehog Wanted to Dance, The Sparrow, and Golden Ship. For her numerous stories and translations Amir was awarded the Bialik Award in 1936, and the Israel Prize in 1978.
Reading a poetry book and a storybook is not the same. The poems included in this collection are short and catchy, and you may enjoy reading them over and over again. You could invite your child to leaf through the book, and select a different poem each time. In a little while, your child will know the words, and be able to recite them on their own.
The animals in the book are humanlike: the teddy-bear takes care of the doll; the moon loses its hair; and the bunny goes shopping. You may want to suggest that your child use some toys and stuffed animals to act out their favorite poems.
Do you remember poems you used to recite as a child? After reading this book, you may want to try and remember poems you once knew off by heart, and introduce them to your child.
Some of the poems included in this collection have been put to music. If you do not know the tune, you could look it up online, listen to it, and sing together. You may also enjoy accompanying your singing with simple musical instruments: a tambourine, bell, harmonica, or pair of wooden spoons.
Partners 
The Fly That Got Lost 
All Kinds of Animals and Me 
Why is the Zebra Wearing Pajamas? 
I Love Drawing 
Why Do They Always Remind Me? 
The Sixteenth Sheep 
It’s Me 
Uncle Moon in the Sky – Collected Poems 
קְרִיאָה
שִׂיחָה
מִשְׂחָק
כְּלָלִי
הַשְׁרָאָה
קְרִיאָה
מִשְׂחָק
סִרְטוֹנִים
מִשְׂחָק
קְרִיאָה
שִׂיחָה
סִרְטוֹנִים
מִשְׂחָק
חֵקֶר
שִׂיחָה
קְרִיאָה
הַשְׁרָאָה
קְרִיאָה
הַעֲשָׁרָה
מִשְׂחָק
יְצִירָה
הַעֲשָׁרָה
שִׂיחָה
שִׂיחָה
שִׂיחָה
הַמְחָשָׁה
הַשְׁרָאָה
קְרִיאָה
הַמְחָשָׁה
יְצִירָה
מִשְׂחָק
הַשְׁרָאָה
שִׂיחָה
שִׂיחָה
שֵׁמַע
בִּשּׁוּל
יְצִירָה
הַשְׁרָאָה
שִׂיחָה
שִׁלּוּב הַסֵּפֶר
סִרְטוֹנִים
הַעֲשָׁרָה
כְּלָלִי
הַמְחָשָׁה
הַשְׁרָאָה
שֵׁמַע
