Here are a few suggested activities related to our books. If you have other ideas, please let us know!

All Books
•   Learn some braille!   Take turns with a partner, quizzing each other about the braille used in the book (including contractions if you're feeling brave). It's fun and surprisingly easy for sighted people to learn at least the braille alphabet and numbers. It may help to print out an extra copy or two of the book's glossary, available on the Downloads page.

•   Teach sighted children about blindness, braille and disabilities.   Since our books contain both the original print/illustration and the corresponding print characters, they're great for showing sighted children what braille is like and how it works. Use our books in lessons and reading time when discussing disabilities and other ways to communicate. If the kids aren't fascinated, they're from another planet.

•    Practice reading.
     •    Let your child read to you.
     •    Even if your child isn't yet a braille reader, encourage her to place her fingers on the braille as you read the book. This will help develop an understanding that what she's hearing as you read the book aloud consists of words that can be spoken, written in print or written in braille.

The Dot
•   Make art!   Just because your child is blind or visually impaired doesn't mean he might not enjoy making art. Many children with low vision enjoy visual art, and all children may enjoy tactile art. Use crayons, paint, puff paint, glitter glue, pipe cleaners - any number of items that offer a variety of visual and tactile characteristics. Here are a few variations on this theme:
     •    When Vashti makes a dot by not painting a dot (but rather the space around it), demonstrate this concept by turning plates or jar lids upside down, and let your child paint around them.
     •    Placing a screen beneath the sheet of paper makes crayon drawings particularly tactile.
     •    All of Vashti's dots are circles. Find round shapes of various sizes and textures such as buttons, lids, washers - or make round shapes by cutting out fabric, felt, cardboard, sandpaper, etc. Help your child make a collage of dots from items around the house. Discuss concepts of small/large, rough/smooth, soft/hard, etc. You may also introduce the distinctions of rings and balls vs. flat, solid circles.
     •    Hand your child a marker and then, with your hand on his, show him what it means to "jab" the paper.
     •    Frame your child's artwork and show him the frame.

•    Explain.   Explain why "a polar bear in a snow storm" is funny. Talk about colors. Even if your child is blind, he'll need to know what color things are. Explain that bananas are yellow; so are lemons, taxis, the sun, and sunflowers. The sky is blue. Apples, cherries and sports cars are red. (Also explain if the inside of something is a different color: the inside of an apple is white.) Talk about all the colors.

•    Discuss creativity.   Though set in the context of visual art, this book is really about discovering and nurturing one's creativity. Talk about different ways children can be creative: through music, writing, acting, cooking, movement, speech, dress (have they tried tying their shoes with a third loop?)...anything at all can be done creatively! Some silliness may be called for here.

Guess How Much I Love You
•   Teach spatial concepts.   Kids with visual impairments often have difficulty with spatial concepts. When Little Nutbrown Hare tells Big Nutbrown Hare he loves him "This much" and stretches out his arms as wide as they can go, take your child's arms and spread them as wide as they'll go. When Big Nutbrown Hare says "But I love you this much," stretch out your arms and have your child feel from one hand to the other. Repeat with the other actions in the book (but please be careful when tumbling upside down and swinging your child!)

•    Compare.   Use a stuffed bunny to show your child how long a rabbit's ears are. Compare them to your own and your child's. Compare how high you/your child can jump, reach, etc.

•    Practice reading.
     •    Take turns reading to each other. You read the narration and Big Nutbrown Hare's part; let your child read Little Nutbrown Hare's part.