April 2016
Book title: LET’S PLAY!
By Hervé Tullet
Here is another irresistibly playful and interactive book by Hervé Tullet. Follow
the yellow dot and let the adventure begin. Play hide and seek, explore dark and
dangerous tunnels and don’t forget to stop at the traffic lights. Tullet has created
yet another fun, ‘hands on’ children’s book, which uses colour, simple instructional
text and humour in a similar format to his previous books, Press Here and
Mix It Up! - Brilliant stuff!
Key Message for Parents
Children Learn Through Being Engaged And Doing
Play is the most powerful way children learn. It is through play that children learn about the world they live in.
Making time to play with your child is beneficial for their cognitive and emotional development. It is an ideal way
to spend time, connect and learn together!
Play can be both structured and unstructured. Structured play is often adult led and could include board games,
jigsaws, story/craft sessions at the library, or perhaps a dance or swimming lesson.
Examples of unstructured play activities include:
• Imaginative games like role play games (dressing up and pretending)
• Creative play where a child is creating and making at their own pace
• Exploratory play where children are freely directing their own enquiry and inventing their own play space,
which could be the backyard, parks or even a cupboard!
Play is essential for a child’s development and is hugely beneficial for your relationship with them too!
Learning Outcomes
Outcome 3: Children Are Confident and Involved Learners
We can help young children become confident learners by:
• Providing play activities which foster curiosity and engagement
• Allowing time in the day for play, song and stories. Books are an ideal way to develop thinking strategies like
problem solving or prediction
• Sharing ideas, listening and responding appropriately.
Themes of this story include:
•Play
•Imagination
•Interactive
Welcome
Ask carers to write nametags for themselves and their babies.
Welcome everyone, introduce yourself, remind adults to turn their mobile phones off and that there will be time
for adults to chat after the story and songs.
Welcome Song (or your preferred song)
Have the words available as a handout or written on a board or butcher’s paper for the adults to read and join
in. Singing “Hello” to children tells them that they are valued and that you are happy that they are here!
Good Morning
Good morning to you
Good morning to you
Good morning everybody
And welcome to you!
TIP:
• For smaller groups use childrens names
• Say “good morning” or “Hello” in other languages.
Song/Game
Ask your preschoolers to stand in a circle and listen very closely, as they are going to play a game that is fun
but also a little tricky! Today’s song is about listening, doing and having fun!
Simon Says
Put A Dot Over Here
(A Playschool classic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T120o5j5h-w)
Put a dot over here (point with index finger as in “dotting” the air)
And a dot over there (point with index finger)
Put a dot in your ear (point with index finger to ear)
And a dot in your hair (point with index finger to hair)
Put a lot of little dots in the air, everywhere!
It’s a dotty kind of day!
(Next subsequent verses substitute “dot” for stripe, splodge and line)
Before Reading
Who is ready to play? Today’s story is called Let’s Play! By Hervé Tullet. It’s a bit different than most other
picture books - it’s very playful, sneaky and lots of fun! Are you ready to read Let’s Play by Hervé Tullet?
During Reading
Hervé Tullet is able to involve and challenge his readers with simple instructions and lots of humour. It is
designed so that the reader actually participates in the story. Given that you are reading it to a group, you can
model or act out what the reader is supposed to do. Alternatively, you can let your listeners each have a turn
and participate, depending on the size of your group.
After Reading
If you enjoyed “Let’s Play”, you might enjoy Hervé Tullet’s Mix It Up and Press Here.
As well as colour, line plays a big part in this book. Take a ball of wall and unravel it, creating a path, which
winds around the library, playgroup, earlychildhood setting etc. At the end of the woollen line is a YELLOW
DOT! Can the children find it?
Activity Time
Take a Line for a Walk
Artist Paul Klee said that ‘Drawing is taking a line for a walk” Children
will love this simple activity, which uses line as its inspiration
What you will need:
• Thick Black Markers
• Dot Markers or sticky dots
• A3 white paper
Instructions/method:
1. Give the children a dot marker and ask them to stick a dot somewhere on the bottom of their paper. (You
could also use a sticky dot).
2. Next tell them that they are going take this dot for a long slow walk. Let their arm and hand guide the marker
and fill the page with one continuous line. It is important to mention that this is not a ‘scribble’ but a flowing
line. You might like to demonstrate by taking your own “line for a walk” before the children commence their
own.
3. When the page is filled with line like in the photo, show the children that where the line has crossed they
have formed a shape! Get the children to add sticky dots or use dot markers to create dots in the shapes.
They could also colour in the shape or add patterns!
Extension Activites:
• Twister! A classic and colourful floor game. Great for gross motor development, balance and coordination
• Play Follow The Leader around the library!
• Play a musical action game! Cut out large different coloured circles and place on the floor. Play some up
beat dance music and when the music stops, call out a colour and the children have to jump onto that
coloured dot!
Goodbye
Conclude the session with some suggestions of relevant books that parents might want to borrow. The Little
Big Book Club recommends the following books to support learning in this area • Press Here by Hervé Tullet
• Mix It Up by Hervé Tullet
• Dot by Patricia Intriago
Goodbye Song
Depending on the size of your group, you may wish to insert each child’s name in the place of ‘you’ as it
develops a more personal relationship between yourself, the child and the family.
Sung to the tune of (Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush) or your preferred choice.
Goodbye
This is the way we say goodbye (use a waving action)
Say goodbye, say goodbye
This is the way we say goodbye
To all our library friends (or)) (to our friend……)!