Best-Ever Books for Basic Concepts: UP! TALL! and HIGH!

I am always on the lookout for new books for my preschoolers that address basic concepts. This colorful book with the wacky birds caught my eye as I perused the library shelves because of the title… Up! Tall! and High! With a name like that, it sounded really promising and it didn’t disappoint!

The whimsical little birds are the stars of each story and the illustrations are bright and appealing. The text is simple and repetitive, just what I look for in books for teaching early language skills.

His friend claims “I am tall!” Then a very small bird tries to one-up his buddies by standing on stilts! The book features large flaps that open to make the birds tall, very high, up and then down, adding to the fun.

The second story is titled “I Can Go High.”

The birds are at it again, trying to outdo each other, except for the penguin who can’t go high because he doesn’t… fly. The birds brainstorm a solution: helium balloons and up, up, up he goes, very high!

The third story is all about “Up” and a bit of “Down” too.

The small bird is up in her nest, but her friend wants to be “up” too. Unfortunately, the second bird is too heavy, and you guessed it…they both come crashing down!

Here are the basic concepts and a few tips for using this sweet book in speech therapy.

Talk about each page and the illustrations as you explore this book with your children. No need to rush through… enjoy each page together. Talk about:

Size concepts: tall and short
Ask the children if they are tall. Who is the tallest in their family? The shortest? How about the tallest and shortest in the therapy room? Line up and see who it is. Are there stuffed animals in the room? Which ones are the tallest? Shortest? Get out a ruler or a yardstick and see.

Size concepts: small, medium, large
The birds are different sizes. Point out who is large, medium and small. Grab some play dough and make some nests, small medium and large. Add some eggs and sort them by size. Are large birds always tall? Could they just be wide?

Position concepts: High and Low, Up and Down
Check out your bookshelf if you have one in the room. Find the high shelf, and then the low one. put small toys on the shelves. Are they high or low? Put some up high on a door sill or filing cabinet, and others down low. Let the children be the teacher and tell you which ones are high and which are low.

Grab some chairs. stand on them or sit cross-legged in them. Are you up? Now sit on the floor. Where are you? Down.

Wh questions
How did the small bird make himself tall?
Can you think of some tall animals?
Why couldn’t the penguin go high?
How did he finally go high?
What else goes high?
Where did the birds sit when they were up?
Why did the nest crash down?

After reading the book, with a little imagination, you can definitely fill your session with extra hands-on practice.

Draw tall and short people. Cut out tall and short legs for a simple creature from construction paper. Use play dough and toys. Grab some blocks and build towers that are tall and short. Take a high and low or up and down walk… and find things in those places. Blow up a balloon and hit it up high. Who was highest? Blow some bubbles. Pop a high one, then a low one. Were they small, medium or large?

I would love to hear your ideas if you try this book.

Now I want to check out another book by Ethan Long: In, Over and On the Farm! Have fun reading, and be sure to leave a comment if you know of other terrific books for basic concepts.

If you are looking for sound-loaded storybooks for speech therapy, I have you covered! Read this post: Sound-Loaded Storybooks for Articulation- Find ’em Here by Phoneme.

Until next time my friends,