The calendar says March, but the weather may have a different idea: is it like a lion or a lamb? Here are some children’s books for learning opposites.
There’s a lion in this book and a little lamb reading it. Or could that be a dear?
A favorite book that some parents and caregivers might remember is Opposites by Sandra Boynton. This story has wonderful illustrations of animals that show each pair of words. The funniest two are right and wrong. One pig talks on the phone and another wears it on his head. The text rhymes to add to the fun.
Paul and Henrietta Strickland’s book, Dinosaur Roar is another great choice. The dinosaur pictures are amazing, with vivid colors and details. Wait until you see the size of the dino teeth. The clean/slimy dinosaurs and the spiky/lumpy ones are very unusual choices for opposites. The end of the story uses some opposites describing different ways for dinosaurs to eat. Careful you’re not lunch.
The book You are (Not) Small, written by Anna Kang shows one of the tricky parts about opposites. Things are not just one thing or the other. Opposites exist in relationship. Sometimes things that are big can seem small if something bigger comes along. Small things can be big if there’s something tiny that appears. This is one aspect about opposites that we forget but can be very confusing for kids. In order to understand how items can be both opposites, children will need lots of experiences with opposites.
Have you and your child shared The Very Hungry Caterpillar book? Eric Carle has another book called Opposites. Done in same style of illustrations, this book has an added feature with pages to lift up. Kids can guess what the opposite in a pair might be and lift the page to check. The words in this book are more common pairs.
Besides a book about opposites, you and your child may have an opportunity to explore some others. Are there any opposites that come to play at your house?