Press Here.

Does deceptively simple and utterly delightful sound like your kind of picture book?  I dare you to pick up Herve Tullet's Press Here and not smile to yourself as you turn each page.  Each spread shows colorful dots and instructions for what to do with them.  Pressing, shaking, and rubbing make the dots change color and rearrange themselves on the page.  The premise is perfect for getting children involved in the reading process.  The "instructions" are funny and conversational.  After one page asks the reader to shake the book, the following page shows most of the dots have "fallen off."  The text reads "Oooops.  That might have been a little bit too hard.  Stand the book up straight to make those dots drop down again." 

If you can't get enough of these shape and color concepts, you'll love Lots of Dots and Dog's Colorful Day

There Are Dots Everywhere!

Some dots are big,
and some dots are small.
Some dots float,
and some dots fall.

Lots of Dots is a colorful new picture book by Craig Frazier that uses the simplicity of graphic dots to portray a variety of circular or spherical objects in a child's world.  It is perfect for beginning a discussion with your toddler about shapes. 

Being able to identify shapes is an important skill needed for recognizing individual letters.  For example, to us, the letters "b," "d," "p," and "q" are easily distinguishable, but for children they all look like a circle on a stick.  Try finding the "dots" in your house, and move on to pointing out the other shapes you see in the world around you.