Five wordless picture books to help develop your child’s visual literacy

Encourage your child to gaze and wonder at the illustrations in these books and use their imagination to create their own stories.

Wordless picture books show children you don’t need to be able to read words to enjoy books or be a storyteller. Children can learn to infer meaning from the illustrations, read facial expression and body language and develop their critical thinking and creativity. You can read more about the benefits of wordless picture books on the Edge Early Learning blog. Here are five of our favourite wordless picture books to introduce you to the genre:

Float

This endearing book invites readers to share in the simple joy of floating a paper boat when it rains. The illustrations use muted greys and white to show the rainy-day setting and we can see a boy is clearly the focus of the story in his cheerful yellow raincoat. He heads outside with his freshly-made paper boat and little readers journey with him as the rain pours down and then lightens and he tries to launch his boat from different spots. There are key moments to ask your child what the boy might be feeling and what he might say as his rainy-day adventure unfolds. And, if you share this story on a rainy day, the endpapers provide easy-to-follow instructions to fold your own paper boat. Float is illustrated by Danial Miyares and published by Simon and Schuster.

Window

This book invites little readers to look out a boy’s bedroom window over time, watching the landscape change as he grows from a baby to a young man. The illustrator’s signature collage pictures are a work of art, giving children lots to ponder, as the leafy, green outlook recedes as time passes, neighbours arrive, and then shops, industry and an entire city. Window is created by Jeannie Baker and published by Walker Books.

Footpath Flowers

This lovely story follows a young girl and her dad as they walk home together through the city. The illustrator makes the girl our focus, by introducing her dressed in a bright red coat that contrasts with the black and white illustrations. As the pair walk, the girl picks flowers growing through cracks in the footpath. Then she carefully shares them, leaving a trail of flowers – and kindness – in her wake. There’s plenty of detail in the pictures to talk about; who the girl walks past, who notices her and how her actions may make them feel. Footpath Flowers is created by Jon Arno Lawson and Sydney Smith and published by Walker Books.

Now You See Me, Now You Don’t 

This book is more a game than a story, challenging little readers to test their memory as it cleverly uses colour to hide animals within the pages. It begins by showing a menagerie of boldly coloured animals on a white background. At each turn of the page, the background changes colour, allowing one animal to be camouflaged with just its eyes remaining as a clue. Little readers love to guess who they belong to and, as a final challenge, the last page hides everyone! Now You See Me, Now You Don’t is illustrated by Silvia Borando and published by Walker Books.

The Boy and the Elephant

This whimsical book invites children to embrace their imagination as a young boy discovers the trees on the vacant block next door are to be cut down. He has spent countless hours playing under the trees. But are they just trees? The illustrator has drawn them with animal characteristics and the boy comes up with a clever plan to save them. Ask your child whether it was a good idea and why. Who benefited and how? What would they do? The Boy and the Elephant is created by Freya Blackwood and published by Harper Collins Children’s Books.

Reading at Edge
We’ve got a great selection of books on rotation in our rooms for children to explore at Edge Early Learning. Our educators love sharing stories and reading to the children. Check out our blog for loads more great book recommendations to share with your child.