Book Club: Goodnight Moon

Welcome to our toddler book club!

Each session brings a favorite story to life through interactive reading, playful activities, and opportunities to connect with other families. Along the way, we’ll highlight key vocabulary from each book and share a Storytime Strategy with simple, practical ways to support your child’s communication and language development during shared book reading.

To see these strategies in action and discover more ways to support your child’s language development, consider booking a session with us at Hart Therapy Services!

This Week’s Book: Goodnight Moon

Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown is a gentle bedtime story that follows a little bunny saying goodnight to familiar objects throughout the room. With simple, repetitive language and colorful illustrations, the story offers opportunities for toddlers to build vocabulary, practice identifying familiar objects, and enjoy shared reading with caregivers.

This Book’s Storytime Strategy: Follow Your Child’s Lead!

This book is filled with colorful illustrations and familiar objects, making it a great opportunity to follow your child's lead during shared book reading. Let your child’s interests guide the interaction by talking about the pictures they notice, labeling objects, and building on what catches their attention. You don't have to read every page or follow the story in order. The goal is to make reading fun, engaging, and interactive!

• Talking about what catches your child’s attention can create more opportunities for learning and conversation.

• It’s okay to pause, skip around, or spend extra time on a favorite page. Following your child’s interests helps keep reading fun and engaging.

• Books are tools for interaction and learning, not just stories to finish.

Vocabulary: Click the button below to access a free vocabulary sheet featuring key words from this book! Some ideas for vocabulary building include…

• Print, cut out, and add Velcro to the vocabulary pictures and corresponding book pages. Encourage your toddler to match each picture to the page as you read.

• Model each word as you read, giving your child opportunities to imitate, point, or label. Repeat words naturally without requiring your toddler to imitate.

• Pause on familiar pages and see if your child can identify the objects by saying, pointing, or holding up the matching vocabulary picture.

• Repeat key words throughout the day and connect them to objects in your child's everyday environment.

Tips During Reading:

• Talking About the Pictures

  • Point to familiar objects and name them (e.g., "Look! A moon!").

  • Use simple phrases to describe what you see (e.g., "Big red balloon!").

  • Make fun sounds or use playful voices to keep your child engaged.

• Give Your Child a Chance to Respond

  • Pause after modeling a word or phrase to give your child time to respond.

  • Responses can include pointing, looking, gestures, sounds, signs, AAC, or words.

  • Avoid making your child feel like they're being quizzed.

• Expand on What Your Child Says

  • If your child says "moon," you can respond, "Yes! Big moon!"

  • If they point to the cow, you can say, "You found the cow! The cow says moo!"

• Connect the Vocabulary/Story to Everyday Life

  • Talk about things your toddler recognizes from home.

  • For example: "We have a bed, too!" or "Do you see the moon outside?"

  • Connect bedtime routines in the story to your own bedtime routine.

• Make Reading Interactive

  • Use your vocabulary picture sheet to find and match pictures in the book.

  • Let your child point to, touch, or hand you the matching picture.

  • Take turns finding familiar objects on each page.

Check out our growing list of book club books for free materials, reading strategies, and fun activities to support meaningful, interactive storytime!