This children’s picture book is a delightful tale aimed at 3-5 year olds but I found that all 3 of my children; aged 8, 5 and 3 could gain something from it.
It’s a story of a dad who has 10 children. It’s a very modern story as he’s a single father living with his 10 children. There is no mention of mum and as a separated parent myself, my children can relate to doing the daily activities like having breakfast with dad. They also know about heading off on adventures with just their daddy.
And that’s what that this dad does. He gets them up, he gives them breakfast, he gets them dressed and then he goes on his adventure with them.
Throughout the story Mollie, my 3 year old, insisted on counting the children on each page, all brilliantly illustrated in bright colours and each one with his or her own personality showing in the pictures. Then there are shoes and socks to count meaning she could go past 10 and onto the higher numbers, the ones where 3 year olds, cutely, tend to start getting mixed up. This offered Mollie and me the perfect chance to practice our counting. At one point in the story the family visit a museum and at this point the dad has a doze and the children disappear.
More counting practice for Mollie, but also a bit of taking away for Alf, who is 5. As he finds the children, Alf would work out how many were still to find, number bonds are something they learn at school and this was a cunning way to get him doing numeracy whilst still enjoying a nice, entertaining story.
The final child takes an age to be found, finally he’s discovered (SPOILER ALERT…) having a “wee-wee all by himself like a big boy.” At this point all 10 children decide to use the bathroom and our house was reduced to hysterics as the children did farts and splashes and plip plops and other such toilet sounds. Who doesn’t find a toilet sound funny? Certainly at 3, 5 and 8 they are hilarious. So there’s a happy and funny end to a delightful tale.
My daughter insisted on it read to her every night for 2 weeks straight; a sure sign she enjoyed it. And every night ended with her nearly weeing herself laughing – another sure sign of an entertaining tale. Some nights Finlay, who is 8 and an avid and accomplished reader, would read the story to us all. Great practice for him and speaking and reading out loud and also at identifying and following punctuation marks.
In summary, The Dad with 10 children; A day at the museum, is a delightful and entertaining tale. It offers an array of opportunities for discussion with children as well as chances to work on literacy and numeracy in an entertaining manner.
In the McArdle household we will be looking out for more delightful tales as written by Benedicte Guettier.
But wait…
…that’s not it… You have the chance of winning your very own copy courtesy of the publishers, Salariya. Simply fill out the form below to enter for free!
