Blog post submitted by Kayla Davitt, MT-BC

When someone asks you about your favorite Christmas or holiday song, what is the first song that comes to mind? “Silent Night?” “O Little Town of Bethlehem?” “Winter Wonderland?” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?” If you were to ask me to pick my favorite Christmas song, I would not have said “12 Days of Christmas.” But that was until I picked up this beautiful storybook illustrated by Laurel Long.

“The Twelve Days of Christmas” is an iconic and classic Christmas song that most everyone who celebrates Christmas knows word-for-word. When you sing the song paired with this beautifully illustrated storybook, your child will be enticed from the start! While experiencing this storybook with your younger child, you can work on a multitude of skills including: sequencing, number and animal identification, and vocabulary building. If you have an older child, feel free to work on more complex skills such as addition, comprehension, and abstract thinking. Here are some thoughts to keep in mind:

Sequencing & number identification

This is a perfect storybook to work on your child’s ability to sequence items in a story. Printed pictures from the internet of each of the different items in the song can be used to work with your child on sequencing. Have them identify the picture that goes with each part of the song. You can also encourage your child to count the items in a picture and identify the corresponding number by pointing or writing the number on an index card or piece of paper.

Vocabulary building & animal identification

There are a lot of different animals included in this classic song. If there is an animal that your child does not recognize or can not identify, make that a learning opportunity! Look up pictures of the animal on the internet, look up the word in a dictionary, discuss how it is similar and different from other animals in the story. While identifying these animals, your child will also be building their vocabulary.

Addition

If your child is an older child, you can encourage them to add up the items on each page. Each line of the song involves a different number, so cumulative addition as the story progresses is a great way to practice their math skills!

Comprehension and abstract thought

An older child can also be encouraged to answer a variety of questions during the story: Why are there only 5 golden rings? How do the 8 maids milk the cows? What kind of music do the 9 ladies dance to? These questions can not be answered by the song in the story, so it will require your child to “think outside of the box.”

If you are more comfortable using a recording while experiencing this book with a child, here is a favorite rendition of mine performed by the famous Bing Crosby:

We hope you enjoy using this storybook in your child’s schooling adventures, whether they be attending in-person, remotely, or both! 

If you wish to purchase this book on Amazon, click here. 

Happy reading!