You Choose: A new story every time – what will YOU choose? (You Choose, 9)

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Make a book - You Choose begins with 'Imagine you could have anything you wanted!' Collect the children's ideas about what they would choose if they could have anything they wanted and put their ideas in a book with photos and pictures. Have a look at Nikki Dyson's Flip Flap Dogs or Axel Scheffler's Flip Flap Ocean, - both published by Nosy Crow - which allow you to choose and create new and silly combinations of dog or ocean animal. If you're looking for another brilliant vocabulary-building book... Homes - the book has pictures of different kinds of homes - talk with the children about the kind of home they live in. Look at the similarities and differences. Choices - this book is all about choosing between things. Sometimes it can be quite hard to make up your mind. Do some circle times on choosing things. For example, have two toys that the children have to choose between and say why they chose the one they did.

Counting - make sets of things from the book (vehicles/clothes/animals) and play some counting games.

Make some hats - make simple cone shaped hats and let the children decorate them however they like, or give them the choice of transforming it into a clown's hat or a princess's. Blowing bubbles - ask the children to help make big bubble wands out of wire and fill up some washing up bowls with bubble mixture and blow big bubbles outside. You Choose" offers lots of starting points for learning and is the perfect book for following the children's lead in the activities you do. "You Choose" is the sort of book you could focus on for a week or two, followed by another couple of weeks on just one aspect of the book that the children really showed an interest in, like animals or transport. There is something in here for everyone -so go ahead and let them choose! Personal, Social and Emotional Development

You could choose things for each other, or for someone you both know, or for an imaginary character like a pirate or a princess. Have a day when the children choose everything that goes out - or just in one area of the setting. This will require some negotiation and turn taking - all important skills! In most cases, you have the legal right to choose the hospital or service you'd like to go to. This includes private hospitals, as long as they provide NHS services. Emphasise choice in everyday situations - e.g. which colour apron would you like/would you like milk or water to drink/shall we read this book or this one?Disco dancing - in the section on what you would choose to put in your house there is a glitter ball and a lava lamp. Try to get hold of these, put on some music and have a dance! Of course, the pictures provide numerous possibilities for additional things to discuss, too. ‘How would it feel to have a wizard as a relative?’ ‘Would you rather live in a cave or a treehouse?’ ‘If you had a pet dragon, what name would you give it?’ ‘What kind of person would wear pointy shoes like those?’ The classic Would You Rather... by BookTrust Lifetime Achievement Award winner John Burningham presents children (and adults!) with a thought-provoking array of unusual choices in a slightly different way - from 'would you rather eat supper in a castle, breakfast in a balloon, or tea on the river?' to, 'would you rather be made to eat spider stew, taste slug dumplings, chew mashed worms, or drink a snail shake?' If you've been referred to a specialist through the NHS e-Referral Service, booking your appointment online is easy, safe and secure.

Which outfit? - there are lots of games available that involve putting together a head, body and legs in different ways to make up different outfits. In their different ways, all four books enable the reader to learn and spot a variety of types of thing, from daily activities to types of clothes and different kinds of vehicles. For older primary children... KarenFarishsuggested trying The Runaway Dinnerby Allan Ahlberg, while fabulous author Perdita Cargillopted for Sally Gardner's The Fairy Catalogue: 'I think that one was still being secretly enjoyed at the same time as I, Coriander! Great writer to get hooked on.'

Why not try Dorothee de Monfriend's A Day With Dogs, Natasha Durley's Creature Features, Susan Steggall's The Life of a Caror Katie Abey's We Wear Pants? We’ve also heard from quite a few teachers how the book has been utilised to help teach basic maths or linked in with geography (matching the various areas on the ‘Where would you go?’ spread to actual locations), history (finding out when the old-fashioned items on the ‘Shoes and Hats’ spread would have been worn) and art (everyone contributing an image to create a large ‘You Choose’-type wall display, for example). You Choose is great fun to peruse by yourself but it works particularly well as a book to be shared. That’s because it’s impossible to look at the book with another person and not have a conversation about the pictures. Perhaps because we tend to talk more freely when looking at something else rather than each other, we’ve often been told how helpful the book is for speech development, increasing vocabulary, enhancing communication skills and as a bonding tool. Here are some ways it has been enjoyed, as related to us over the years. Lots of these ideas have come directly from children. Dressing Up - have a selection of all sorts of outfits, including hats and shoes, to dress up in. Give the children things to dress up for - a fancy dress party, a ball, going to work etc. You may have more than one hospital or clinic to choose from. But the options will be the same if you book online or over the phone.