Well, that sure is one bossy monster! And who does he think he is telling you not to press that button? You’ll do as you please, thank you very much! Welcome to the world of interactive books for toddlers featuring Don’t Push the Button by Bill Cotter. This fabulously silly and engaging story will have your toddler in a fit of giggles from the very first page.
Larry the monster invites you, the reader, into the story with him. He’ll tell you not to touch the big red button that is just oh, so tempting to push. As he gives into the temptation with you, you’ll be sent on a wacky adventure of pushing, tapping, shaking, and scratching the button. Interactive books for toddlers are a parent’s dream if you are looking to connect with your child. Your child will be begging to read “Larry” again and again. At My Book Bud, we love when books draw you in, make you laugh, and help you connect and learn!
In this post, you’ll find four creative activities related to one of the stand-out interactive books for toddlers,Don’t Push the Button by Bill Cotter. These child-led activities will have you inferring, sequencing, self-regulating, and changing your own language to be more toddler friendly. You won’t believe all the fun you’ll be having as Larry the monster takes you on a wild ride. Strap in, it’s about to get silly!
Table of Contents
Don’t Push the Button
Author and Illustrator: Bill Cotter
Published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2013
Summary: Whatever you do, don’t push that button! Well, maybe just one little push? Uh-oh! Chaos quickly ensues with each press, but it’s up to you to get things back in order. Now, leave that button alone…but can you resist? Oh, go on, keep on pushing!
Skills to Tackle with Interactive Books for Toddlers (Don’t Push the Button):
Inference: Best for ages 3-6
An inference is an educated guess the reader makes about something that is not directly stated in the text. Readers use their background knowledge and the text evidence in front of them to “fill in the blanks.” We do this all the time in our lives, so it is an especially important skill for young kids to learn.
For Example:
You can infer that your friend got sunburnt because their face is beat red and they had just mentioned being at the beach. They didn’t have to come out and explicitly say the words, “I got sunburnt,” you were able to make an inference based on the evidence of the red face and your prior knowledge of beaches being hot and sunny.
Interactive books for toddlers are a wonderful way to practice inference because they are silly and make tough topics like inference manageable for hyper little minds.
In Don’t Push the Button, the reader is introduced to Larry the monster. Larry is standing next to a big red button, but warns the reader that there is only one rule: DON’T push the button. After taking a better look at it, he reconsiders and convinces the reader to push the button after all and things quickly get out of control. Larry starts to change color and multiply with each push! Larry is finally able to get back to himself after some serious help from the reader.
Larry was serious about not pushing the button in the beginning. He doesn’t give us a reason why, but it could be because he was worried about what might happen if it got pushed. It seemed like he ended up actually enjoying himself despite all the craziness since he tells the reader to keep on pushing at the end of the story!
You and your child can make inferences about how Larry’s feeling throughout the book.
Example Conversation:
- Parent: In the beginning of the story, Larry tells us not to touch the button no matter what! Why do you think that is?
- Child: Maybe he was worried he would get in trouble if he pushed it.
- Your child might need help getting to this conclusion, so be sure to pitch in if they struggle to come up with an answer.
- Parent: Oh, maybe! What makes you think that?
- Be sure to ask this question as this is where the inference will take place.
- Child: Maybe his mommy or daddy told him not to push it because he said, “Don’t even think about it!” You’ve said that to me when you don’t want me to do something! So maybe he was worried that if she pushed it, he would get in trouble with his mommy or daddy.
- Parent: Ha! Yes, I do say that sometimes. When I say that I am usually trying to keep you safe from doing something that might be harmful. Do you think Larry was just trying to keep you safe?
- Child: Yeah!
- Parent: Do you think Larry knew what was going to happen?
- Child: Hmm, I don’t think so.
- Parent: I don’t think he did either. Sometimes when we don’t know what will happen when we do something it can make things a bit scary, don’t you think?
- Child: Yeah, like the first time I went down a water slide. I didn’t know how much fun I was going to have until I did it!
- Your child might not have an example on hand, so try to come up with an example together.
- Parent: That’s exactly what happens to Larry! He realizes the button actually looks kind of fun to press. By the end of the story, he wants you to keep on pressing!
This activity can be a great conversation starter on being apprehensive about unknown things. Connect to different times when your child was scared or worried leading up to something they’ve never done before but ended up having a blast once they took the leap.
Using interactive books for toddlers like Don’t Push the Button can spark great and simple conversations like these. Without even realizing it, you and your child have just practiced something incredibly complex!
Sequence: Best for ages 2.5-5
Sequencing is the ability to recall and arrange the order of events from the story. It can be considered the precursor to creating a summary as you will need to think about the most important events and put them in the correct order.
Because this story is so short and has an interactive component, it helps keep young readers engaged which will lead to greater retention of the main events of the story. Use this to drive a conversation about sequencing.
Using short and sweet interactive books for toddlers is a great start when it comes to sequencing.
If your child is younger, you may need to read the story multiple times before doing this, and lead them with a prompt to jog their memory.
Example Conversation:
- Parent: Wow! Larry really didn’t want anyone to touch the button at first, but he quickly changes his mind when he thinks it looks kind of fun! What happens after Larry tells you to push the button at first?
- Child: Larry turns yellow!
- Parent: Yeah! What happens when he tells you to push it again??
- Child: He gets purple polka dots!
- Parent: Oh, boy. Larry starts to get really worried and upset, so he tells you to try pushing the button two times. What happens when you do that?
- Child: Another Larry appears!
- Parent: That certainly didn’t help him get back to normal. So he tells you to try pushing it a bunch of times. What happens?
- Child: A bunch of monsters show up!
- Parent: Larry is really in a pickle now! He tells you to try shaking the book to get rid of the other monsters. Does that work?
- Child: Yeah, but he is still yellow with polka dots!
- Parent: Larry tries one more thing. He tells you to scratch his belly to finally get him back to normal. Does that work?
- Child: Larry finally gets back to his purple self, but he had so much fun that he tells me to keep on pushing the button!
These leading questions will help your child think about the effect their actions had on the story and the order they happened in. If your child is a bit older, you can try asking them broader questions like what happened first, next, then, and last. This forces your child to think a little more deeply as you will not be giving them as much context to go off of.
Allow your child to use the book while doing this activity. This is not a memory quiz. You are just asking them to order the events of the story. A fundamental and critical skill to learn is to look back at the book and search for text evidence to support an answer, so please, let them look!
Free Printable!
Use this free printable to practice sequencing by cutting out the steps for brushing your teeth, washing your hands, and making cereal. Mix them up, then put each activity’s steps back in the correct order, from the first step at the top to the last step at the bottom.
Extend the Activity:
Extend the activity by having your child think about something they do in their everyday lives and the sequence or steps they need to follow to execute that task.
Example Conversation:
- Parent: You did a great job putting the story in the correct order! Let’s think about something we do all of the time and how important it is to do it in the correct order. Tell me the steps it takes to brush your teeth.
- Child:
- First, I take out my toothbrush and toothpaste.
- Then, I wet my toothbrush and put the toothpaste on it.
- Next, I brush my teeth all over.
- Then, I spit my toothpaste into the sink and rinse out my mouth with water.
- Last, I spit anything else still in my mouth into the sink and wipe my mouth off!
- Parent: Great job remembering! How silly would it be if you tried to spit before you even put the toothbrush in your mouth. Would that make any sense?
- Child: No, of course not! You have to brush your teeth first before you get to the spitting!
It is important to ask the last question as it directly relates to sequencing. If you try to recall the events out of order, your sequence will not make sense. You need to recall the events in the order that they happened because they build on one another to lead to the story’s climax and resolution.
Self-Control: Best for ages 2-5
Self-control is something that needs to be learned over time. It is not something that we are innately born with. When kids are little everything is about “me.” Kids want immediate gratification and don’t understand that just a little bit of willpower and impulse control can help keep them safe, healthy, and regulated.
When someone tells you not to do something, it becomes extra enticing. All you can think about is doing whatever it is they said NOT to do. This is certainly the case with Don’t Push the Button. When Larry the monster tells the reader to not push the big, round, red button, the temptation to push it goes through the roof. Even Larry quickly realizes just how tempting it is and after careful consideration tells the reader to push it. Larry realized nothing truly bad was going to happen and told the reader to keep pushing!
Using interactive books for toddlers like this one is a great way to practice a skill that’s particularly hard for toddlers.
You and your child can discuss different scenarios about restrictions and self-control to determine which just need a little bit of time and evaluation and which need to be taken seriously.
Example Conversation:
- Parent: Larry told us not to push the button at first. After he thinks about it and realizes nothing bad is going to happen, he tells us to keep pushing! Sometimes when someone tells us not to do something, they just need us to wait a little bit before doing it, but other times it’s to keep us safe, healthy, and in check.
- Parent: Let’s think of a time when we couldn’t do something, but it was just because we had to wait a bit before doing it!
- Your child may need help with coming up with a scenario on their own. You may want to have an example about them and yourself ready to share.
- Child: Yeah! Last week when we were at the playground. You told me not to go down the slide. I was mad at first, but then I realized it was because there was somebody else on it. I just needed to wait until the other kid went and then I got to take my turn.
- Parent: Yes! How is that different from when I told you NOT to run in the parking lot?
- Child: I could get hurt if I run in the parking lot.
- Parent: Right! I want to keep you safe when I say that. How about when I tell you NOT to put toys at the library in your mouth?
- Child: Gross! I could get sick if I do that!
- Parent: Yupp! I want to help keep your body healthy. How about when I tell you NOT to hit when you’re upset.
- Child: I could hurt myself or someone else if I do that.
- Parent: That’s right, it’s ok to be upset, but it is never ok to hurt.
These scenarios will teach your child a valuable lesson. Sometimes being told “no” and “don’t do that” just requires a little patience, but other times it means business and needs to be taken very seriously. The more you and your child talk through scenarios like this, the better they will understand the difference in their everyday lives.
Something I say to my kids often is, “What is mommy’s job?” They know to respond with, “To keep me safe.” I then follow up with, “Sometimes mommy has to say no, even if that means you get upset so I can keep you safe.” These conversations are so important to have and talking about them in a more relaxed moment instead of in the moment is always helpful.
Interactive books for toddlers may seem basic, but there are so many wonderful skills and conversations to be had using one.
Expansion Activity: Best for ages 3-6
Don’t put that in your mouth! Don’t hit your baby brother! No throwing toys! No more candy! Stop running! Stop standing on the chair! Do these resonate with anyone else?? Some days I feel like all I do is police my kids from sunrise to sunset. On those days, the number of times I say, “don’t, no, and stop” is infinite.
Much like in Don’t Push the Button, the more I tell my kids “don’t, no, or stop,” the more tempting it is for them to keep doing the undesired action. It’s as if their brains are hardwired to ignore the word “stop,” and to let the intrusive thought win because it is oh, so tempting.
For Example:
- Don’t put that in your mouth!
- No throwing toys!
- Stop standing on the chair!
I have found that when I use positive language and focus on things they can do over things they can’t or shouldn’t do, the better they listen.
For Example:
- Avoid: Don’t put that in your mouth!
- Try: Markers are for paper and drawing. *Sigh, a common one in my house.
- Avoid: No throwing toys!
- Try: Toys are for playing with. *Depending on the toy, you can show them how it is expected to be used.
- Avoid: Stop standing on the chair!
- Try: We sit on our tushies when we eat dinner at the table.
Young kids will be more tempted to do something when you say don’t do “that.” Their brains don’t have the capacity to listen to you and also determine what it is they can do instead. Giving them clear directions on what they can do makes a huge difference because you’ve already explicitly told them what the expectation is.
Many times when we are using words like “don’t, no, and stop,” we are trying to keep our kids safe from doing something harmful. You can expand on your positive language by explaining to them that you’re trying to keep them safe. You might say, “At dinner we sit on our tushies so our bodies stay on the chair and we can chew and swallow our food.”
This change does not happen overnight and takes a lot of practice. It also might not work every time, but it does help to eliminate some of the temptation from doing the undesired action because they are hearing what they should do instead.
If your child is older, you can ask them to get involved. You might ask, “Hey, instead of ‘Don’t throw your trash on the floor.’ What could mommy say instead that tells you what you should do instead?” Your child might say, “Put it in the trash can!” Getting them involved will help rewire their brains to think about the desired outcome too!
Interactive books for toddlers almost always have instructions/directions on what to “do,” so be sure to use them as an example.
To Wrap Things Up:
Well, maybe as it turns out, Larry wasn’t so bossy after all! When I tell you that your kids will absolutely fall in love with this book, I am not exaggerating. My kids adore Larry. They often ask to read this one right before bed and I love it because it always gives us a good laugh and lightens the mood before lights out. My kids love to scream, “Oh, Larry!” You’ll have a ball and your child won’t even realize they’re learning too! So, what do you think? To push or not to push. That is the question!
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