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

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You could play ‘I Spy’ or counting games with the book. ‘How many birds can you see on the “Pets” spread?’ ‘How many four-wheeled vehicles are there on the “Transport” spread?’ ‘How many vegetables can you spot in the “Food” spread?’ Frank Cottrell Boyce on why reading for pleasure is the most important thing you can pass on to a child

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. And finally, if you just can't quitemove on from You Choose, how about just experiencing it differently? 'Just took my little one to see the Nonsense Room Productions stage show of this,' Nicola on Facebooksaid. 'She loved it - they really bring books to life. It's fab. Helps them want to read, too!' Sounds pretty good to us...

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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...

Follow the children's interests - there may be a part of the book the children show a particular interest in, such as animals or hats. The children could make some animal tails (fluffy bunny/stripy zebra/swishy horse/curly pig etc) for a 'guess whose tail this is?' display. Or they could decorate hats for a hanging display. 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. Sorting - use a doll's house and furniture as an opportunity to talk about sorting into rooms, counting and organising. 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. 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!I would wear... - get out the dressing up clothes and invite the children to choose what they would wear to a party. Take a photo of each child and make a book of them all dressed up, with captions: 'Jordan would wear a bear suit'.

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. 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. There are three other You Choose books now. You Choose in Space follows the original format but places everything in an extra-terrestrial setting. You Choose Your Dreams stimulates imaginations by asking how it would feel to be gigantic or tiny or a wild animal or made of cheese. And the sequential nature of You Choose Fairy Tales increases the storytelling possibilities.

Your suggestions

Now accompanied by You Choose Your Dreams and You Choose in Space, there are even more amazing choices for preschool children. But if you feel like moving on, here are some suggestions - and we'd love to hear yours! If you feel like moving on to picture books... Rhyming words and alliteration - have fun thinking of words that rhyme with choose (lose, snooze - include nonsense words). Try and think of words that begin with the same sound as something in the book - e.g. 'bed' - bus, banana, bear, bangle- are any of these things in the pictures in the book? As always, we asked you to recommend your own favourites, or books you think fit the bill after You Choose- and boy, did you deliver! Here are just some of the ideas you came up with: 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 Counting - make sets of things from the book (vehicles/clothes/animals) and play some counting games.

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.' 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). Take photos of the children and make frames for them together, just like the pictures in the book. Display them with some of the children's ideas about friends. 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?'Books are absolutely crucial in getting us to think about new worlds': we speak to the award-winning author, Onjali Q Rauf 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.