Word and Image as Teaching Tools

Children’s book authors may know best the benefits of placing words and images together to help the reader better receive the intended message. Images are essential components of a story as children are learning to process the visual representation of language. The idea is, hopefully the child will be better prepared to understand the word if there are familiar hints close by. If for whatever reason the child cannot process the words on the page, they will at least understand the concepts through looking at the pictures and so are able to still enjoy the story. The image may also just help to reinforce the names for objects the child already knew but perhaps not well enough to conjure up on their own.

Take this example. Here the words “Crocodile” “Hips” are conveyed well through the use of silly and bold images.

Images are so important in the learning, understanding, and absorbing processes that they remain in children’s books for a large part of the developmental years, gradually being phased out in the later years of elementary school. Early on the words accompany the images, and as one grows older the pictures are a treat, occasionally accompanying the words.

Something to chew on....if pictures are so crucial in tackling the difficult task of conveying complex ideas or concepts to very young children who have yet to develop the use of language, then why do they become merely extras or bonuses in educational texts as those children age?