Rex Can Tiptoe
Rex Can Tiptoe
by ReadRead · 5 min readRex loves to stomp, but the eggs in the nest are sleeping. A dinosaur story about big feet, soft steps, and fixing a mistake.
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Rex is a big green dinosaur who lives in a jungle of ferns by a smoky volcano, and he loves to stomp. Then his friend Dot shows him a soft nest of sleeping eggs. Rex’s big feet go stomp, stomp, and one little egg rolls away. Dot shows him a new way to walk, and Rex has an egg to bring home.
The new words in this book
To put your foot down hard and loud. It comes up 8 times, and every time Rex lifts a big foot and the whole paper page jumps.
To walk softly on the tips of your toes. It comes up 8 times: Dot shows it, Rex tries it, and then Rex tiptoes past the nest with the lost egg.
The two words are opposites, so every page shows one against the other: loud and big, or soft and slow. A refrain comes back (“Tiptoe, tiptoe” and “Rex can tiptoe!”) so a child can join in. Every other word is a common word, like egg, nest, tail, rock and mud.
Questions to ask while you read
Pause after each spread and ask one question. There are no right answers; the point is to get your child talking.
- 1What does Rex love to do? Can you stomp like Rex?
- 2Why does the little lizard run away?
- 3What do you think Dot found?
- 4Why must Rex and Dot be quiet by the nest?
- 5What happened to the little egg? How does Rex feel?
- 6How does Dot walk? Can you tiptoe like Dot?
- 7Rex wobbles. What helps him not fall down?
- 8How does Rex bring the lost egg back?
- 9Tap the stones and the mud: when should Rex tiptoe, and when can he stomp?
- 10When is it good to be loud, and when is it good to be quiet?
How hard is this book?
About 250 words, sentences of 6–8 words, dialogue.
- Dialogue × 9“We must tiptoe.”
- Commands × 2Look! Rex can tiptoe!
- Not / no × 5Hooray! The eggs did not wake up.
- -ing words × 2Little eggs are sleeping in it.
- Past tense × 3Hooray! The eggs did not wake up.
All 117 words, most used first
the 20 · a 10 · and 10 · tiptoe 8 · little 7 · stomp 7 · big 6 · eggs 6 · up 6 · can 5 · says 5 · he 4 · his 4 · i 4 · not 4 · to 4 · am 3 · are 3 · babies 3 · but 3 · egg 3 · goes 3 · is 3 · must 3 · on 3 · soft 3 · too 3 · away 2 · by 2 · crack 2 · does 2 · down 2 · ferns 2 · go 2 · help 2 · hooray 2 · in 2 · it 2 · leaf 2 · long 2 · nest 2 · now 2 · peep 2 · sleeping 2 · tail 2 · tap 2 · toes 2 · volcano 2 · wake 2 · you 2 · as · back · be · behind · come · comes · did · dinosaur · fall · feet · found · friend · good · green · her · here · hill · home · how · job · jump · jungle · know · lifts · like · lives · lizard · log · look · lost · loud · loves · me · mud · nap · need · no · of · oh · one · past · picks · puffs · puts · quiet · rock · rolls · runs · say · see · shh · sleep · slow · smoke · smoky · still · stomps · stones · sun · triceratops · very · watch · we · what · with · wobble · wobbles
Names don’t count: the picture shows who it is.
Tips for parents
- First time: use Read to me and let your child just listen and watch.
- Act the words out together: stomp across the room, then tiptoe back past a “sleeping” toy.
- On page five, stop and ask “What can Rex do now?” before you turn the page.
- On the game page, let your child say the word before they tap: “Tiptoe!” for a stone, “Stomp!” for the mud.