Let's play hide and seek through the hole

The giraffe's ㄱ ​​(giyeok), the butterfly's ㄴ (nieun), the squirrel's ㄷ (digut)... Most books that teach the ㄱㄴㄷ pair up words and consonants that begin with ㄱㄴㄷ.
This is because it is much easier for children to recognize the letter 'ㄱ' through a 'giraffe', an animal they are familiar with, rather than memorizing the name and sound of the individual letter 'ㄱ'.
The problem is that when it comes to the G in giraffe, the N in butterfly, and the D in squirrel, the child realizes that he or she is not looking at a picture book but studying Korean, and begins to feel bored.
『Hide and Seek ㄱㄴㄷ』 can be said to be the result of careful consideration on how to make ㄱㄴㄷ a fun game for children.


When you open the book, the first picture that appears is a yellow background with a mottled brown pattern.
If you look to the right, you will see a L-shaped black hole and a hint about the animal you need to find.
When you turn the page, thinking, “You have long legs and a long neck…”, a cute giraffe appears by combining the L-shaped hole and the pattern on the front page.
Since the animals that appear are familiar to children and their characteristics are clearly shown in the pictures, it is not difficult to guess which animal is hidden.
Even though children know who is hiding, they are curious when they hear the hints given, and they find the repetitive process of turning the pages of the book and checking for hidden animals through the holes to be a fun game.
In the process, learning the letters ㄱㄴㄷ will be a secondary result obtained after repeated play.

Get familiar with the letters by touching them with your hands.

The most striking feature of 『Hide and Seek ㄱㄴㄷ』 is the holes in the shape of individual letters.
When the hole is on the right page, the individual letters ㄱㄴㄷ are clearly visible because of the black background behind them, but when it is on the left page, they are hidden among the various animal features behind them.
Children are fascinated by the way the picture changes because of the holes, and they naturally touch the holes with their hands.
And as contest judges Anthony Brown and Hannah Bartolin recommended, the educational value of this book lies in the fact that 'children can recognize the letters by touching them through the holes.'


You can read the book from beginning to end, but you can also pick out scenes with your child's favorite animals or pictures and read them.
There is no need to learn the letters ㄱㄴㄷ in order, and it is okay if you cannot pronounce ㄱ exactly as [기역].
It is more important to look at the picture carefully and have fun playing through the holes.
It is not too late to teach your child letters after he or she has enjoyed playing enough and has become interested in letters.

Smart Korean picture books planned by elementary school teachers

Kim Jae-young, the author and illustrator of 『Hide and Seek ㄱㄴㄷ』, is an elementary school teacher who majored in art education.
The author said that he felt saddened by the reality that people are becoming more familiar with English than Korean due to the English education craze.
Because of that, I was thinking about how to naturally convey the beautiful form of Hangul to children, and I came up with the idea of ​​animals that resembled the individual letters of Hangul.

In addition, we wanted to provide the fun of finding related words, as if playing hide-and-seek, by hiding them throughout the picture, as well as animals that start with each letter.
For example, in the scene where the owl's ㅂ (b-eup) is heard, the owl's eyes are expressed as going round and round, and this is also an onomatopoeia that begins with ㅂ to create consistency.
If you look at the background, you can see a pine cone, and you can guess that the owl's eyes are spinning because the pine cone just fell on the owl's head.
In addition to this, it is noticeable that various elements related to the letter B are placed in appropriate places, such as the dimly lit 'night' sky in the background and the 'stars' floating in the night sky.

The appendix page contains instructions on how to use 『Hide and Seek ㄱㄴㄷ』.

You can watch the video on YouTube using the QR code on the back cover of the book.