Reviews for 3-5 years old
Sabu & Me has great appeal as a children’s book because its author is a child. 7-year-old Maura Lane tells of her relationship with her dog Sabu — from the day Maura arrived home from the hospital until now — in very simple terms and style. Since Sabu was a rescue dog, Maura has decided to donate profits from the book sales to PAWS Chicago, an organization dedicated to helping homeless pets. Kids and their parents will appreciate Maura’s expression of unconditional love for Sabu. Kids and family members who have dogs (or who have had dogs in the past) will identify with the story of how Sabu has always been there for Maura. Regardless of whether or not they have pets themselves, young children seem to universally enjoy stories about them. As we all know, animals, especially dogs, are adored — simply for being themselves. Sabu & Me’s one-sentence per page format allows for the book to either be read to a very young child, or for early readers to read it themselves. It begins with “When I arrived home from the hospital Sabu sniffed me,” and goes on to explain how from that point on, Sabu was right by Maura’s side as she learned to crawl, talk and walk, and how he has hugged her goodbye as she leaves for school, kept her company when she is sick, and snuggled with her at bedtime. The cheerful full-page illustrations by Hazel Mitchell nicely complement the story. Sabu and Me is an everyday kind of story that is easy to relate to and touches one’s heart.
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Our daughter loves her new personalized book, If I Were Big. Of course, young kids always love being the star of a book — seeing their name in print and hearing it read to them out loud. And, if the story and illustrations are engaging, even better! If I Were Big is one of four titles currently offered by MJM Books. Their other customizable books include: Ruler of Space, What Animal are You, and A Day at the Park. If I Were Big seems to tap into the inherent desire young children have to be older and bigger than they are, walking your grandchild through an adventure in which s/he continues to grow bigger and bigger, larger than everyone and everything else around, and eventually using “a house as a chair, a tree for a toothbrush, buildings for stairs,” etc. The story concludes by admitting that your grandchild (the star of the book), is not big at all, and, in fact, is small enough to fit in Mommy & Daddy’s arms — the best size of all. The illustrations that accompany the exaggerated examples of “big-ness” are really quite adorable, and have a simple yet sophisticated (almost retro) look. Each book has its own style and theme and you should be able to find a title that fits you grandchild’s interests and personality. You get to choose the appropriate skin, hair and eye color, and you can have a special message printed in the first page of the book. The order is easily placed online from the publisher’s website, where you can page through a sample of each book virtually.
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Goosie Cards$16 and up at Goosie |
Goosie Cards are a great product for several reasons. First, they’re extremely high quality. Large, durable, glossy lamination enables them to withstand a fair amount of bending and biting (it happens occasionally). Next, they’re educational. Using a combination of visual images and printed words, they help babies and toddlers with speech development, preschoolers with pre-reading skills, and young school-aged children with early reading. But what makes Goosie Cards most interesting is that you can personalize each card with your own family photos, thus creating your own custom set of memorable photo flash cards to present to your grandchild. Since they are high quality, in addition to providing a fun learning experience, a set of personalized Goosie Cards have the potential to become a keepsake of sorts, that grandchildren can use to remind themselves of you and other family members, friends, pets, vacation memories, etc. Of course, we love the simple yet effective way Goosie Cards help to strengthen intergenerational family connections. It’s easy to upload photos to their website, and Goosie Cards are produced and delivered quickly. And, if you don’t want to personalize your set, Goosie Cards has a fantastic library of stock photography to choose from to design what they call “Chic” flash cards. Or, you can even purchase a gift certificate so parents can make their own set for your grandchild. You may also appreciate the fact that Goosie Cards were invented by a new mom who saw a unique opportunity to enhance early learning — as well as the fact that they’re made in the USA. Another classic product with a new twist, and executed perfectly!
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We always appreciate manufacturers who take a beloved, tried-and-true product, and revitalize it, introducing it to a new generation of children who will appreciate it just as much as their parents and grandparents did. FeltTales felt story boards are just this type of simple, classic toy, yet they have a modern look and feel with themes that should appeal to both boys and girls ages 3 and up. In addition to the “Pups in the Park” theme, shown here, you can choose boards ranging from “Pretty Princess,” and “Let’s Go to the Ballet,” for your granddaughters, to “Dinasaur Days,” and “Pirates at Shipwreck Cove,” for your grandsons. On the back of each story board is a “story starter,” in the form of a few rhyming verses regarding characters and theme, to get creative juices flowing if necessary. Each FeltTales story board comes with at least 19 moveable felt pieces that feel great to the touch as only felt can. A bonus is the portability of FeltTales, each having its own travel handle and an attached plastic zip-lock pouch to carry the pieces — a perfect activity to bring to grandparents’ homes (or to a restaurant), and to play with together!
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Personalized Meal Time Plate Sets $29.99 and up at Olive Kids |
Personalized gifts are fun to give — and kids love seeing their names on anything. These personalized melamine kids plate and placemat sets make great gifts and are super functional! The plates and placemats (also sold separately) are a newer product line offered by Olive Kids, a New Hampshire-based mom and dad company that, in addition to designing kids tableware, offers kids bedding, clocks, floor pillows, and other kids room decor items. Olive Kids’ design themes are simple and nostalgic, from “Flowerland,” “Mermaids,” and “Tea Party,” for girls, to “Under Construction,” “Ride ‘Em Cowboy,” “Dinosaurland,” and “Out of this World,” for boys. As you may know, all kids tableware sets are not created equal. These sets are of exceptional quality — the plates are solid and the mats are well-laminated to withstand washing. And, because the many themes Olive Kids offers are carried throughout the product lines, you can continue to purchase gifts from the same theme — for instance, sheets, comforter, clock and tableware — all with the “Out of this World” space theme. Or have fun and mix up the themes. There are plenty to choose from!
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By now it’s well known that the best time to learn a second language (such as Spanish) is during early childhood, and that the best method of instruction is total immersion — with no English spoken and no translation used. Developed by a mom who wanted to teach her children Spanish effectively, Whistlefritz Adentro y Afuero (Inside and Out) is the latest in a series of total immersion beginning Spanish DVD’s for kids ages 2-7. Extremely well-produced and instantly engaging, these DVD’s could compete for airtime against any existing educational TV show for young children. Whistlefritz uses a proven Blues Clues-like style, placing an engaging live host against a backdrop of simple animation, with Fritzi, a mischievous mouse, as her sidekick, and live (adorable) children to interact with them. The actors speak slowly and clearly, and, when appropriate, representations of the word or phrase being taught are shown on the screen. Your grandchild will learn the words for many common foods, the numbers 1-10, etc., not to mention the phrases that make every day simple interactions possible. For instance, Donde Esta (Where is)?, Muy Bien (Very Good), and many more. A bonus — the real children throughout the DVD, in scenes shot at a playground and eating various common foods, are familiar for kids, helping them realize that even though their native languages are different, they all enjoy the same kinds of things. And, with superbly entertaining and educational instruction such as this Whistlefritz DVD, it’s entirely possible for them to communicate with one another! In addition to Adentro y Afuera, Whistlefritz offers two other beginner DVD’s — Los Animales (Animals), and Vamos a Jugar (Let’s Play).
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Twig Building Block Set by Fat Brain Toys$49.95 at Amazon.com |
Twig wooden building blocks, new from Fat Brain Toys, demonstrate why a product doesn’t need to use the latest technology in order to be the latest sensation. Sometimes a new twist on an old favorite — in this case, wooden blocks — does the trick! The set comes with 72 pieces of all shapes and dimensions that can be mixed and mingled to fit together in countless ways — each way different from the other. My son, who is no stranger to building and construction toys, exclaims, “I can make something different each time and I never know what it will be!” There are so many developmental skills being used and refined with use of this toy — logic and problem solving, artistic expression, visual/spatial ability, sensory awareness, and more. Twig would even appeal to some adults as well, as the pieces are constructed much like the way a brain teaser wooden puzzle is, except there is no wrong answer — only open-ended creativity! They are precision cut and constructed from high quality, highly renewable materials, and painted tastefully in muted primary colors. Twig makes a wonderful gift, and can be passed on and on. Ages 3 and up.
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Squiggle On-The-Go doodle pads are a super creative travel activity. We surprised our kids (4 and 7) with them last week as we began a fairly long drive towards our vacation destination. They immediately began creating, and the more they doodled, the bigger their smiles and sillier their giggles became! Squiggle pads are a cleverly simple concept. Each sheet contains a “squiggle,” or randomly drawn line that your grandchild can use as the basis for their own creative doodle, or full-blown picture. Most of the sets also include a spinning wheel for added game-like dimension. For instance, the original Squiggle On-The-Go (shown here, 5 and up), has you spin and land on any of the letters A through D, each letter corresponding with a different side of the doodle pad. Your grandchild then rotates the pad so that the letter spun is at the top of the pad. However the squiggle line appears in that position is the starting point for their picture. How my son immediately envisioned (and then skillfully drew) a scarecrow in front of a farm — all from just a slightly curved line — is beyond me. It’s all in the way each child sees things — everyone potentially seeing something different — sort of like looking at clouds, or a Rorschach picture. Kids 4 and up will enjoy the themed Sguiggles, such as: Shapes and Colors, which has them draw pictures from shapes; Alphabet, where they spin and land on a letter, then draw a picture from the letter; and Barnyard, where they spin and land on an animal, and then draw that animal from the squiggle line provided on each sheet. Each pad comes with a small travel pencil (Shapes and Colors comes with four colored pencils for coloring/filling in), and the sheets easily tear off the pad. You can either leave the sheets on the pad, or carry a little ziplock bag to easily store all of the completed sheets. Squiggle On-The-Go is a simple yet clever and creative concept — a welcomed alternative to today’s typically electronic road-trip activities. Available through the link below or at all Barnes & Noble locations.
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Young children may not understand exactly how currency works, or even be able to tell the difference between a quarter and a dime. But they should be able to grasp simple financial literacy concepts… as long as they’re presented in an engaging age-appropriate way. The Money Mammals is a DVD produced especially for younger children, to teach them some basic concepts about money. These concepts are reflected in the DVD’s title, “We’ll Share & Save & Spend Smart Too.” The story’s characters are cute new puppets, including Joe the Monkey, Piggs the Bank, Clara J. Camel and Marmoset the Monkey. The content is presented primarily using catchy original songs to get the main points across. In fact, don’t be surprised if you find yourself singing along with your grandchild! The animals first learn that they need a certain amount of money to buy a certain thing. Piggs the Bank and Joe the Monkey realize they can use 1 coin to buy the trading card they want — the corresponding song is “One Coin (for the Coconut Card).” They then learn their friend Clara wants a red straw hat and decide to buy it for her birthday — but they soon realize they need to save 4 coins in order to buy it. This means they must make a choice not to buy more trading cards in order to save up to buy the hat for Clara. These “sharing,” “saving,” and “spending smart” messages are backed up with songs such as, “Reasons to Save,” and “Let’s Make the Right Choice,” which are, again, likable tunes that drive the points home in a fun, non-preachy way. The Money Mammals DVD has clear learning objectives and we believe it achieves them. But we’re guessing your grandkids won’t even realize they’re supposed to be learning!
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My daughter is thrilled to be the screen star in several new computer learning games, and she loves playing them too! Custom Kid Games (founded by veteran kids software designers) has launched Rocket Smarts CD-ROM for the PC or Mac, perfect for grandchildren ages 3-6 and personalized with your favorite photos of them. There are three games to choose from and in each one your grandchild will star as the adorable little astronaut — the main character, of course!. One game focuses on color recognition and is great for younger (3 year-old) kids. Another game focuses on numbers and counting, asking the player to repeat an action 2 times, 5 times, 8 times, etc. Once players master this task, the game will intuitively become more challenging, asking them to repeat an action “more than” or “less than (3) times. The third game is, perhaps, the most challenging of the three, both in terms of its learning objectives as well as the motor skills it requires. It shows a word and asks the player to transport a certain letter in the word up to the matching letter on the top of the screen. The letter is sometimes upper case and sometimes lower case. On the way up and on the way down, the player needs to avoid hitting any moving objects. As is the case with most computer games, well-supervised play will help your grandchildren to develop their conceptual and fine-motor skills. As mentioned, the overall theme of this first CD-ROM is space, and the retro cartoon design is adorable. You can choose a girl’s or boy’s version — some of the graphics differ, but the play is exactly the same.
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