Alright, so some of George's favorite books:
Finger Puppet Books:
There is a series of finger puppet books about different animals. Most of them are simple stories and they don't always rhyme or rhyme well. I could keep George's attention on a book much longer if it rhymed (I think this is due to the fact that young children like to hear the rhythm of language- rhymes can make a book more intriguing to a young child). Anyways, I have not been overly impressed with most of the books in this series, but some are cute. I will say George loved "Little Mouse". I think part of the reason he liked it so much was because on the page where it says, "When kitty's near it's time to hide" and I'd take my finger out of the puppet and make a mouse-like shriek as I pushed the puppet through the book (as if it was hiding). Then on the next page it was almost like peek-a-boo in a sense as I put my finger back in the puppet and pushed it through with a little "squeak". He would often try to push other finger puppets through(no matter what the story was).
Another series of finger puppet books goes through one verse of popular nursery rhymes. I think "Itsy Bitsy Spider" was our favorite. It made sense to push the spider through on "washed the spider out". But I also read "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with George and others, and I like the pictures better and the fact that I can sing or read them. And they rhyme!
Poke-a-dot books:
I read two with George. I highly recommend the "Poke-a-dot! Old MacDonald's Farm". He loved this book before he could really press in the popper things. When he'd let me I'd guide his fingers to the poppers and help him pop them and then he eventually got it down himself and sometimes I'd just point to any he forgot (it's very important if you want them to pop on the next page or be ready for the next reading). My Mom bought one for Halloween that I think was 10 little monsters that we didn't like as much. I have read through (on my own) "Who's in the Ocean?" which is cute as well, but Old MacDonald's Farm was a favorite with George (remember to do the animal sounds). Anyways, these are fun books, they're interactive and eventually they can help teach your child to count- but we hadn't gotten there yet.
Matthew Van Fleet:
So I've read a few of his books. For those that don't know, every one that I've read has stuff to touch in them, but some also have flaps and tabs to pull and other things. I used to think "Tails" was a classic- and it is still very good. I have a picture of George looking through it on his own, but I'm starting to like "Heads" better, which I think I only read once with George- so it's not a favorite, but it has just as much to feel and pull but goes through eyes, tongues, neck, etc. However, "Alphabet" gets my vote for favorite. There seemed to be so much more in this book. Just as many things to touch and see, but there's also at least 2 animals for every letter on each page- one mentioned and one not mentioned (until the end of the book). So, it's entertaining for younger kids, but can turn into an educational book later if you wish.
I may remember more later but now onto 2 Usborne books that we loved. (Usborne books are rarely found in stores. The company promotes home business so they limit the amount of books in most stores- but I SELL them! So you can talk to me if you're interested in buying either one of these).
First, there's Usborne's Busy Books. We had the "Busy Bug Book" which had a lady bug toy that you pull back and then it goes (similar to wind-up toys- and they have a few wind-up ones in this collection too). The books have 3-4 tracks that cover two pages. The story is simple and George didn't care as much about the story, but he loved getting out the book and watching the ladybug swirl around the pages on the track built into the book. He learned how to pull back the lady bug but didn't always get it into the track. You do have to be careful with the binding in these books, so I just always put a book or two under the pages to make sure there was a flat surface for the lady bug's track. We have now bought a second one of these books with a helicopter (since George loved helicopters) for Benjamin. I feel like the story line on this one is better but we'll see if he even cares about the story or just wants to play with the helicopter in the book like George.
Second, "There's a Mouse About the House". There's a cardboard mouse in this book that slips through slots in each page to get to the next page. George loved this one and actually was pretty good at following the dotted line towards the end of getting the mouse from one slot to the next. The story doesn't rhyme so I didn't love it, but that wasn't what George cared about. He did enjoy some of the random shrieks and comments throughout the book but mostly he just liked moving the mouse through the book. And of course on the last page the mouse barely escapes a cat and George would laugh if I had the mouse escape and then peek back through with a "na-na-na-na-na-na" and then escape again.
If I think of any others I will try to include them next. In my next post I think I'm going to post some of our favorite "story song books" or books that can be sung. I'll include my favorite version of "The Wheels on the Bus" which is also a good interactive one- but not without supervision.
Finger Puppet Books:
There is a series of finger puppet books about different animals. Most of them are simple stories and they don't always rhyme or rhyme well. I could keep George's attention on a book much longer if it rhymed (I think this is due to the fact that young children like to hear the rhythm of language- rhymes can make a book more intriguing to a young child). Anyways, I have not been overly impressed with most of the books in this series, but some are cute. I will say George loved "Little Mouse". I think part of the reason he liked it so much was because on the page where it says, "When kitty's near it's time to hide" and I'd take my finger out of the puppet and make a mouse-like shriek as I pushed the puppet through the book (as if it was hiding). Then on the next page it was almost like peek-a-boo in a sense as I put my finger back in the puppet and pushed it through with a little "squeak". He would often try to push other finger puppets through(no matter what the story was).
Another series of finger puppet books goes through one verse of popular nursery rhymes. I think "Itsy Bitsy Spider" was our favorite. It made sense to push the spider through on "washed the spider out". But I also read "Mary Had a Little Lamb" with George and others, and I like the pictures better and the fact that I can sing or read them. And they rhyme!
Poke-a-dot books:
I read two with George. I highly recommend the "Poke-a-dot! Old MacDonald's Farm". He loved this book before he could really press in the popper things. When he'd let me I'd guide his fingers to the poppers and help him pop them and then he eventually got it down himself and sometimes I'd just point to any he forgot (it's very important if you want them to pop on the next page or be ready for the next reading). My Mom bought one for Halloween that I think was 10 little monsters that we didn't like as much. I have read through (on my own) "Who's in the Ocean?" which is cute as well, but Old MacDonald's Farm was a favorite with George (remember to do the animal sounds). Anyways, these are fun books, they're interactive and eventually they can help teach your child to count- but we hadn't gotten there yet.
Matthew Van Fleet:
So I've read a few of his books. For those that don't know, every one that I've read has stuff to touch in them, but some also have flaps and tabs to pull and other things. I used to think "Tails" was a classic- and it is still very good. I have a picture of George looking through it on his own, but I'm starting to like "Heads" better, which I think I only read once with George- so it's not a favorite, but it has just as much to feel and pull but goes through eyes, tongues, neck, etc. However, "Alphabet" gets my vote for favorite. There seemed to be so much more in this book. Just as many things to touch and see, but there's also at least 2 animals for every letter on each page- one mentioned and one not mentioned (until the end of the book). So, it's entertaining for younger kids, but can turn into an educational book later if you wish.
I may remember more later but now onto 2 Usborne books that we loved. (Usborne books are rarely found in stores. The company promotes home business so they limit the amount of books in most stores- but I SELL them! So you can talk to me if you're interested in buying either one of these).
First, there's Usborne's Busy Books. We had the "Busy Bug Book" which had a lady bug toy that you pull back and then it goes (similar to wind-up toys- and they have a few wind-up ones in this collection too). The books have 3-4 tracks that cover two pages. The story is simple and George didn't care as much about the story, but he loved getting out the book and watching the ladybug swirl around the pages on the track built into the book. He learned how to pull back the lady bug but didn't always get it into the track. You do have to be careful with the binding in these books, so I just always put a book or two under the pages to make sure there was a flat surface for the lady bug's track. We have now bought a second one of these books with a helicopter (since George loved helicopters) for Benjamin. I feel like the story line on this one is better but we'll see if he even cares about the story or just wants to play with the helicopter in the book like George.
Second, "There's a Mouse About the House". There's a cardboard mouse in this book that slips through slots in each page to get to the next page. George loved this one and actually was pretty good at following the dotted line towards the end of getting the mouse from one slot to the next. The story doesn't rhyme so I didn't love it, but that wasn't what George cared about. He did enjoy some of the random shrieks and comments throughout the book but mostly he just liked moving the mouse through the book. And of course on the last page the mouse barely escapes a cat and George would laugh if I had the mouse escape and then peek back through with a "na-na-na-na-na-na" and then escape again.
If I think of any others I will try to include them next. In my next post I think I'm going to post some of our favorite "story song books" or books that can be sung. I'll include my favorite version of "The Wheels on the Bus" which is also a good interactive one- but not without supervision.
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