Big books for little people ;o) (Learn with Teddy ABC - Roy Trower)

Member Name: chele2002

Product:	Learn with Teddy ABC - Roy Trower
Date:	07/06/01 (61 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great to introduce small children to the alphabet, Beautiful illustrations

Disadvantages: None

Our little toddler John has got to the stage where has shown an interest in books, usually pulling them off of shop shelves or claiming one of our older children's books.

Well to save our older children books from the destruction of our toddler John, so we set out to find him some books.

Before parting with any money we had to make sure that whatever we ended out with would be suitable for his age.

Was the content too advanced for a toddler?

Was it a book that he would be able to relate to and aid some understanding?

Would it be educational and help with his mental development?

Would it grow with him?

Was it easy for his age group to handle physically?

And would it be strong enough to with stand up to the test of an 18 month old?


With John being the age he is, he has stated to pick up on new words that he relates to different objects, so we wanted to expand on that and help with his development.


Well having looked at many books from various places we did come across one called 'Learn with Teddy ABC' that is published by 'Brimax Books Ltd'.

Is it a book that is aimed at 2-4 years olds, but with John nearly turning 2 years in a few months time we decided to buy it and give him an early start.

The book is fantastic and covers quite a wide spectrum of early education but in a way a small child would understand and relate to.


Contents of the book
--------------------

As you can probably guess by the title of the book its main focus is the alphabet, but I would go as far to say that it is much more than just the alphabet.

Along the top of the pages you will find letters of the alphabet with a picture of an object that would begin using that letter.

For example with the letter b you would see a picture of a bib, and not to confuse young children the picture has been placed after the letter. r>
To keep it simple and not too taxing on a child's mind it has been restricted to just 3 letters per page and in some cases 2 letters.

In the centre of each page that includes letters on you would see a beautifully illustrated picture of some teddy bears. In each of these pictures the teddy bears would be demonstrating and action or use for the object related to the letters above it.

Below the picture there would be some writing explaining the picture above it, with all key words printed in bold text.

So for example we are on the first page that starts with a, b and c and the objects that relate to the letters are apple, bib and cup, the typical explanation for the picture above would be:

I give Teddy some of my apple.
-----
First I put a bib on Teddy.
---
Teddy has his own cup.
---

Each sentence is plain and clear with most of the sentences consisting of just 8 words or less. They have kept each sentence short so that it is easier for a small child to understand and to take in. None of the sentences go off the topic or aim of what they try to get across in the way they describe the pictures.

For example:

I eat an egg.

This is clear and straight to the point and describes it as a child would see in the picture.

This is a far better way for a child to understand than my following example which also describes the picture but with too much detail for a small child:

I eat my runny boiled egg from a green egg cup using my silver spoon.

In the last few pages of the book it focuses on new words not already mentioned in the letters of the alphabet.

Along the top and bottom of the page are pictures of objects such as swing, duck, bag, tree etc with the word to each picture below.

Spread across two pages at a time is an illustrated picture of teddies and all the pictures men
tioned on the same pages are included in the main picture.

It takes a fun approach to identify and find the pictures in both the main picture and in those surrounding it.

It sets a task out for a child by with the introduction on rhyming words:

For example

You can learn some new words.
Say each one you see
And find it in the picture
With Teddy and with me.

As John is a little young to understand the task, I find pointing to each picture, saying what it is and then asking him to show me fish, or show me boat.

Many time I have caught him sat on the bottom step with his book pointing to the pictures saying "What's that?" or attempting to one of the more recognisable words.

The book is constructed of hard board pages and cover and each page is easily turned by both myself and John. He has clearly benefited from me sitting down with him and teaching him all the different objects and letters, as he has started to develop more words than before and points to things such as trees, houses, etc when we are out.

The book is bold, bright, easy to understand and a great start to pre-school education.

We purchased our book at Trago Mills, Newton Abbott.

If you would be interested to find out where to get this book or others published by Brimax Books Ltd

Then the address to write to them is:
2-4 Heron Quays,
London,
England
E14 4JP




ISBN 1-85854-769-5