Destiny Baby

Picture books often make the best educational “toys” for young children. Why? One of the key concepts that children must master as part of their cognitive development and language building skills is the difference between individual things and categories of things (for example, the difference between Mom vs. woman). Pictures themselves represent two different things at the same time– the picture itself is a thing, but it also represents something else. An article I wrote on why picture books make great toys discusses the latest research showing that children may learn new words more accurately from pictures than from 3D objects, especially when part of reading time between parents and children.

So, if you are going for picture books as educational Christmas gifts, which books should you buy? The Huffington Post recently posted a picture slideshow of the ten best children’s picture books of 2009, provided in part by Greenlight Bookstore. It’s a lovely compilation, with a wide range of titles from Princess Hyacinth (The Surprising Tale of a Girl Who Floated)by award-winning author Florence Parry Heideto the touching story of the search for color in a black and white world in A Penguin Story by Antoinette Portis, the bestselling author of Not a Box, her picture book debut.

Along with A Penguin Story, one of my favorites on the list is A Really Short History of Nearly Everything,which is really a science book for kids, addressing all the big questions about the history of life on earth.

How’s this for an astounding fact that your kids and you will learn: Did you know that every atom in your body has almost certainly passed through several stars and been part of millions of organisms on its way to being you? Or what about the fact that a baby weighing 4 kilograms has about 400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms in its body! The book is a lot of fun.

Follow the jump for the full list of the best picture books for children published in 2009 at Huffington Post.

This concise summary of “need-to-know” information about reading to your baby answers these important questions such as: Why Should I Read To My Baby? If My Baby Does Not Talk, How Does Reading To Her Help? How Does Reading To My Baby Help Her Develop Language Skills? What Books Do Babies Like? Should I Repeatedly Read The Same Book To My Baby? Should Babies Have Their Own Books? What Are Some Tips For Reading To My Baby? If I Read To My Baby, Will She Learn To Read Early? And so much more! (Learn more…)

Ready to add a fun twist to reading time? With LeapFrog Sing-Along Read-Along you can motivate little ones to read on their own with 12 engaging music videos on DVD. This set features songs, fun characters and easy to follow animated musical stories, all of which help children build reading skills and confidence. Twelve matching storybooks reinforce the learning and inspire kids to read at home or on the go. (Read more…)

A unique touch and talk device that brings stories to life, the Tag Reading System works with a library of books and games from LeapFrog. Funny voice-overs and cool sound effects add to the fun of discovery, helping ensure that children four to eight love the way this interactive, educational system boosts their confidence and their reading level. (more…)

That's a brainy baby!

There are lots of toddler games online, offered by every toymaker, company, cartoon, and the like, but how many are truly learning resources? Some sites are also well-intentioned but so cluttered with too many links, pop-up windows, and flashing objects and noises that you get tired looking for the right game before your toddler even gets a chance! It can be tedious to search through pages and pages of search engine results to get to the real gems online that truly promote  childhood literacy and cognitive development and let your child have fun along the way.

My husband and I have an increasingly curious and restless 3 year-old (site visitors know he goes by Destiny Baby here), so we are constantly on the look out for ways to both entertain and educate. Earlier, I mentioned how, one day, Destiny Baby and I stumbled across the Fisher-Price infant and toddler online games site. Now that my son is older and he has become really proficient at using the mouse and keyboard–it still blows my mind that he is so comfortable with computers at such a young age–we have been looking for really good websites for him where he can continue to build his computer skills and learn at the same time. We even tried our hand at creating an online game for toddlers.

After several months of searching the web, we realized that we had sifted through an awful lot of site and had compiled a pretty good list of online sites featuring toddler learning games and activities. It’s a mix of nonprofit sites like the Literacy Center Education Network and commercial sites like Fisher-Price. As long as the games are free and don’t require sign-up or registration to use, they are included here.

The best results come when you try out the games yourself first to get a feel for what your child will expect and what activities would be most appropriate for them. For infants and toddlers it is great to participate in these activities with your child, as you’ll both have a lot of fun. As they get more independent they’ll probably like to play some of the games on their own, but it’s always good to be nearby to explain things and to encourage their good work!

Here is our list of recommended sites.

Literacy Center Network – Features activities to learn ABCs, phonics, counting, colors, and shapes, with all of the site’s content available in either English, Spanish, French or German. I really like the fact that ABC activities feature both uppercase and lowercase letters – separately and together.  The site also features writing and keyboard activities, some with extremely cool animations of pencils writing out words to help your child understand how to form written letters. All activities are accompanied by a pleasant voice that reads the letters, colors, shapes, numbers or words out loud.

Readtoday.net -  This site is linked to the Literacy Center Network and features printable versions of all kinds of games and activities covering the alphabet, phonics, colors, shapes, and numbers. I found this site very useful when I wanted to print flash cards for a road trip with Destiny Baby. Site also features all learning resources in English, Spanish, French and German!

Fisher-Price has online games and activites divided by infant, toddler and preschool. You can check out our earlier review of this learning site. Games include tap and color, counting games, ABC games, phonics, and music.

Starfall learning to read activities feature alphabet, phonics and words with human voices and interactive play. Also features printables.

Learning Games for Kids.com features all kinds of games for preschoolers and elementary school children. You have to explore the site a bit to figure out which games would be appropriate for where your chld is at in their stage of development. The idea of the games is also to teach keyboarding skills.

UpToTen.com – Click the free games on the left side of the screen. Features a games and activities search engine. Each game and learning resource comes with a note to indicate what age each game is appropriate for – very handy!

PBS Kids Between the Lions – Features a selection of toddler games teaching words, numbers, colors and shapes, including the fun ‘ABCD Watermelon’.

Boowa & Kwala is an online preschool activity center for kids from 0 to 6, with 800 games full of bright colors and music that will keep your toddler entertained for a long while. I found it inspiring that the characters were created by a couple for their daughter. Destiny Baby really liked the alphabet game, a simple electronic flashcard alphabet game with upper and lowercase letters.

Mightybook.com – Teachers toddlers and up to read with animated picture stories (with accompanying voice), sing-along songs, jokes, learning games, puzzles, videos, contests and more.

As we come across new sites we will post them in the future. Enjoy!

In addition to reviews of educational toys and games, at DestinyBaby.com we also review products designed to help parents facilitate preschool and toddler learning at home. There are great products that use the computer and videos to teach reading through phonics, math concepts, and whole early learning curriculums for home schooling or parents that just want to supplement their child’s coursework.

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When it comes to buying toys featuring our kid’s favorite television characters like Diego or Dora the Explorer, it’s not just about buying any toy with the name of the character slapped on. As we’ve mentioned before, child development experts have repeatedly shown that the best kinds of toys encourage unstructured playtime and have multiple uses.

Diego is a popular children’s cartoon character on Nick Jr. (Baby Destiny looooves him!) He’s an animal rescuer and cousin to Dora the Explorer, who goes on adventures all over the world. Like Dora, the show is interactive, asking young viewers to identify objects, follow clues, all while teaching vocabulary (including Spanish!) Stores are filled with toys and products featuring both characters.

Below are some of the best toys and books we’ve found featuring both of these favorite cartoon characters. Follow the links below to find out more about educational toys featuring Dora the Explorer or Go Diego Go!