Little Crab: Finger Puppet Book

When i was pregnant with A, i watched a stop animation movie with my husband. The whole movie was filmed by manually moving the puppets. The first scene of the movie had a finger puppet book. I fail to recall the name of the movie. But it was pretty impressive. That movie introduced me to the concept of  finger puppet books. I immediately started looking for those but found none in India. Then searched on amazon.com, saw a lot of them available there. I thought i will ask one of my friends in US to get those for me. Luckily, after a while i saw few finger puppet books were available on amazon india. As soon as my eyes saw that, my fingers automatically pressed the keys to order those :) and this book was the first finger puppet book i landed up with :)

This book has a nice crab finger puppet. A loves the crab. Rhyming words and a moving adorable puppet makes it super interesting to be read. A very nice story.
There are few images (like of a fish, boat), which got cut while they inserted the puppet. Its a very small book, perfect for the little hands. But a little bigger version to preserve the necessary images would have been better.

Here is the link:
Little Crab: Finger Puppet Book

At the point when i got this book, there were hardly any other puppet books available in India. Now there are few. You can checkout the following:

Mary Had a Little Lamb (Little Learners Finger Puppet Book) : I own this one too. I prefer crab book over this one as i felt the lamb is a little too small. Also, crab book has a very nice story. This one has the rhyme.

Very Hungry Caterpillar Finger Puppet Book (The Very Hungry Caterpillar): Don't buy this one. Check my review of this book for details.

I plan to buy A more finger puppet books soon.


Verdict: Buy at least one finger puppet book for your little one. Its a super fun way to play and learn. Crab book is good too but could have been better.

Is this blog helping?

Everyday I meet someone or the other who asks me "what kind of toys should we buy for our kid", "what to read to them", "How to keep them busy", etc. I have gone through the same phase in my life. I used to and still read a lot to figure out what should I buy for A. I wanted to document everything I learn at one place.

This was one of the biggest motivation for me to create this blog. After creating it, i realized i am loving this. It acts as a major stress buster for me. People who read my blog usually sends me messages to let me that they are liking my blog etc. Somehow no one comments and ask on the blog. I wonder why?

Here is this post to ask you all, is this helping? what more would you like to see? What more information can help you more? Are all the features on this blog user-friendly? What is good? What is not so good? I would like to know it all.

So either mail me at learningfrommykid@gmail.com

or

Post a comment below.

Zoo Visit

Today we took A to a zoo. At home we have been reading a lot of animal books. A also has a toy which makes animal sounds. All this has resulted in A having special interest in animals. As a result our zoo visit was a hit. We got to see tiger, lion, bear, leopard, snakes, ostrich, hippos, macaw's, peafoal and a lot of other animals. A was super excited and was talking to those animals, copying their voice in her own language.

One tip which i can share with you all is show your kids lot of animals. Make animal sounds with them. Not only it will help them in developing the ability to speak earlier, but also in developing love for nature and natural things.

We went for jungle safari too but it wasn't very interesting for A as she couldn't spot animals. We were trying to show her but she was just not able to see them before the animals disappear. Looks like for her to enjoy that we will have to wait for some more time.

Flipkart-Skillofun

Flipkart has offers going on skillofun products. Check it out:

Skillofun Beads Pattern Box from Flipkart.com

365 Pancharantra Stories

I thought of reading A a different story every night. By the title and the reviews i saw, this book looked promising. Also, Seemed like we could use it for many years to come. Waited patiently to get it.  As soon as it was delivered, i unpacked it. I was happy to see the good quality pages and a good size font. I started reading. Read one story after other trying to find one story which i could read to A.
Sadly, after reading around 20-30 stories i gave up. Every single story is filled with revenge, anger and lessons which i don't want to teach A.
I don't recommend this book to any age group.

Link: 365 Pancharantra Stories

Verdict: Don't buy

Very Hungry Caterpillar Finger Puppet Book

A already owns the very hungry caterpillar board book. She has a puppet book too which we love but is small in size. So, we bought this finger puppet version of the book for a friends kid, hoping that it will be even better than the board book. But it was very very disappointing.
It has one tiny puppet(shame to call it a puppet) and picture of a caterpillar, some fruits and edibles. No real story.

For the story buy the board book without the puppet.
and if you are looking for a puppet book, there are many better ones out there. I will be reviewing some soon.

Verdict:  Do not buy

Very Hungry Caterpillar Finger Puppet Book

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

A classic book. Got it for A along with Brown bear book i reviewed last. She started enjoying this one at the age of around 9 months. She notices all the colors and listens to the story. Now a days she is more interested in putting her fingers in the holes from where caterpillar passes through to eat all the fruits and other stuff :)
I loved the concept. Its a great story and your kid has an opportunity to learn so much.. colors, fruits, numbers, life of a caterpillar. A still doesn't understand that caterpillar turns to butterfly but i loved the illustration. She enjoys only the part till food items are shown :)
If your kid is less than 3year old, please buy board book only.

Link:
The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Verdict: Must buy

Should I Buy Online Or In Stores? And Which Sites?

There are pros and cons of buying online and in-stores.

I like buying online because:
1. Well, i find it convenient. They come and deliver me everything at home. So, i save time
2. Returns are easy :)
3. And most important, prices are lesser than what i get in stores.
4. Before buying i have the option to check the reviews and see what other parents feel about the product

Why in-store?

If you have time, you can go check the product in store. and check all the related products. and then buy. I sometimes go to store, chose the product but then i always order them online as i get better pricing.

If online, which sites?
There are many retailers- amazon, flipkart, firstcry, snapdeal and other small ones.

I have tried a lot of them. I personally like amazon and flipkart most. Thats why i publish links only from those in my blog. Flipkart doesn't deliver most products in smaller towns but amazon almost always does. Hence i order most of the time from amazon.
Returns are easy too on amazon. :)

Fisher Price Toys Monkey Chase

This toys is recommended for kids above 6 months. Though the manufacturer recommended age is 6months-36months, I do-not agree with that. I would say after like 15 months, i don't think A will be using it. Well, in our case time will tell as A is not yet 15 months. Infact A was bored in between. So, i hid it for like 15 days. Now its back to her play list :)

We got A this toy when she was around 7 month old and she loved it. It actually encouraged her to crawl. She used to get super excited seeing the monkey move and used to put her best to move and catch it. Remember if the baby actually catches the monkey, it falls down. Thats where we parents come in the picture. Every time it falls i used to make it stand and it would run again with the same happy music and A will be after with the same excitement.

Note:
This toy is not for parents who aren't willing to lift the toy every time it falls. And please don't expect any educational value from it. Some toys are just for fun and to encourage some physical movement in babies.

The quality of the toy is good but i feel its fairly highly priced.

Verdict: Get it when some offers are on.

Link:
Fisher Price Toys Monkey Chase 

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

A's favorite book. We started reading this when she was 3.5 months old. Now she is 12 months plus. Every day, without fail this book is read. She goes to the books shelf, picks it and forces us to read it. Sometimes our head hurts by reading it again and again, but A won't stop :)

Highly recommended book.(must have)

We bought the board book. Good quality, sturdy pages.

Pros:

1. Only one pic on each page --> very important for the very young readers

2. each page has a different color animal --> kids get to see and learn colors

3. The words are repetitive except for the color and animal's name. As they say, repetition is the key to learn

Cons:

1. Chances of your kid become an addict to this book are very high. You may get head aches like us after reading the same book like 20th time in a day

Tip:
Please buy board book only as this will hopefully be the book read most number of times for you too.

link on amazon:
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Verdict: Must buy

Brush It Up

A loves it when she sees her momma or dadda brushing their teeth. At time, she takes the brush from them and tries brushing their teeth herself. A still has no teeth but loves taking the brush to her mouth. So, from a long time i have been thinking of coming up with an activity which involves a brush and is safe for my 1 year old. A's caretaker was cleaning her sipper with a bottle cleaning brush and A was liking that. That's when i came up with this:

What you need:
A brush (tooth brush, paint brush, anything would do)
a stained bowl (you can dirty a bowl with paint or anything you want to)
a bowl of water

Method:
Show your baby how to dip the brush in the bowl of water and then clean the stains.  Next pass the brush to your baby to clean the stained bowl.

Advantage:
Improves hand eye coordination

Your baby will love exploring these objects
Entertainment and learning for free(you can get all these materials at home) :)

Beaware:
Stay next to your baby. Don't let him/her lick the stained bowl
They can spill the bowl of water, so be ready to cleanup the mess

Ambi Toys – Lock A block (Best Shape Sorter For Babies)

 
A has lot of shape sorters. But this is by far the best for her age. From 8 months onwards till may be 18 months, this can be used. Unlike other shape sorters, it has just 3 shapes(2 pieces of each), red ball/circle, yellow triangle, blue square and a small key. Shapes are perfect for the little hands and simple enough to keep them interested.

Here you have:
Ambi toys lock a block on amazon india

For reviews, check:
Schylling Ambi Lock A Block
The same product is available on other retail sites like firstcry, flipkart but I am a big fan of amazon.


Also, if at the time of writing i compared the price on each of these sites for this product, they were same.

Funskool Nesting Eggs

A has a fascination towards eggs. When she wasn’t crawling, by chance i showed her eggs and to get those she pushed herself from one end of the bed to other. So, we bought her Funskool nesting eggs from amazon. If you have been reading my other posts, by now you would know that i like quality of most of funskool toys. Cheap but good quality :)

Funskool nesting eggs

It has 5 colorful eggs i different sizes. I just leave them in front of A. A opens them all. Sometimes rolls them. and then tries to close them. She hasn’t started nesting them yet but she has learnt to close them.
Great toy for learning matching colors and sizes. Good for developing hand eye coordination.

Verdict: Must buy

Funskool Stacking Cubes

Another cheap but great toy A has is Funskool stacking cubes

Funskool stacking cubes
Got this for 113/- from amazon.. Have posted the link above..
Very good quality plastic.. Funskool has barrels and drums too..
While nesting drums can be placed inside each other a lil more easier than cubes as they are circular.. but for cubes they need to align it perfectly with the cube below it.. So, thought a little more logic might be good :)
these are 8 cubes, useful for teaching stacking, nesting, colors, for developing hand eye coordination.
Dont expect your lil ones to learn it in a day.. it will take long.. A can now stack like 2 cubes and can nest 2 cuubes too.. but gets frustrated if i confuse her by placing bigger cube over the small one :) So, patience is the key.

Links to barrels and drums:
Funskool stacking drums
Funskool stacking barrels

Verdict: Must buy

Funskool Play Doh

There are lot of varieties available for play doh’s. A is just 1 year old.. and on the products its always mentioned that they are for 3+. So i wasn’t sure if my lil one will enjoy this.. but something told me it might be fun.. and if not now, i can always use it later.. The next question was which brand. I have lot of products from funskool and have no complaints from any one of them. Hence went ahead with funskool play doh.

I bought this for 89/- from amazon
Funskool Mini Playdoh Factory on amazon india
Funskool Mini Play on flipkart

Loved it. A can play with this for like an hour..  You can let your imagination run wild with this these.
A makes me put the doh in the extruder again and again and make various shapes out of it.. Its an excellent way to teach colors to kids and an awesome way to improve their fine motor skills..
We created caterpillar, fish, cookies, ostrich.. :)
Cons:
1. Whenever i am not looking, A tries to put the doh in her mouth. So, if you have a kid who is likely to eat the doh you will have to be very careful & keep seeing them (may be thats why they say recommended for 3+, but then the hours of fun and play it brought to our home, it was worth it
2. It had only two colors of doh(blue & yellow) but it was good enough to give us confidence that we are & will enjoy it.. So, i will be soon buying more colors and variety..
You can consider buying these variants:

Funskool play faces
Funskool birthday cake

I recently bought this too:
Funskool Playdoh Case of Colours
Its good but i feel it has mostly lighter shades.I wanted black, brown to make eyes etc but they aren't present. When i get those from where, I will update.

i wanted to make a list of toys here but its getting late and A is starting to get up. So i will add more toys later.

Here is a pic of few items we made.



I forgot to take pics of other items.

List Of Toys And Books To Be Reviewed Soon

I am a toy collector, mum to a one year old. 
Here is a list of toys and books which I will be reviewing soon. If you want any toys you want me to review, you can add those in the comments section. This is the list of toys/books which we already own, so all the reviews will be based on our first hands experience. If you want any toy to be reviewed which is not in this list, add it in the comments section, i will try to procure that and post review.  I will keep adding more entries in this page as and when we buy more toys and books. As and when I am done reviewing a toy/book, i will remove it from this list. So this is just a list of to be reviewed soon items and doesn't include the ones i have reviewed.
Also, i will always try to post a link to where you can get these online
Once i update the list below with all the toys i have, i will update the recommended age, and also a buy or don't buy from my side

If anyone wishes some item to be reviewed earlier, please post your request in the comments section. or else i pick any random product from this list to be reviewed.

Toys(non-battery):

Skillofun capital alphabet tray with pictures
Skillofun Picture on Alphabet Tray with Knobs, Multi Color
Skillofun Alphabet Picture Puzzle
Skillofun Multi Activity Box, Multi Color
Skillofun Beads Pattern Box, Multi Color
Little Genius Beads - Shape and Pattern
Little Genius Tiger Seriation Big with Knob, Multi Color
Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Baby's First Blocks
Mattel Fisher-Price Brilliant Basics Stack and Roll Cups
Funskool Kiddy Star Links
Fisher-Price Rock-a-Stack : This is a flipkart link as product was not available on amazon
Fisher Price Stack & Roll Cups
Fisher-Price Toddlerz Tappy the Turtle 
Ambi Toys Max Pull Along -5 dog
Funskool Wibbly Wobbly Train
Funskool play faces
Kinetic sand waba  or any equivalent: We got this as Christmas gift for A. :) Lets see how she reacts and plays with it.
Mee Mee Knowledge Box
Quercetti Georello Farm Activity Toy
Lego duplo
Sassy Dunk n' Clunk Shape Sorter

Bead shuttle/maze
wooden blocks cart
picture match puzzle (all 4 sides) 
Count from 1 - 100 wooden toy
Melissa and doug picture match puzzle
Little genius ABC
Little genius 123
Little genius abc
Little Genius Birds with Sun
Mother care ELC my first bowling set
Hape shape sorter
Hand puppets & soft toys
Color maze
Fisherprice doodle, scribbler, slate
Barbie - Disney
Toykraft finger painting kit
Piggy bank
Esoft dog

tricycle

Toys(battery):
Fisher-Price Kick and Play Piano Gym, Discover 'N Grow
Vtech apple (town one)
Vtech learning bus
Vtech globe
leapfrog musical activity table
leapfrog discovery ball
leapfrog leappad
little tikes trumpet
vtech baby mobile
vtech toto laptop
vtech phone
Mitashi Sky Kidz SK 42 Fun Tunes
Moshi monster
hexbug

Books:

ABC Zoo
Dogs by Emily Gravett
Smelly Nelly (Finger Puppet Books)
Guess How Much I Love You
The Gruffalo
My Charming Board Books: ABC
My Charming Board Books: Fruits 

From Head to Toe Board Book - Eric Carle
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes... (Baby Board Books)
Phonics (My First Board Book)
Room on the Broom: Activity Book
100 Shapes and Colours (First Picture Word Book)
Little Mermaid (Fancy Story Board-Books)
Step By Step ABC.123.Colours
Peter Pan (Pop-Up Fairy Tale Books)
Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You?: Dr. Seuss's Book of Wonderful Noises (Bright & Early Board Books(TM) 

365 Animal Stories and Rhymes (365 Stories)
Barbie: Learn Your Numbers 1 to 20
Big board picture book - Roger priddy
Mary had a little lamb
Winnie the Pooh: Weather
Duck got stuck
Peter pan pop up book

Activities:
I will be posting  activities for the little ones (age group 1-2 year old), all customized for indian market. I have either tried these on my lil one or going to try soon and will update back with the result. I have seen lot of stuff which is available outside india is not available here and vice versa. Whenever possible i will publish links to from where i got certain stuff.

Please look at the Activity tab to see the posts for this section.