Baby Play (Parent’s Shelf 649.5 BA) is an activity book just for babies!  The focus is on children 0-to-12 months of age.  The activities are original and well organized.  It has two tables of content, helping you find an activity by your baby’s age or by the category of activity.  Diaper Distractions, Music & Movement, and Bath Play are a few examples of activity categories.

The book’s introduction begins with a short description of how playing with your baby benefits BOTH of you and a short description of an infant’s abilities at 0, 3, 6, and 9 months.

Next come the activities.  Each activity has a paragraph describing how to do the activity and why baby will enjoy it.  The activity pages list  developing “skills” such as listening, body awareness, or visual development.

There are also pages with fingerplays, nursery rhymes, and poems spread throughout the activities section.  Actions accompany the lyrics.  Most of the activities only require a caregiver and ordinary household/baby items, but there are a couple activities that mention a specific type of toy for the activity.  Now, here are a couple examples activities.

Blanket Swing
Blanket swing tries to help replicate some of the warm, cozy, and weightless feelings your baby had in the womb.  Its for children 0-to-3 months old.  The activity has you lay the baby on his/her back in the middle of a blanket.  Then you and a partner each lift one end up the blanket up.  Slowly raise and lower the ends of the blanket.  Make eye contact and smile at your baby.  You can even sing a song.

Sway, Sway
Sway, sway, sway, sway
now reach up and
touch the sky.
Then fall gently
like the snow
down to the ground

Friendly Faces
Babies begin to recognize faces quickly so why not create a book of loved ones faces.  Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course you and your baby.  Put the pictures in a binder so you can show your baby all the people who love him/her.

Get that Bubble
Bubbles are fascinating to almost all children.  Around 6 months your baby will have the dexterity to reach for objects.  To encourage this blow bubbles towards him or her.  You can even “catch” the bubbles on the wand to ensure your child gets a chance to touch the bubble.

Bottle Roll
Filling a bottle partially full with dried beans or grain makes a great rolling toy.  This activity allows the child to practice his or her newly acquired crawling skills or encourage a sitter to crawl.  Roll the bottle past the child or see if the child can roll it to you.  Even if your little one just rolls the bottle back and forth between his or her hands; that improves fine motor control.

Crawling is as far in your baby’s physical development as the activities go, although there are a few designed to encourage the baby into pulling him or herself up into a standing position.  Baby Play is a great book to help parents learn how to interact with their babies.

I will start off by saying I loved it- the ideas are original, creative, and fun.  This is a “special” event book because the ideas usually take a bit of time to plan.  Most of the ideas do not require any special equipment except some communication with a Grandparent, but a few may require travel depending on where you live (every child should see snow and experience the ocean).  The ideas in the book were submitted by children, parents, grandparents, teachers, and the author, Alecia T. Devantier.  Now here are some of my favorites for the young’uns.

Pajama Ride-  Tuck your child into bed as normal, but make sure your child is wearing weather appropriate PJ’s.  After five minutes open up the door and tell your child to get out of bed because it’s time for a PJ Ride!  Hurry them out to the car and drive around the neighborhood.  Talk about how different your town, city, or neighborhood looks at night.  Then, as a special treat, maybe go for ice-cream; the drive through would probably work best (especially if you are in pajamas too).  Now imagine that fireworks start going off in the night sky because your PJ ride just happened to take place on the 4th of July!  I think that would be a pretty awesome adventure for any little one.

Camp in the Backyard (or Living Room).  Camping is an exciting time for little children.  They get to stay up late, tell stories, and eat marshmallows (only if they’re 3 or older though).  Camping in the backyard has all of the thrills of regular camping except the safety of indoors is only a few feet away.  Mom or dad can fire up the grill for hot dogs and s’mores.  Living room camping can also be thrilling.  Help the child build the tent using sheets, blankets, and clothespins.  The ceiling could also be decorated using glow-in-the-dark stars.  When night comes turn off all the lights and use only flashlights for light.  Tell stories, read books, share snacks, make up constellations from the stars on the ceiling, and snuggle.  Make sure to sleep on a quality air mattress to avoid a sore back in the morning too!

The last one I will mention is Every Kid Should Have a Personal Library Card.  Books are empowering and allowing children to check out books on their own card empowers them.  Children naturally love repetition and repetition is essential for all learning, including early reading skills.  Think about how many times your child “threw” the ball with it flying wildly before they gained some control.  They needed that in order for their brain to master the task.  Repetition in books and rereading helps children master the concepts that words are constant and have meaning.  So the next time you’re child wants to check out Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus for the 100th time, which means you’ll be reading it for at least the 1,000th; just smile and let them (even if you’re crying on the inside).

You still have 98 reasons to check out 101 Things Every Kid Should Do Growing Up (Parents Shelf 649.5 DE)!

Entertaining and Educating Babies, call number PARENTS SHELF 649.5 YO, is an activity book by Usborne, the company behind the That’s Not My… board book series.  It has over a hundred activity ideas for children ages zero to three.  The activities tell more how to set up a room or environment for your child to enjoy than doing a specific activity with your child.   There are some intriguing suggestions on the edges of the pages like using a laundry hamper as a cave to explore or how to turn a cardboard box into a play oven!  The books is divided into six age ranges and then has a section titled Useful information.  The useful information has suggestions for helping children with special needs be successful, treatment for everyday ailments, nursery rhymes, and websites with more information.  The book has enough tips and tricks that even the most experienced caregiver will probably find a new idea or two.

Your toddler is loaded with energy, it’s freezing outside, what do you do?  You come to the library and check out an activity book from the Parent’s Shelf of course!  The Toddler’s Busy Book (Parent Shelf 372.5) is one you might want to see.  It has 365 activities for children ages one and a half to three.

The activities are divided up into categories: Rainy Day Play, Kids in the Kitchen, Holiday, etc.  With 10 categories in all you can find an activity for just about anytime.  Here are a few activities from the book:  Stacking Fun has your child stacking small cans of tuna or tomato paste.  These cans are designed to stack easily and are small enough to be manageable by little hands.  Otherwise toilet paper rolls (the whole roll not just the tube) stack well too.  Another activity is called “I Think I Can” and can be done after reading The Little Engine that Could.  Model for your child an activity such as hopping on one foot.  Ask them if they think they can do it and have them say, “I think I can.  I think I can,” as they perform the action.  The Kids in the Kitchen activities often involve food creations such as Butterfly Sandwiches or Apple Smiles.  They provide entertainment and a healthy snack!  There is also a Nursery Rhymes and Fingerplay category if you’re looking for new ones or an old favorite.

Many of the activities require common materials that you probably own, but are not actively saving.  It’s okay though because during the introduction the book provides the list of every material used in the book.  That way you can stock up on shoe boxes before your child wants to make garages for all of his/her cars.

The Toddler’s Busy Book has enough variety to keep all types of toddlers happily entertained.