Book and Toy Recommendation

I love it when we find toys that do more than just entertain, make noise, and eventually collect dust. Here are a couple that recently caught my eye and have been a hit with John Michael.

We bought the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Mailbox at Target after John Michael first saw it at Gabby's birthday party. It has so many great learning features such as putting the 3 letters in the thin slot, opening and closing the mailbox to put the package in, a snail shell for turning and a jingly spinning thing to manipulate little fingers. It has a music setting and learning setting as well. After a while I get annoyed by the little bird that makes noise every time you touch it, but you could also turn off the sound.

Another great find is the Slide and Find Words book. We bought this at Barnes & Noble off the shelf. On each page, children learn their colors, match pictures on opposite pages of different sizes, and the best part is the sliding door that reveals a related picture; e.g., a banana on the outside and a sliced banana behind the window. Each sliding window (4 per page) opens in a different direction (up, down, left and right) so there's lots of fine motor work on that as well. John Michael is working on that as well as pointing with his index finger (vs. his middle finger) 50% of the time.

We also really like these blocks. They are Parents brand from Target. The blocks are bigger than traditional wooden blocks and are rubbery in texture. They can be squeezed to make a sound, have numbers and pictures all around, come in different colors, have a "lip" or raised edge for easy grabbing and the texture makes it easier to stack on top of each other as well as balance on carpet.

Finally, there's no better playmate for John Michael than Daddy and his siblings. Sorry, Target doesn't carry these particular models anymore. ;-)