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Books for Baby
Books for baby need to be safe, indestructible and easy to clean.
Should you look for baby cloth books, board books, interactive books, or pop-up books? How do you decide?
When you shop for books for babies, keep your child's interests in mind.
Babies show the most interest in books that talk about their daily interests.
Baby books that talk about familiar objects (Mom, Dad, bottle, clothes, body parts) and daily activities (like eating or taking a bath) and simple topics like letters of the alphabet are most interesting to very young children.
On the other hand, stories that talk about more abstract things like fairies, knights in foreign lands and feelings are too advanced for babies.
How to Choose Books for Babies
In addition to the subject of a baby book, there are some other things to look for:
Simple pictures – too much detail is confusing, and a baby's vision may not be developed enough to discriminate details in a busy picture.
Color – color gets the attention of a baby.
Short story – attention spans are very short. The story should be just a few pages long, and the sentences should be short and simple.
Rhythm and Rhyme - Babies like the sounds of repetition, rhythm and rhyming words.
Touch - Many books for baby have textures to touch (that go along with the story). Babies love to participate in the story by touching and feeling.
Surprises - Childrens pop up books often have funny surprises that can produce giggles from your baby—over and over. Babies will anticipate the pop up and then laugh hilariously!
Durability - Babies have not developed fine motor skills yet, and their hand movements are somewhat clumsy. Books should be light enough for your baby to hold and strong enough to endure some wear and tear.
Cleaning - You should be able to sanitize or clean the book easily, because babies put everything into their mouths. Baby cloth books can often be thrown into the washer, and small board books for baby can be wiped clean with a damp soapy cloth.
Here are a few examples of good books for babies. If you want to see more details, simply click on the book's name:
Time for Bed (Big Book Edition) by Mem Fox and Jane Dyer – Animals are cuddled and loved by their mothers. This book is nice in that babies like it, and toddlers enjoy it at a different level, too. So your child will enjoy it early and grow into it later! The book features rhyming words and nice illustrations.
Blue Hat, Green Hat - This is another fun book that babies enjoy and later, as toddlers they will enjoy at a higher level. The books gets really silly for toddlers, and it teaches colors, dressing skills and that it's OK to make a mistake—all without really teaching!
Baby! Talk! - Babies love this one! There are photos of babies and each double page talks about a familiar activity like peek-a-boo, uh-oh or so-big. There is also a photo of a baby with its body parts names. A fun book that you can use to interact with your baby. Usually a baby is ready for this book at about 3 months.
Big Book: My Body / Mi cuerpo - both English and Spanish. Start your baby's bilingual training early by letting him hear both languages as an infant. He'll learn the parts of the body and know them in two languages!
These are just a few of the great books for baby on the market. Keep the pointers above in mind when you are looking for a baby book, and you'll be sure to find a book that your baby will “read” over and over!
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