(from the "Teach My..." store here)
Teach My Baby (For children 6 months and older)
Contents: The yellow Teach My Baby suitcase contains four lessons: "First Numbers," "Animal Sounds", "Self" and "First Words". Each lesson is in it's own plastic envelope for easy storage.
Contents: The yellow Teach My Baby suitcase contains four lessons: "First Numbers," "Animal Sounds", "Self" and "First Words". Each lesson is in it's own plastic envelope for easy storage.
As you can see, the First Numbers envelope contains finger puppets, a book, and a scene printed on cardboard for the finger puppets to pop in and out of.
Pros: The book teaches numbers one to five by showing each of the finger puppet animals. Bot really enjoyed the finger puppets, and liked putting them in and out of the scene provided. The opposite side of the zoo scene cardboard has an illustrated body for each animal, and a corresponding number.
Cons: The finger puppets are oddly shaped, and do not fit on adult or child fingers well. They would constantly fall of of my hands. I have heard of parents sewing them onto a glove to make it easier, but that would then cause problems with the puppet scene.
Additions: Bot learned her numbers 1-5 fairly quickly, so we began to use this kit to work on additional animal sounds (except for the penguin, of course!). We also used the cardboard scene to work on the fine motor skills necessary for her to put the finger puppets through the holes and out.
Sounds:
The Sounds packets contains a book which has pictures of a dog, cat, frog, pig and duck (more on that later), and the sounds that they make. There are pet-able flash cards, and small puzzles to supplement the lesson.
Pros: We enjoyed the flash cards in this packet. Bot would pet the feathers, bumps or fur and repeat the animal name and sound. I also appreciated the adjectives used on the back of each card, such as "fluffy", or "brown".
Cons: As you can see, the "duck" used by the curriculum is actually a goose. That's kind of a glaring error. And I cannot imagine a 6 month old who would be able to put the puzzles together. At 21 months, Bot still has difficulty making the parts match up just right. I would usually put them together and let her take them apart.
Additions: I would provide a better picture of a duck to go "quack quack", and teach that the book's "duck" is a goose that goes "honk, honk".
Once your child is ready, I would suggest doing animal sounds with the finger puppets from First Numbers in conjunction with this lesson.
The First Words packet has a book full of words that your young child will come into contact with on an every day basis, such as "car", "shoes", and "ball". Every word in the book has its own cardboard puzzle where the picture can be taken out and put back in.
Pros: The book has a very helpful list of words that address things that young children would be interested in. Pieces of clothing, particular toys, items they might see while they are eating, and certain vehicles are included in this book.
Cons: The puzzle pieces are difficult for young children to remove and place back in. I would generally give Bot three of the puzzles at a time (ex: a ball, a spoon and a cup), take out the inner pieces, and have her find the correct match ("Can you put the balls together?").
Additions: Match up the cards with the real-life examples as much as you can. If we just saw a plane outside, for example, the next time we were inside, I'd pull out the "plane" card and remind her of what she had seen.
The Self envelope contains a book that labels parts of the face, flash cards with close ups of facial features on the front as well as a mirror on the back, and cardboard nesting blocks that display parts of the face as well as a mirror.
Pros: Bot loved all of the mirrors on the products, and I loved that she could see each part on the sample babies before pointing it out on herself.
Cons: The nesting boxes are advanced for the age group that this product is geared toward. We just ignored those all together, as they contain pretty much the same pictures as the book and the cards. I also would have preferred that the book talk about other body parts, not just facial features.
Cons: The nesting boxes are advanced for the age group that this product is geared toward. We just ignored those all together, as they contain pretty much the same pictures as the book and the cards. I also would have preferred that the book talk about other body parts, not just facial features.
Additions: In order to discuss the full body, we added "My Body" by Jill Ackerman.
Thoughts Overall:
Bot started this series at 12 months, and had "graduated" by 18 months. She really enjoyed her school time, and actually asked for it daily (sometimes even twice a day!) As a first time mama, I liked the structure of the lessons. If you are willing to be flexible, I think it's a good purchase.
