Reviews
Luschka 98

It’s a great joy to myself and my husband that Ameli enjoys reading. She loves paging through books, and always asks us to ‘read the words to me Mama, read the words’.  I remember when she was a baby my lovely friend Kesia said that she never said no to her little boy when he wanted her to read to him. It didn’t matter what she was doing, she’d read, even if it was just for a minute. I can’t pretend to be that good, but I think it’s awesome, and I do wonder whether Ameli’s advanced language skills are down to having been read to and with from a very early age. 

Parragon have brought out a new interactive range of books for babies called Little Learners.  These have been designed with key learning concepts to ‘guide’ babies through development stages between birth and age 2.  While they were developed by educational experts, they were tested by mums and babies, which means they should really hit the spot.

Little Learners were created in seven fun formats including cloth, pull-out picture play, finger puppets and even a bath book gift set.

The books are bright and beautifully designed. We received the book  This Little Piggy, which has a finger puppet pig and a hole in the middle for the piglet to peep through and wiggle up and down as you read through the nursery rhyme. We also received a set of Stroller Books, but since we don’t use a pram we’ve attached them to the playgym. Aviya is too young still to play with them, but Ameli loves her little sisters books and will take them and ‘read’ them.

The books are a fantastic quality, of such a standard that they would make lovely gifts too. They are baby proof – meaning there’s no tearing of pages, and the paper isn’t paper, but lovely thick board.  While I’m sure they’d get ruined eventually if they were used as chew toys, they withstand a fair bit of drool and being thrown around.

We have been shortlisted in the MADS awards as best pregnancy blog and best new baby blog. I would be so grateful if you would take 1 minute and vote or us to winin those categories.

The only annoyance I have with them is more to do with my toddler – the buggy books have a loop threaded through them, and Ameli loves taking the loop out and separating them from the book. It’s only a problem in so far as if they go missing they won’t work so well as buggy books anymore.

The books are beautifully illustrated, and while wording is sparse, there’s plenty on each page to ‘discuss’ which is really nice as it means the story can go on for as long or short as your imagination goes.

There are more books in the range – Slide and See features bright animal artwork to help parents teach their children about sharing and feelings.  Touch and Feel Board Books include encouraging textures and gentle artwork, and Foam Books introduce first words in an easy to hold design.  The range is completed by a Bath Book with Rubber Duck Toy, Cloth Books, and Stroller Books, all designed to help children learn that books are toys in themselves and can go wherever they do.

Little Learners aims to make key learning concepts easy for parents as well, with icons on each book indicating its learning functions: interactive play, hand-eye coordination, language development, first words, knowledge of the world, listening skills and a sense of touch.

The full range is available at all major retailers including Tesco, WH Smith, Sainsbury’s, Amazon and Early Learning Centre with books ranging from £2.99 to £6.99. The range is also available internationally throughout Europe, the United States, Australia (as Little Me), & Latin America (in Spanish).

Competition

You know I wouldn’t leave you without a competition, so here it is. One reader can win the above set of books simply by heading to Parragon, browsing their Little Learners range, then coming back here and telling me which looks like it could be a favourite in your home.

For an additional entry, (which is not compulsory, and is not sponsored by Facebook and which has nothing to do with Facebook or its employees) you can like Parragon on Facebook.

This competition finishes at 23:59 on 28 May and the winner will be randomly drawn. Winners will be announced here and on the Diary of a First Child Facebook Page. Please check these to find out who won.

Please read the competition rules.

 

You do not have to tweet or share this competition to enter, and doing so does not give you additional entries unless otherwise stated, but doing so helps ensure that I can keep bringing you competitions! You can subscribe to Diary of a First Child by RSS  or to our competitions only RSS feed or email. You can also follow us on Facebook or on Twitter. We hope to see you back again soon!

 

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Categories: 1 - 2 By Age Communication, Language and Literacy Competitions Home Learning Products Reviews

Author: Luschka

98 Comments

Little Learners Books Review

  2. For me i would have to be I Can Share – witth 3 girls I need to start early! 🙂 @pipersky1

  3. What lovely books! Our baby is currently fascintaed by animal so I think the Animal Touch & Feel book would be a fine favourite. We are lucky – she seems to love books and really hope it isn;t something she grows out of!

  4. Jo is two weeks old today 😀 so needs very basic books at the moment – I like the look of the animal book and word book (oh worrying I am going to be a pushy mum :/ )

    1. Congratulations on your baby! Don’t worry about being pushy! Reading to babies is so good for them! They absorb everything, from birth. Have a look at the literacy trust’s website – it’s really interesting.

  5. I believe that Colours Touch and Feel Board Book would be very much loved in our house. I have liked on facebook and following on twitter @dr_reenu

  8. I feel happy slide and see book would go down a storm in our house. My little boy loves practising different facial expressions for his mood and loves to copy other peoples.

  10. Little piggy because he’s always making the ‘oink oink’ sound and it’s too cute!

  13. I did go and look at the website, and there is a great selection of books, but I’d have to stick with Finger Puppet Book: This Little Piggy as a potential favourite for me errm I mean the grandchildren! I like books that are fun to read as well as fun for the child you’re reading to!

  14. This little piggy as my baby boy’s nanny was piggy obsessed and this would go well with the toy piggy she left him

  17. we have a grey cat too i think this – I Feel Happy Slide and See would be a fave in our house

  22. I think my son would love the snuggle book. He loves snuggling up to me at night time and he can have this one in bed to look at himself because it is cloth (he loves ripping things).

  24. I think my boys would love the Yum Yum soft faom book because they are both little monkeys! 🙂
    Thankyou for the fab competition!

  25. It has to be the Animals Touch and Feel Board Book (Little Learners)my grand daughter is obsessed with animals and wanting to touch them at the moment she loves books and when she not trying to read them we can always have a little chew (LOL) tetthing must be so painful….

  31. Have liked Parragon on Facebook, I also mentioned you sent me over to them. Thank you for the competition x

  32. I think my little boy would love the Touch and Feel Animals! He adores animals 🙂 X

  33. The animals touch and feel book would be my little boys fave because he loves touching and feeling textures

  34. Animals Touch and Feel Board Book (Little Learners) – I think my Grandson would like this one.

    Liking on Facebook (Chas Gilbert)
    Following on Twitter (@claner)

  35. My youngest cousin is partially sighted, and has been since birth. So her greatest joy is being read to! She loves to hold onto her daddys arm as he reads her Goldilocks & the three Bears as she loves the vibration in his body when he does Daddy bears voice! She loves giraffes and wild-life, so I think her favourite would be the Yum Yum, foam shaped word book! She loves Monkeys! xxx Thank-you for the fantastic review and competition!

  38. These books look wonderful and it has been very difficult to choose just one! I think my little princess would love the Colours Touch and Feel Board Book the best. She is just coming to the right age where she loves to feel different textures in her cloth and board books so this would be perfect for her.

  40. Finger Puppet Book: Mary had a Little Lamb (Little Learners) Looks like it would be a possible favourite in our house!

  42. i would pick I Feel Happy Slide and See my daughter love books you interact with

  43. it would have to be the Colours book , my little one is so interested in the different colours of things and actually saw his first rainbow last week and was amazed by all the colours , thank you for a lovely giveaway 🙂

  48. Finger Puppet Book: This Little Piggy (Little Learners) introduces fun piggy toy for learning nursery rhymes and world around them

  49. gotta be the I CAN SHARE SLIDE AND SEE as my 2 are not great with sharing and think this book could help them x

  51. ‘the dog i love best’ looks like fun. Both Piper and Daisy love dogs so they would be sure to be enthralled by this 🙂

  52. Mary Had a Little Lamb finger puppet book looks great and would be a huge hit with my finger-puppet obsessed toddler

  53. I have liked on FB and left a post to let them know that I discovered their website through your blog.

  54. I Can Share Slide and See would be perfect for our house right now. Our second daughter is 5 days old and so far our eldest has been lovely with her but she thinks that all the baby’s toys are hers and she isn’t keen on sharing.

  57. My daughter loves dogs so the finger puppet dog would certainly become one of her favourite toys 🙂
    @Jlnorris2010

  60. I can share would be good for my little one because he doesn’t know how to yet! Lol

  63. I like ‘I feel happy’. I think it looks a good way to help children recognise and describe how they are feeling.

  64. would most certainly be the touch and feel animals as my little one is obsessed by next door’s dog!

  66. I Feel Happy looks like it could be a fantastic addition to our little collection! 😀

  71. my grandson would love the Yum Yum Shaped Foam Book, because the picture is of a cheeky monkey, which is exactly what he is!!!

  77. It would have to be This Little Piggy !! Sade adores that poem and waves her feet in your face when she wants to do the piggy song lol x

  78. i love the look of the this little piggy finger puppet book ! i know a certain young man that would love it ! x

  79. I think it would be Animal as my son loves looking at animals and he likes touchy-feely books.

  81. The Snuggle Cloth Book (Little Learners)looks fab, great for my baby grandson who at 5 months loves to eat everything! And I do believe its never too young to enjoy a good book

  88. Animals and Words Baby’s First Buggy Books (Little Learners)my little girl would love this book. She has just started to learn sounds and would love the fact it has a soft strap to attach to a buggy 🙂

  89. I like Parragon on Facebook, and have left a message on their wall saying you sent me

  90. Its really hard to pick a favourite as they all look so good but I would probably go for the Animals Touch and Feel Board Book first. I hadn’t heard of these before so thank you for your review.

  91. I think the favourite would be Yum Yum Shaped Foam Book (Little Learners. My baby boy loves animals and the easy to hold feature means it would be resistant to his dropping and throwing!

  93. My little girl who recently turned one is into dogs lately so it would be nice if she could have The Dog I Love Best 🙂

  96. I have liked Parragon’s Facebook page and posted on their wall! hank you for the lovely review and giveaway!

  97. Ahhh All the books are lovely! I think my youngest little girl would love FINGER PUPPET BOOK: MARY HAD A LITTLE LAMB simply because I call her Little Lamb all the time!

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