Simple Activities For Toddlers: A Practical Play-At-Home Handbook For Parents

Product Tested By Kris Barrett – Boo 4 Years

Kris Awarded The Simple Activities For Toddlers book 5/5

A fantastic wipe clean cover was a great first impression, it made me think the author understood #MumLife. I loved the idea of crafting activities that were designed to be done at home. The craft activities pictured in the front made me want to find out more. The activities featured in the book were easy to source and some items could be used repeatedly. We now have a ‘junk’ box which is full of colourful lids, pots, scoops in so we can use them for lots of play and learning sessions. The activities are great because they extend learning, hold their attention and support learning in Reception at school. This did spark curiosity and the rocket and moon-scale was lots of fun and we all used our imagination! Having the engaging images gave us a brilliant starting point and they adapted and changed the session as they came up with ideas. This did help them learn in a fun way.  They would refer to play sessions we had done so it built in their prior knowledge too. There was a great mix of imaginative, logical, scientific, problem solving activities. This book has kept us all entertained. This book really does create opportunities to bonk with your children and make lovely life-long memories.  Sometimes it can be difficult to think of activities but with the friendly and engaging approach of the book it gives great starting points. Busy working parent life can sometimes leave you short of ideas but this is good to flick through for an idea the following day. A quick look in the ladder and the recycling makes preparing for an activity simple. We have used this book so many times and even more now it’s the school holidays. My children liked the pictures, they like looking through and suggesting which we should do. I liked the pictures as they were gentle and inspirational. Great quality and I especially liked the wipe clean cover. I would buy more in the series and we will look for them in the Library as well. I thought it was a little expensive before we started using it but agree it does provide value for money. I would gift copies of this to friends. I would recommend without question. It’s engaging, educational, evocative and enjoyable. I wondered how much we would use the book but the children enjoyed choosing from the clear pictures their next activity. The word bank at the bottom of each page was a fantastic idea also.We will be buying copies of this for friends to use with their children. Kris Barrett – Boo 4 Years

Product Tested By Caroline Duncan – Poppy & Lily 4 & 7 Years

Caroline Awarded The Simple Activities For Toddlers book 4.8/5

When this arrived it looked intriguing and quite thick.  Great ideal for a book with very good new ideas. The front cover did not capture my children’s attention I had to prompt them as it is quite a big book, so doesn’t look like a toddler story book. It was good how it gave new ideas which were easy to do and using things we already had or I could improvise with something else to get the same effect. My daughter enjoyed doing the activities, my 7 year old was old wanting to join in with some too. The activities did spart their curiosity. They always enjoys doing new things. They especially like the tasks that changed the state such as fizzing and chipping/melting ice. I did initially think it would only repeat things we’d already seen, but there were plenty of new ideas. This does help them to learn in a fun way and my girls didn’t even realise they were learning doing these activities.  This is a good educational book.  The type of activities Poppy will do when she starts school or might have done at nursery.  They’ll help build dexterity in her hands and understand cause and effect. This book did captivate and challenge my girls. There are a lot of ideas in the book and they can be adapted to be repeated in a slightly different way another time. This book gets the child enthralled so you can spend more time playing together. I have used this book so far for 6 activities but plan to do more. My daughter enjoyed the activities. I liked the step by step guides. Good quality and well bound. I would buy more books in the series from this author. I do think the book is a bit expensive. I would buy this book if I saw it on offer below £10.00. I would recommend as features great ideas for their children. Have plenty of good ideas for young ones to help them learn through play without realising. Well laid out book with plenty of pictures to illustrate what the end result could be.  Easy to follow as each activity is like a baking recipe.  Saying what I’d need in advance and then what to do step by step.  It then has a developing section to explain why it’s good to do the task and what I’m trying to achieve.  Caroline Duncan – Poppy & Lily 4 & 7 Years

Product Tested By Eva Glinwell – Lauren & Shardee – 3 & 5 Years

Eva Awarded The Simple Activities For Toddlers book 5/5

This looked quite intriguing and was keen to see what this book had to offer. The idea of the book was great with so many things to do inside for a growing family. I would say the front cover interested me more than the girls. I loved the ideas listed in the book.  Helping us to get creative and active using things we had in the house. I was really surprised how much this book had to offer with crafts, games and lots more.  Both girls enjoyed the activities we tried out in this book. It was good to try new things, plan things to do with the girls and I found lots of ideas to help me keep them entertained. The lovely thing about how these activities are presented in they are learning in a fun way and do not realise it as we are all having fun together. Totally agree this book is very educational and this has been a godsend during the summer holidays.  Will help Lauren prepare for school and has helped Shardee to become more inquisitive about things in general. This helped me plan and manage my time with the girls and the time we sent experimenting and doing lots of new activities gave us very special time together. I have used this book a lot during the summer holidays and will continue to use in the future too. My girls were just eager to try out the activities and get creative which has been so much fun. The step by step guide is great.  Really good quality book packed full of great ideas. I have already bought this for my sister and I would highly recommend. For what this book delivers good value. The book is well presented, illustrations show you the outcome and so many different activities to tackle which is not just fun for my girls but has given me great enjoyment seeing them getting so involved in so many different things.  We loved it. Eva Glinwell – Lauren & Shardee – 3 & 5 Years