From Head to Toe

 From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
3
This board book came highly recommended from a good friend, but it just didn't work for us. "I am a penguin and I can turn my head." It's a book you can get into...unless you're my Ian-who apparently is not a participatory reader. It's a nice story, and I tried to encourage the movements by doing it myself, but it just didn't catch on. A good book, just not for us.

Mama, Do You Love Me?

Mama Do You Love Me? by Barbara M. Joose
4
We have the board book version of this book, but it's not just for toddlers. The main premise is a little girl asking her mother: would you still love me if... And mama always responds I would be surprised or angry or whatever, but yes, I would still love you. I love that it portrays the Inuit (Alaskan Indian) culture and introduces many new words such as mukluck (like moccasins) and ptarmigan (type of bird).A great book.

Game: Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar Game
2
This is a rather odd game. It doesn't teach much except how to play a board game. You spin the spinner, and move your caterpillar box that many spaces. But, you rarely get to go as far as the spinner says because you have to stop every 4 spaces and "do" something.  The directions are rather confusing, so we had to make up our own version of what you do when you stop, but it mainly involves putting items that the caterpillar ate in your box. Boring, even for a 4 year old, and like I said, confusing.

Big Red Barn

Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
3
This is an ok book. We have it as a board book but it is rather wordy for the toddler age who need board books. There is really no substance, no plot to the book, it just says that certain animals are in, around and near the barn and sometimes gives the animal sound, then at the end of the day they all go into the barn to sleep. "And a big white hen standing on one leg.  And under the hen was a quiet egg." Boring, but it is out, so we read it periodically. I think we've read it maybe a half dozen times in 4 years.

Jack's House

Jack's House by Karen Magnuson Beil
4
A cute version of The House that Jack Built, Max, the dog does all the work building the house for Jack. It does build on each item throughout the book, just like the original. I love that it centers around the actual building of the house: perfect for boys. This is one Ian asks for again and again.

Rumble in the Jungle

 Rumble in the Jungle by Giles Andreae
3
This book is not what I expected. Turns out it's little poems about jungle animals.They're cute, but not full of information or anything. I like the idea of introducing young children to poetry, however, this is nothing special.  I do like the concept that the beginning of the book starts out in the morning, and it ends at night time.

Game: Zingo

 Zingo from Thinkfun
4
 This is my $2 garage sale find. For ages 4 and up is very accurate.  Ian just turned 4 and he loves this game.  Basically it's a twist on bingo. You move the thing (don't know what to call it) and it releases 2 tiles. The first person to grab the tile gets to use it on their board. The tile is listed with the picture and word so even non-readers can play. There are 2 sides to each card. The yellow side is easier-there are less pictures in common. There are more than one tile of each picture, some have 2, some 3. We started playing with 2 cards each, and I was amazed how after looking at both his cards for a minute, he was able to tell as soon as the tile was revealed whether or not he needed it. What's more, he then began helping me and telling me whether I needed either tile. 

This game improves memory and supposedly helps with word recognition, though I'm not sure how to tell that. Overall a great game-I would have payed full price ($20) for it in the future, but so glad I found it cheaper.