Submit your birth story by sending us an 
Picture This! A Reusable, Refillable Board Book Photo Album.
Little ones love to sit and look at pictures of family, friends , pets, places and and anything which visually and emotionally stimulates them. Whilst little ones love looking at images and photos, it can often be stressful for parents who are trying to protect photo albums, frames and laptop screens from any damage. Rather than preventing and discouraging your little one from handling photos which may be of personal value, eliminate the worry by introducing your child to a ‘Board Book’ Album from Board Book Albums, LLC.
These sturdy and robust ‘Take Your Pix’ thick cardboard albums are available in a wide range of colours and designs. Each album has ten pages and twenty slots for 4” x 6” photos. The cover features a separate slot for a cover shot, each photo is protected within thick cardboard pages and plastic covering. Each page has a ridge to enable little hands to flick from page to page with ease.
Photos can easily be put in and taken out by adults using a slot in the top of the page. Measuring 7” x 7”, the Board Book Albums LLC ‘Take Your Pix’ album is similar in size, look and feel to a children’s story board book. All the Board Book Albums are free standing and ideal for display, thus this may be an ideal gift for special occasions.
Mums Baby Magazine filled a Board Book Albums LLC ‘Take Your Pix’ album with twenty photographs and left it in the ‘safe’ hands of a toddler, the fact that the child was able to look at photographs without assistance boosted their confidence and built skills in independence. They greatly enjoyed having the freedom to flick through photos without a concerned parent looming over their shoulder to help turn pages carefully.
Board Book Albums, LLC ‘Take Your Pix’ album’s can be kept within children’s reach to allow little eyes to explore pictures and images to their hearts content without the worry of tearing or damage.
Ideal for scrapbooking, keeping special memories safely together and photo books for children, Board Book Albums LLC ‘Take Your Pix’ albums are available from http://www.boardbookalbums.com for only $19.95 (£12.08).
March’s Top Tester, Phillipa Ashfield reviews Peppa Pig’s Super Noisy Sound Book.
Phillipa Ashfield, 38 from the West Midlands is Mum to five children: Eleanor (3 months), Chloe (21 months), Ben (11 years), Shannon (16 years) and Sasha (20 years).
Phillipa purchased the Peppa’s Super Noisy Sound Book from Asda at Christmas time for only £5.00.
This book is colourful, eye catching and has buttons on each page which match the images so that the child can select what they see! The buttons are easy to press and allow the child to play a matching game between images and sounds, over time building sound recognition skills.
The Peppa’s Super Noisy Sound Book is based upon episodes from the number one pre-school children’s TV show. The book has eighteen sounds in total to choose from and is the ideal gift for any Peppa Pig fan. Chloe( 21 months) is particularly fond of this book. However, Phillipa suggests that is could be improved by having volume control!
Peppa Pig’s Super Noisy Sound Book is currently available for only £8.19 from www.amazon.co.uk or alternatively you can source this book for even less using the amazon marketplace (currently retailing this book at £6.48).
Reading with Rhyme and Repetition
Reading is an important activity which you cannot start soon enough with your little ones! It is even recommended to try reading to your baby during pregnancy to help your baby recognise the sound of their parents voices, It is never too early to start!
Although little ones may not fully understand the full content of books, there are ways in which to spark interest in reading from birth onwards. By introducing picture books which include the use of repetition and rhyme, your little one can have their visual senses stimulated whilst listening to a rhythmic and memorable rhyming stories which they will over time remember and treasure.
Julia Jarman and Adrian Reynolds released ‘The Big Red Bath’ in March 2005, available in a board book edition, this charming book uses repetitive rhymes and onomatopoeia’s to tell a story of two children, Ben and Bella, an assortment of animals on a journey through the imagination. The pictures are visually stimulating and captivate children’s interest. ‘The Big Red Bath’ won the ‘Stockport Schools Book Award for Early Years’.
Following ‘The Big Red Bath’s’ success, Julia Jarman and Adrian Reynolds released the sequel to this ‘The Big Blue Bath’ in October 2007.
The Big Blue Train features bright, exuberant pictures which capture the imagination. Once again Jarman and Reynolds make use of repetition and rhyme, creating a rhythmic storyline featuring the well loved characters Ben and Bella.
The Big Red Bath is available from www.amazon.co.uk for £4.10, The Big Blue Train is also available from www.amazon.co.uk for £4.39. These brilliant books are ideal for reading aloud from bump to birth and beyond!
Bring books to life with the Thats not my… series.
Children love books, it is even suggested that parents should read to their little ones even before birth to encourage voice familiarity.
Although reading is a fantastic, educational and inspirational experience for both children and adults, it can often be difficult to read to an infant as they are far more interested in trying to grab at the pages and chew on the corners of the book.
Rather than battle on trying to read books to your infant whilst holding them out of their reach, why not try introducing a hard back, board book which children are able to hold, touch and feel without the worrying of screwing up or ripping pages.
‘That’s not my…’ books from Usborne offer infants and children the chance to touch and explore a range of textures and materials whilst sharing a story. Usborne have produced a wide range of these books based upon varying animals and characters e.g bears, dogs, dinosaurs, monkeys and much more.
Available for only £3.60 from www.amazon.co.uk the ‘That’s not my…’ series enable your child to really get into their books from an early age.
Brilliant Books for Babes and Beyond: MBMs Top Tester Linzi reviews The Snail and the Whale along with her two little readers Ollie and George.
Linzi, Mum to Ollie (2 years) and George (7 months) kindly took the time to review some reading for MBM. Linzi tells us more about the reading experience…
One of the unexpected delights of becoming a parent is being able to read and enjoy some wonderful children’s books. I am a self confessed book worm, and it is great to now have a legitimate reason to browse the books in the children’s section of the bookshop! The Snail and the Whale is one of my favourite books for kids, and luckily it is also one of my 2.5 year old son’s favourite books! 
Written in lilting rhyme, it is the story of a sea snail and a humpback whale who go sailing together. The snail sees some wonderful things in her travels but is left feeling very small by what she sees. This is remedied when it is only she who can save the whale when he needs help. This is a story of travel, friendship, the vast beauty of the earth and most importantly; even small things can make a big difference.
As with the modern classic also by this author, The Gruffalo, the text is in full rhyme which conveys the story brilliantly and with wonderful rhythm. Such passages like:
“This is the whale who came one night
When the tide was high and the stars were bright.
A humpback whale, immensely long,
Who sang to the snail a wonderful song
Of shimmering ice and coral caves
And shooting stars and enormous waves.”
make this a firm favourite in this family and the rhythm also makes the book appeal to younger children.
The illustrations by Axel Scheffler capture wonderfully the story and the beauty of the sea. My son loves to point out the different characters; the snail, the whale, the cat, the children, the fire engine. The colour is rich and vibrant and really brings it to life.
We love this book so much that when our cat destroyed our first copy we immediately went out and replaced it! If you only buy one book for your child this year, make it this one.
MBM would like to thank Linzi, Ollie and George for sharing their thoughts and opinions with the magazine. You can buy your copy of ‘The Snail and the Whale’ by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler from www.amazon.co.uk for £2.98 or £1.39 from the Amazon Marketplace (a bargain book if we say so ourselves!)
Follow Us!