Favorite Product Friday #8

This week my favorite product is the Touch and Feel Farm Animals and Touch and Feel Wild Animals books.

These books have been a favorite for both my son and daughter. Each page features a different animal with a spot for your preemie to "touch and feel" what the animal feels like. The books are sturdy so they can stand up to most of the wear and tear that a little person can put it through. Here are some ways to encourage development with these books:

1) Reading the book - children of all ages love to be read too. These books are heavy on pictures with only a few words per page so you can get through it quickly. Babies like to turn the pages themselves and you can easily just describe each page if you have a preemie who is more interested in turning the pages then what is on them.

2) Textures - as you go through the pages, encourage your preemie to feel each page. Show them how the "touch and feel" part is different than the smooth pages. You can tell your preemie "doesn't that feel soft/hard/smooth/etc."

3) Animal sounds - you can use these books to start to teach your preemie about the sounds that animals make. Tell him/her what the animal is and then make the sound that goes with it. Once your preemie starts to verbalize the sounds, let them tell you what each sound the animal makes.

There a lot of options for books that offer a variety of textures to touch and experience. Find one that you like and have fun watching your preemie learn and explore!