Favorite Product #16

Last week's favorite product was the Bright Baby First Words book.

This is a book we had when my son was little and I still love it today. Each page features a different picture and the name of the object "boy/girl/dog/teddy/etc" underneath. The pictures are very bright and simple. They are a mix of real objects and toys. Both of my kids loved to flip through this book and the sturdy pages make it easy for me to let them. Here are some great ways to incorporate this book into your developmental play time:

1) Reading - babies love to listen to your voice. Read them the name of each object as you point to the picture. You can even ad lib "Look at the boy. He has blonde hair just like you." Anything that gets your preemie engaged with the process.

2) Turn the page - once kids figure out the whole turning the page concept, they love to try it out. It's an important developmental milestone as well. Encourage your preemie to turn each page (even if they turn faster than you can read). Board books are a great place to start because they are very sturdy and easy to hold on to.

3) Sounds - some of the pictures in the book correspond to something that makes noise - a dog, cat, train, truck, etc. As you look at the picture you can say "look at the cat. Cats say meow, etc"

4) Tap the page - Encourage your preemie to tap the picture on the page as you talk about it. When you get to the dog you can say "look at the dog. Where is the dog? Can you show me?"

Mommy tip: this is a great book to bring out when you have had one of those days. It doesn't take a lot of thought and it's easy to mindlessly ab lib about what is on the page. It keeps your preemie entertained and eases some of the stress of having to entertain your little one when you're feeling quite into it.