Baby Play (Gymboree)

With little time to read these days we found this book easy to get through quickly. It's broken down in age ranges so you can read as far as you need to at the time. We got some great ideas from it. My daughter loves the songs and games. You really forget all those little things from childhood and need a refresher. The thing I love most is that it uses things you have around the house. Batteries are not necessary!

Sometimes when you look at your infant, you may wonder...what can I do to entertain him...and myself? This book is full of wonderful songs, games, and activities to foster the growth of your child's budding senses and motor skills. It's broken down into sections of appropriate age games...the nice thing is that while it offers many fun and different songs and activities, it also tells you exactly what and how they are helping your child to develop. Full of vibrant, color photographs, this book is, in my opinion, the best baby game manual on the market. Look also for Toddler Play to continue the fun!

As other reviews clearly state, this is an excellent book! I'll give some main reasons why:
1. Provides TONS of ideas for age-appropriate games to play with baby (gets rid of repetitiveness that comes from singing one song or playing one game OVER and OVER...and takes the guessing game out of "What can I do to entertain my baby?")
2. Has vibrant illustrations/photos showing parents and babies playing/bonding during the games (which draws my attention even more to the book)
3. The games can be played practically anywhere, often not requiring toys or juggling acts on the part of the parent (thus leaving the games very versatile, functional, and practical)
Overall, this book is a MUST HAVE for any parent with an active baby. I just wish more "baby games" books were like this one!

This book is very nice and has lots of ideas for stuff to do with babies. A lot of the stuff are things most people do with babies anyway (Peek-a-boo, stretching and cycling) but it does have some ideas for songs you can sing while doing them and lots of great stuff to encourage babies development. Everything is categorized in age-appropriateness and skills. The index can be used to find activities using the skill you want to encourage in your baby (grasp and hold, coordination etc) If you have a new baby or are a caregiver or grandparent get this book of fun things to do with baby. This book also includes inexpensive toys you can make at home using stuff around the house.

I got this as a gift when my son was almost 5 months old. I wish I had gotten it sooner because it has so many great ideas. The book is laid out according to age and the games you can play at those ages. Each page describes an activity you and your baby can do together and then explains what motor skills are used and developed. What I really like about this book is that it uses items that you already have around the house to make interactive "toys" for your baby. It just goes to show that you don't have to spend a lot of money to occupy their time. Oh, I almost forgot about the songs. The authors include lyrics to songs that you may have long forgotton since your youth. I had run out of songs to sing until I read this book. Now we have a whole new library!