When raising a young child, one of the foremost issues on your mind should be ensuring they are engaged. From their earliest months, children become sponges – desperate to get as much information as they possibly can. However, the challenge in making sure they get enough engagement and education at those early months is quite vast. With that in mind, you might wish to think about investing in a baby activity book. With a good quality book to educate the child with, you can give them various activities to enjoy that boost their confidence, control of their bodies, and usage of their minds.
What, though, should you be looking out for when it comes to buying an activity book? With so much to think about and look into, what matters?
Let’s take a quick look at the most important questions to ask yourself when buying an activity book.
Buying safe books
While the content of just about any activity book for babies should be safe for their consumption, the material matters. First off, you want to take a quick look at the size of the book. Book sizing might seem an odd thing to care about, but it’s for good reasons.
You see, most kids tend to have a nasty habit of trying to eat just about everything. This means that you have to give them items that are more or less impossible to eat. Therefore, you want a book that is made from strong, sturdy materials that A) won’t be edible and B) won’t taste very nice if they do try to eat it!
Also, look into the size of the book; it should be something they can open and use on their own, or at least with minimal help from you over time.
What about the material?
The actual content is very important to focus on here. We recommend that you look to buy a book that comes with easy learning material. For example, something like giving them the chance to move items around the page, or maybe a book that shows the name of an animal next to a picture of said animal.
Your aim should be to come up with solutions that allows your baby to play with the book easily on a daily basis. They should be able to open it up, go to any of its pages, and engage with the book. Make sure the learning material within, then, actually has some kind of educational value.
For a youngster, making sure they can easily learn things like animal names or even numbers is a great way to help them enjoy the experience of learning that little bit more overall.
Does it make a sound?
Many good quality books today come with a little audio section built-in that you might want to work with. This can be very useful for those who want to help their child press a button or pull a dial to make some audio play. You could, for example, have them sitting down to go through an interactive book that pops up and the like.
These books tend to give them an understanding that they are able to make the book react by pulling on its various features. This is great for helping a young child to appreciate that they can make things happen simply by using their hands. Most kids will also love the fact that it tends to make a lot of noise, giving them ample entertainment and ensuring they feel pretty content.
These books that make sounds make ideal activity books for babies.
Is the activity book 3D?
Another big part of buying a good kids activity book is to make sure that you has some kind of 3D interaction. For example, it could be a book that once you open the pages up in full a little pop-up design comes up. This is very useful for making sure you can get a book that is very simple to work with and gives them ample entertainment.
The sensory benefit that come from seeing your child interact with something in this way is a thrill. It also helps them to realise that using their hands can make things change. Now, to an adult, that is an obvious lesson. To a young baby trying to find their way in this world? These tiny lessons can have a major impact on their general confidence around the place.
3D books offer something that looks really impressive and stands out for the right reasons.
What about the feel?
Lastly, make sure you take the time to see just how the book feels. Some of the best baby activity books are great because they just contain various materials. Your child can go to one page and feel some denim; on another page they might feel a fluffy texture. It helps them to learn about various textures, to understand that different materials come with their own feeling and ensuring they can start to understand that the things they touch will provide a reaction based on how they feel.
For a young baby, seeing them safely interact with important materials they are likely to come across in their day to day life can be very important. That’s why you should absolutely focus on the feel that comes out from any particular book that you buy; this can be essential to their long-term education.
Buying an activity book
With so many things to think about, the best activity you can undertake is a little fact finding mission online. Spend some time looking at other products and materials and see what kind of baby activity books seem to give a good variety. You might already have some story books; changing it up to something else could have a big consequence and benefit to their ability to expand their education and understanding.
These are the kind of things you want to get right as a parent. Buy the right activity book, though, and you can give your young baby a whole new way of learning about the world and interacting with it accordingly!