Great Gift Books (Toys?) for Little Ones

Holiday shopping often leaves me wondering whether kids have too many toys. The answer is always, “YES!” I would really rather see books on their wish lists. Then I start thinking, “Gosh, wouldn’t it be great if some of their favorite characters could be in books that seem like toys?” Then I could feel good buying this sort of book/toy, knowing that they would actually spend a lot of time with it, look forward to using it and really enjoy it.

Well, take a look at this great electronic book, called the Disney Princess Talking Dictionary.

If your child loves the Disney Princesses, she’ll love this electronic book (and so will you!). Look at that electronic keypad on the right side of the book — it is so fun and inviting, the kids will go right to those buttons and push and push. You know how they always do that with these types of books? But this one will give them much more than a beeping car, it will let them spell out English words, tell them what they’ve just spelled (along with its definition) and if they push the “Spanish” button, it will also tell them the Spanish equivalent of the English word. Who knew an English/Spanish dictionary could be so fun!!?

But there’s more — the book part of this electronic book! The pages of the Talking Dictionary (just to the left of the keypad) are filled with four, five or six definitions on each page. Color illustrations accompany each definition, as well as a contextual sentence and then the same sentence in Spanish. I especially loved that last feature. With it, a child sees the word used in both an English and a Spanish sentence. So the book is great for English speaking kids who are learning Spanish as well as Spanish speaking children for whom English is a second language.

Each word, by the way, is presented in clear, black uppercase letters on a tastefully designed pink (or blue) ribbon, with a light blue (or pink) oval near it that spells out its Spanish equivalent in lower case print.

It’s a great way to interact with your child (while she views her favorite characters and has fun with those buttons). As I mentioned earlier, this book will really appeal to kids who are right at that age when they can’t get enough responsive buttons. So your child will be happy to play with it, and you’ll be happy that she’s actually learning something rather than just hearing a car zooming or a cymbal clashing.

Here’s an example: press “B” “E” “D” and you’ll hear each letter after each push. Then, a gentle push of the purple “Spanish” button would give you this: “In English, we say ‘bed.’ In Spanish, we say, ‘cama‘ ” while your child follows along in the book. Push the blue “Definition” button and you’ll hear “Bed — furniture made especially for resting and sleeping,” followed by a brief and pleasant lullaby jingle. The speakers of the electronic keypad have an average sound-quality for books of this type. So don’t expect hi-def sound with that jingle, but the words, letters and sentences are clearly spoken and audible.

Now remember, this is not just an electronic toy. As she holds it in her lap, your child will see a picture of a bed, a blue ribbon with the word “BED” and a pink oval with the word “cama” next to it. Underneath the ribbon, you’ll see the definition, “Furniture made especially for resting and sleeping” then an English contextual sentence, “Each Dwarf has a tiny bed” and its Spanish equivalent, “Cada Enanito tiene una cama muy pequena.”

This book will feel like a book to you, but to your child it will be an exciting, interactive toy. We consider this a must have for any family with a child who loves the Disney princesses. It’s a great way to introduce another language or to support an already established learning program. Why settle for a basic princess book or a doll when you can have so much more with this product?!

Oh, and we wanted to mention that we especially love the Mulan definiton, “Mulan: a heroic woman who saves her country.” My kids have watched that movie so many times! They would love to hear that definition when they push the button, followed by my reading the next sentence, “The Emperor praises Mulan for defeating Shan-Yu.”

We’re excited about this book!! It provides so much interactive fun for you to share with your child and, for those times when you have to tend to other mom duties, your child will enjoy exploring it independently. It’s quite a find!

Speaking of finding it, you can often find these electronic books in your local Target, Wal-mart, Toys R Us, Costco, Sam’s Club or BJs, but if they’re sold out, you can also buy them online.

When I went to their site (click on “Shop Now” in the lower right corner of the home page), I was delighted to find that they publish these electronic books with far more characters than just the Disney Princesses. In fact they showed 79 titles in the category they call, “Electronic Books.” Just look for that heading and you’ll see familiar names, like Dora, Diego, Elmo, The Wiggles, Scooby Doo, Sesame Street, Little Einstein and Thomas the Tank Engine. And it’s not just bilingual dictionaries.

Look at this Sponge Bob book, ideal for older kids (K-Grade 2)!

Sponge Bob’s Sea Sale

We also recommend the book called, Learn to Write with Disney Friends because it is another well made, fun interactive electronic book. With this book, your child holds a large yellow stylus (or writing instrument) as she hears spoken letters, a variety of sound effects, words, and instructions.

For example, when she presses the “Aa” key, your child will hear ” ‘A’ [whistles] ‘A’ is the first letter of apple

[crunching sound of person biting into apple is heard three times, then...]. Write the letter ‘A’ on the pad.” The voice is clear and easy to understand.

While she hears that voice, your child looks into the screen in the upper right corner of the book (or the top of the giant pencil) and sees the letter being written, followed by an animated picture of an apple. Then, as she hears the crunching sounds, the apple appears to actually have a couple of bites taken out of it, then it slides to the left and another apple slides in, gets bitten, and another until a whole apple remains briefly on the screen. You (or your child) can select either “CAPITAL” or “small” letters to be drawn on the screen.

We found it very clever that the animation takes place in what is really the eraser part of the giant pencil/electronic control board and that the pencil tip acts as the eraser tool for the writing board at the bottom (the tablet area below the pencil tip). This is really a fun, educational book that’s well designed and ready to go right when the child opens it. Great gift!

Last of all, we reviewed a Disney Sing-Along book that would be great for any young child who loves to hear short electronic tunes and loves to push buttons.

We believe this book will be best when an adult can play along with a youngster. The way it works is that you have a simple key pad in the lower right corner of the book, with only nine buttons. Your child can choose from forty tunes, each of which has a corresponding code. So, for example, to hear (and sing along with) “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” you enter the code C34 and with each push you hear a young princess-type voice responding to your touch. In the three mirrored stars above the buttons, you’ll see Ariel, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Cinderella, alternatively. When no song plays, the stars are just mirrors, but when the song plays, the pictures of the princesses light up within the stars. Kids will love this magical feature!!

At the bottom of the keypad, on either side of the speaker, you’ll find a star button with clapping hands inside it (pushing it yields an applause sound) and a star button filled with a fireworks graphic (with majestic princessy music that sounds as if you’re about to introduce a star performer).

We recommend this book for younger hams in the family, whose little fingers would love to grab the easy to manage plastic microphone. Preschool or younger for this one.

All in all, our bottom line is that you can’t go wrong with these electronic books from PI kids. Look for them today (or buy them by clicking here) and mark one more thing off your list!

_____________

Note: We found Sponge Bob’s Sea Sale in a local book shop. The Disney Princess Talking Dictionary (publications international, ltd.) was sent to us for our review along with the Disney Princess Sing-Along and Learn to Write with Disney Friends. We give the highest recommendation to the Talking Dictionaries.