Customer Reviews

Baby Einstein: 365 Days of Baby Einstein

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'll start with the bad - the title IS deceptive. I doubt anyone would open the book and only look at one page at a time. It's impossible - kids love this book and want to turn the pages.

Which leads to the second negative - it is a VERY fragile book. At first, this drove me crazy - my toddler would tear a page out just trying to turn to the next page. But the content of the book is just so interesting to her, she can't help herself.

Even given those two negatives, I still have to give the book 5 stars. I bought it for my children, and they love it, the 5 stars are on their behalf.

So many topics are covered, so many questions listed to help parents with discussion, so many ways to use this book - my advice would be to keep this book out of reach and only bring down for special one on one sessions with your children. I wouldn't avoid buying it just because you think it might fall apart. Some of the best loved books in this world are the ones that are falling apart (would you like to see our copy of "Good Night Moon"?)

This isn't an activity book - it's a "let's look at the pictures and explore them" book. If you want an activity book, look at "Slow and Steady, Get me Ready" or "Bright Start".

Original Review: "The book was not what I was expecting, given the title "365 days of ACTIVITIES". One "activity" is the baby Van Gogh goat in a red turtleneck, splashing red paint, with the caption "Red". (Repeat for Yellow and Blue) Blink. The illustrations are adorable, and it has a lot to teach, but I find the title deceptive."

Edit: It appears as though they have changed the title for future releases for the book. Instead of promising 365 days of activities, its 365 days of Baby Einstein. I have no purchased a new release, but assuming all the content is the same and just the title has changed, it deserves better than the 3 stars I originally assigned it. Its bright and cheerful illustrations captured my son's attention. It is, however, a book to use WITH your child. As a first time parent, I sometimes felt a little lost, and this was a go to book for me when I needed an idea for something to talk about or do with my child.

I bought this for my daughter thinking there would be actual activities. I was way wrong. There are 365 different things to look at and point out, but not any kind of games or learning activites (other then pointing to blue and red). Also, the pages are thin and it is spiral bound so my 19 month old has now destroyed about half the book. I would go for something else!

I got this book for my son when he was 18 month old. He is a big fan for Baby Einstein DVDs. He loved this book right away, since he recognized so many familiar characters in the book. This book has been a great educational tool for me to reinforce things he learned from the DVD. Actually, it helped me to learn a few foreign language words! The entire book is full of cartoons and pictures with vivid colors, and it is very pleasing to the eye. The only down side is the spiral-bound of the book. Several pages have been ripped out. I managed to cut out some cute pictures from the torn pages and made some flush cards. Overall, I would recommend this book, especially if your child enjoy the Baby Einstein DVDs.

I haven't bought this book and I'm still trying to decide if it's worth all the effort. This is a spiral bound book that can hardly keep the pages in place. I borrowed this book from the library, and granted it was in pretty bad shape when I got it, but by the time my 16 mos. old and I were ready to return it, the front cover had fallen/ripped off. I'm a book lover, so to me this was horrifying. But, I could never let my son read/look at it by himself just because it wouldn't stay in one piece. He loved looking at the pictures, but it's certainly a book that needs lots of supervision. Sadly, this book nothing you could hand to a child and let them play with without being concerned for the condition that the book is going to end up in. I can't figure out why the publishers thought a sprial bound book was the way to go. Hmph...I thought Baby Einstein was supposed to be "kid friendly".

My 2 year old loves this book! It is bright and interactive and often reinforces things she has recently learned ( big and little, high and low,etc.) or has known for some time (colors). And she is learning new things... very fascinated with the animal facts. I highly recommend this book!

My daughter absolutely loves this book! It really helped her understand opposites, learn new vocabulary words, practice counting, and learn fun animal facts in fun ways with bright, full-color photos and gorgeous artwork. But probably my favorite part is the dialogue it initiates between us: We talk about different emotions and how certain situations might make us feel (thanks to Pavlov!), and there are so many thought-provoking questions that she loves uncovering the answers to (lots of "I spy" type of questions with art masterpieces). My Sammi literally takes this book off her shelf every single day so that we can read it together!!

This is an awesome book. My 20-month old bookworm owns over 100 books already, but this one is his current favorite. He brings it to me several times a day to read. This book is great because it is so interactive- it encourages toddlers to point to and name objects, colors, etc. It's given me lots of ideas for how to make reading more interactive with his other books as well. Parts of it are a bit advanced for his age, e.g., some of the poems are rather long, but I'm sure he'll grow into them eventually. Other parts of the book are too easy for him, but that's what makes it so useful- you could use this book with all ages, from newborn to toddler. Once again, Julie Clark knows exactly how to appeal to toddlers: the pictures are bright and attention-grabbing, the texts, for the most part, short and rhythmic. Each page has a few images with either brief text or labels, e.g., numbers, colors, or objects. The book teaches hundreds of common vocabulary words, prepositions, etc. There are sections that teach common objects in Spanish, French, Hebrew, and Japanese (with pronunciation hints.) There are pages about animals, with photos and a couple of paragraphs of text about the animal (The latter more appropriate for an older toddler.) There are also several pages with famous works of art that encourage older toddlers to interact with the painting, e.g., by picking out objects. There are sections that show Pavlov the dog displaying different emotions, e.g., surprise, anger, happiness, etc.
Overall, this book is quite a bargain and Amazon has a good price on it currently. It's really the equivalent of 20 regular-size books because it's so chock-full of interesting material. My only complaint is that the book is spiral-bound and NOT reinforced, so it's very easy for an over-eager toddler to rip a page out. You just have to keep it out of your toddler's reach when not in use.

I would have given this book five stars, but only gave it four because it's not really an activity book in the way that I had thought. What I expected was different games, crafts, learning activites, but there aren't games or craft activities at all. It's a great learning tool and one that I enjoy going over with my 18 month old daughter. The other downside is it's spiral bound so it's not something I allow her to look at by herself because the pages can rip out very easily. Still, I have to give this book four stars because it teaches things like emotions, opposites, colors with all of the fun characters from Baby Einstein.

The title is a little misleading but the book is terrific non the less. My children (14mo. & 6 yrs) both enjoy this book. It does not have 365 activities as the name might imply but what it does have is 171 beautiful pages filled with bright pictures and interesting things to talk about with your young child. My older child loves the poems, the artwork and the language pages that teach how to say common words in 5 different languages. My younger child enjoys all of the pages, especially the ones about colors, opposites, and baby's world. This is her favorite book and the one we take with us when I need to occupy her in a waiting room, on a long car ride, and on an airplane. It has so much to offer that she doesn't get bored.

The spiral construction does make it a bit fragile so she doesn't get to look at this one by herself. In fact that is why I only gave it 4 stars. I don't mind the spiral construction so much because it is a joy to look at it with her and talk about the pages as we go. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has the time to sit down with their young child and share a book.