Customer Reviews

The Encyclopedia of Infant and Toddler Activities: Written by Teachers for Teachers

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a preschool teacher who has taught kindergarten and 4 yr olds. Having been asked to take a new job with 2 and 3 yr olds was a lot more difficult than I thought! With all the choking hazzards and lack of fine motor skills, it's hard to plan lessons. This book gives some excellent activity ideas. I loved it. My only negative thought is that the book doesn't really follow "themes", which almost all schools use these days. Still it's a great buy!

When I first got this book I was bit disappointed since the activities look so simple that ANYONE could've thought them up.
the thing is that as time passes you find yourself doing the same activities and realize you need to freshen up your lesson plans.
This book is great because it does just that. Gives you great ideas and reminds you the infants & toddlers require different things when learning.
I love the way this book is set up and separated by area of interest (fine motor, gross motor, discovery, etc.) and then by age (infant, young toddlers, older toddlers)
A MUST HAVE!

This does say "For teachers, by teachers" on the cover so it isn't surprising most of the ideas are more suited for classroom settings. If you like to have a lot of resources as a parent, it's nice. For a teacher, it would be more useful.

Edited by Kathy Charner, Maureen Murphy, and Charlie Clark, The Encyclopedia of Infant and Toddler Activities: For Children Birth to 3 is a compilation of activities written by teachers, for teachers, yet also useful as a tool for parents looking to spend quality educational time with their young children. Activities range from fine and gross motor practice, to fingerplays and rhymes, to fun with science, language and literacy enhancement, social-emotional training, and much more. Some activities require inexpensive materials; each lists the age group (Infants, younger toddlers, infants and toddlers, or older toddlers) appropriate for the activity, followed by straightforward step-by-step instructions. A superb resource especially for teachers, daycare providers, and babysitters. A sample activity is Eye Follow-Ups for infants; the materials are any bright-colored objects, and the steps are "1. Place a brightly colored object, such as a yellow block, in front of an infant's eyes. 2. Slowly move it to the left, then to the right, to let the infant's eyes follow it. Do it for only a few seconds."

Have to say I expected more activites for the younger set than was actually in this book. I did find some of the activites to be worthwile, however, I would recomend this book for children 2-3 more than Birth to 3. Activites for Birth to 1 are very few and far between.

I bought this as a companion to The Creative Curriculum for Infants, Toddlers, and Two. I found everything in the book useful! I have taught a preschool class and since then worked in a home daycare for the past 2 years. The projects are easy to do, yet interesting and fun!

I bought this book to help my 15-month-old have fun on days it was too rainy or cold to go outside. He gets so bored and fussy when he can't go outside. It is most helpful for my Nanny, who doesn't have a car to take him to an indoor play space. There are a lot of useful suggestions and I like the way the book is organized

This book is not that thick but it is amazingly packed with so many good ideas. Also I love how the activities are divided by younger, young and older toddler activities. It has discovery, math, sensory, music etc... activities.

This book provides games and activities for infants and toddlers that are suitable for their ages. However, I was looking for a book that involves more physical activities like gymnastics for toddlers.

I think that the book is just ok. It really didn't show me alot to do that I wasn't already doing or learned from grandparents. It was probably really useful when there wasn't internet around.