Customer Reviews

Slow and Steady Get Me Ready: A Parents' Handbook for Children from Birth to Age 5

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is such a wonderful book, full of so many ideas and things to do! Daily/weekly plans from birth thru 5 years! You cannot beat it! A wonderful and, REALLY, and inexpensive investment in your child's education! GREAT CHOICE! :o)

June R. Oberlander has written a book that offers parents two-hundred and fifty opportunities to challenge their own and their baby's creativity, coordination, and numerous other abilities. The projects/games are simple, fun, and economical. I have been delightfully surprised at how my 4 month old has responded each week to the projects (especially when I follow her instructions on how to initiate and use them). If he didn't respond to the specific week's project I have returned to it (as J. Oberlander instructs)and am delighted when it ellicits the positive response. It has helped me be creative (I rate myself as average in creativity). You can still buy the Lamaze infant development toys (they're better to chew on) but one cannot beat the PRACTICALITY of this book's projects. One example from the book is the paper plate with the face drawn on it. Oberlander's instructions coached me as how to turn it slowly around (left-to-right as to enhance left and right tracking and laterality and "awareness of front and back"). He loves it, still. I love his smile. The plate cost ten cents. Her instructions made me aware of such things as acquainting him with the concept of front and back, left and right, and laterality at a very young age. I have no doubt it will build his mind and "ready" him for later concepts.

The following is an analogy of the usefulness of this book compared with others I've read on infant development. You remember the crib you bought and had to put together. The other books only give you the picture on the box. Slow and Steady is the instruction manual.

Slow and Steady offers a wide variety of interesting, yet simple activities that guide you, the conscientious parent, in assisting your child in skill development. By the time your child is five, he should have a grasp of numerous concepts and skills that might otherwise be learned haphazardly, and perhaps incompletely. It is a low-pressure approach to guiding your child through learning the natural way, by doing and playing and being together with a loved one. Physical skills, spatial concepts, pre-reading skills, numerical skills and the like are touched on and expanded gradually. I generally perform the recommended activity with one of my four daughters, spending the cherished moments together, and after a while she continues on her own, letting her imagination guide her into related areas of play. Slow and Steady is a delightful book with a strong grasp of childhood development. This book has benefitted us, as a homeschooling family, by offering simple activities requiring minimal preparation which can allow the younger children to "do school" with Mommy in whatever timeslot is available while the older children are working on their own. Some activities can be expanded to include the older children as well. This also makes a wonderful gift!

This is an excellent resource for new parents from the moment they bring baby home. Each week from birth to age 5, the author suggests excellent age-appropriate activities you can initiate with your child. Some ideas may seem so obvious you may wonder why you didn't think of it yourself; others you're glad she included. I loved this book from birth to age 4. The whole 4th year is dedicated to learning the alphabet, which I thought was unnecessary and redundant, but the rest was great.

I found this book when my son was about 8 months old. I wish I'd had it from the time he was born! The activities are simple and well-designed for each stage of development, as well as entertaining for the baby/toddler. Many activities have revealed abilities my son had developed that I was not even aware of. Often I would prepare for the current week's activity, expecting that it would still be a little over his head. Continually, I was surprised to find that he could understand and fully participate.

Furthermore, many of the homeade items used for the activities have turned into toys (at MUCH cheaper cost than buying a toy). For instance, some activities call for a coffee can opened at each end (cover jagged edges with thick tape), with one end covered by a plastic lid and a large hole cut into the plastic lid. The child practices putting a spool (or, in our case, shapes from his shape sorter)into the hole, then lifting the can to reveal the spool/object underneath. While my son was too young to play with his shape sorter itself (too young to differentiate which shapes went into which hole), he LOVED putting all the shapes through the hole cut into the coffee can lid (made large enough to accomodate all of them). He played with it repeatedly, learning valuable skills in the process.

I highly recommend this book at any stage of baby or toddlerhood!

I wish I had gotten this as a baby shower gift for my first child! I would not have bothered with all of those "Brain Games", "365 things to do", "activities for baby", etc. books. Those other books had some neat ideas, but there were SO MANY and it was hard to know exactly at what age to do them because the age range given for the activity was too broad (like YEARS!). Slow & Steady, on the other hand, give AGE APPROPRIATE activities for your child in an organized, manageable fashion (one per week). The developmental checklists at the back of the book are extremely helpful. Yes, a lot of the activities do instruct you to make objects with things like spools, yarn, and coffee cans, but you certainly don't have to do the activity with ONLY homemade things. For example, one activity calls for you to make a drum from a coffee can. Well, we don't buy cans of coffee. And even if we did, I probably wouldn't make a drum out of it. So instead, I just used my preschoolers toy drum and let my baby tap on it with her hand. Make the stuff if you want to, or just substitute some toy that you more than likely already have. I think this book is great, especially for the price. Buy one and tell all of your friends about it!

I bought this book when my daughter turned one and have been using it off and on since then (she's 22 months now). Each activity is centered around developing certain skills which are outlined below each activity. Although most activities involve things "typically" found around the house, I found that I did not have some of those "typical" items, eg. spools, bells, wooden clothespins. I ended up picking and choosing activities, rather than going week by week. The activities help let parents know it their child is on target developmentally and lets parents focus in on some skills that need strengthening.

We purchased this excellent book after reading "The Well-Trained Mind". Our son is only four months old, but we have enjoyed the early activies and will most likely continue using it for the entire five years.

Every week is given one developmental activity, including information about the learning goals and reason behind each one. The games are simple, and can be used to encourage you child to develop appropiately. There are lots of new ideas, plus old favorites like "Where is Thumbkin" that I had forgotten!

The book does have a simple, self-published feel about it, but I actually found that charming. It's kind of like having a built-in grandma who knows lots about little ones right at your fingertips.

One drawback that kept this from being a five star product for us: the "home-made" nature of many of the toys is a little over the top for me. I bought soft balls, rather than make ones out of old socks. And spools... this book must use spools in a dozen different ways! Who has spools anymore? I don't even know how to sew! Again, I substituted appropriately. But if you are the "crafty" type, you'll eat this up!

I bought this when my first son was 4 months old. Now we use it for all three children, 4 yrs, 2.5, and 17 months. There are TONS of ideas that I wouldn't have thought of, and I also can adapt it for Spanish to go along with our language learning lessons.

For a five year investment, what a wonderful tool! GREAT for homeschoolers, or any mom that wants to enjoy watching and being involved as her child thrives and develops!

Sra. Gose
Author of Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 1 & Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 2

This book is a wonderful collection of activities for you and your child. Whether you follow their weekly schedule of activities, or just pick it up from time to time for something new to do on a rainy day you won't be disappointed. My daughter has loved the activities (most of which are done with items from around the house) and I highly recommend it to all parents.