Customer Reviews

Wild Animal Baby

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a board-book style magazine published by the National Wildlife Federation. (The same organization that publishes Ranger Rick). I subscribed my daughter to this board magazine when she was about 18 months old. She is now 3, but she still likes her magazine and is thrilled when she receives it in the mail. (I intend to replace her current subscription with a subscription for My Big Backyard, intended for 3-7 year olds). She likes the board book size and the thick pages. The front of each issue has a cute picture of a baby animal. Each issue has an "Out and About with Duffy" story. In these stories, Duffy, a white dog, and his human family, siblings Tess and Tommy and their parents, carry out some outdoor activity. There are fingerplays, matching and counting activities. There is a wild animal section that features a specific letter of the alphabet. The "stories" are just the right length to hold the attention of a young toddler. My daughter has a lot of fun trying to find "Sammy the Skunk", who is hidden in 4 different pictures throughout the magazine. Wild Animal Baby is colorful and has excellent pictures of wildlife. It has a little less reading content than Babybug, another excellent board-book type magazine for young children, which is published by the Cricket Magazine Group (Babybug is not about animals, (...)). I recommend Wild Animal Baby for any young toddler, or any very active toddler with a short attention span. If you are looking for quality reading material that you can share with your young child, and you can afford it, I recommend you also try to subscribe to Babybug, or at least borrow the issues from a library.

I often think NWF is making a mistake when advertising this as for children ages 1-3, because my child continued to enjoy it through first grade (during which time she was learning to read). It was something that came to her in her own name in the mail, was at her reading ability, and, at first grade, still interested her as far as the subject matter was concerned. Now that she is a third grader, she still is willing to read it to her little sister.
At 1.5 years, a child enjoys the great photos, but is still too young to grasp all the fun games. We have tried many children's magazines, but for up through first grade, this is really the best. I give it as gifts, especially to families with more than one child under the age of 7.

We ordered this magazine for our son when he was one year old because he loves photographs of animals. This magazine is so cute. Each month they feature a baby animal with real photographs and a short story. The issues also include an animal fingerplay, an animal comparison (Showing your child how a particular animal is similar in one way to him or herself.), a short story about a child and his or her pet, and a picture hunt for a little skunk that is hidden four places in the magazine. Other material changes each month and feature an early childhood concept. Some months you will have counting, other months focus on a beginning sound (and all the animals that start with that sound), opposites, and other skills are introduced. What a great introduction to magazines. A must for every toddler that is an animal lover. My son is now 17 months and will bring his Wild Animal Baby magazine to me and sit in my lap wanted it to be read over and over.

Another plus to this magazine is that it is small for little hands (about board book size). The corners are rounded and the pages are sturdy (but not as thick as board book pages). The magazine is also glue bound so you don't have to worry about a curious toddler and staples.

Our daughter was given a subscription to this magazine at 1 1/2 years old and absolutely loves each issue. The monthly book / magazine is very durable and is the size of a board book which makes them perfect for little hands to hold and also for traveling out and about of your home with. This is also very nice and easy to read for a bedtime story.

Each book focuses on 1 special animal which is also the animal that is on the front cover. The photos are really absolutely wonderful and very colorful. The cover story is about 9 sentences long and is perfect for the age group. What is also nice is that these books will grow along with my daughter and your child or grnadchild as she or he starts to learn how to read. I believe these short stories will give her the sense of accomplishment in being able to read a story. How often do you find something that is perfect for one age and then also can grow along side your child. The last page also focuses on the featured animal with sometimes a art project, song and tells you how you can also find additional ideas on their website.

Next after the featured story is a animal search where 1 page shows a claymation style photo or a plate with 1 animal cracker on it and then asks your child to find the a real photo of the same animal on the next page.

The next 2 pages are either about an animal making a "their" animal sound and then asks your child to do the same. Later on in the book there are 2 pages called ' I can" which show a child doing something... like hanging on bars and then shows you for example an animal doing the same thing like a panda hanging on some bar as well.

The favorite section in our home is this months finger play. The pages look like they are done with cut out colored paper and features a 4 or 5 lined rhyme with a little photo beside each line that will show you and your child are suppose to do while reading this. My daughter loves act it out and then proudly shows her Da!

Each issue has a counting page or a opposite page with of course incrediable photos! Followed by a nicely drawn & colored animal search. And last but not least another small 4 page " Out and About" story that can be about a girl from Hawaii, a set of twins and their white terrier dog duffy or a boy named Marco.

The book end with Sammy Shunk's hide and seek and also 3 other drawn sections of book that they want your child to find. Again, another section of this magazine that grows with your child.

On the back cover is a picture that focuses on 1 letter of the alphabet & animal as well as illustrated picture and also uses the face of one of their readers which is really well done. Children always like to see photos of other children.

This magazine is excellent for children. I bought it for my son when he turned 1 year. He wasn't too interested at first (he's very active, but then at about 18 months, he started to enjoy it. We go over the pictures and read the stories together. He likes the fact that this is "his" magazine and that it comes through the mail. I agree with one of the comments above that a first grader can read it too while he/she is learning how to read. I am a first grade teacher and I was thinking of using the magazine with my students for guided reading. I also have been giving it as a gift to my friends' kids.

My daughter (who is now 21 months old) has loved this magazine since she was about 15 months old. At 12 months, it didn't hold her attention for very long, but now she will look at the entire "book" in one sitting. Every month the format is the same so children can anticipate what's coming. For example, there is a skunk who "hides" in 4 spots throughout the magazine. There are simple activities and suggestions for things parents can do with their child. Best of all, it's all centered around wild animals!

I got this for my daugther at 18 months due to her love of reading and animals and we have been delighted with the three issues we have received so far. Each issue is about 6x7 inches, 23 color pages on heavy duty cardstock (think thick magazine pages, not board book cardboard). The binding seems to hold up to her many readings and re-readings, though it certainly shows wear like everything else she gets her hands on!

Each issue includes facts about animals, a matching page, a section about animal sounds (What can you say?), a poem/wordplay, a section called "I Can" which my daughter really likes which shows an animal doing something, a child doing the same, and asks the reader to try the same (jump high, touch the top of your head, etc.). There are also "lessons" on opposites, an "I Spy" section (this is a little hard for her at nearly 2, but she still likes it), an "Out and About" Story with recurring characters (stories about the wind, planting flowers with Grandma, etc.), and a Hide and Seek, which she really enjoys (you look back through the magazine to find Sammy the Skunk and other items).

She loves when the new issue arrives "just for her" in the mailbox and she delights in reading the issues over and over. They are very handy for the car and diaper bag as there is a variety of things for her to look at in each issue, they take up very little space, and frankly - they are less of a projectile than your average picture or board book (let's face it - toddlers like to throw)!

For $20 for 10 issues ($2/issue) - I think this is a great deal. It provides a fresh "book" for her entertainment and helps her learn basic young preschool concepts (colors, shapes, opposites, words, basic facts about nature).

I agree with previous posters that this would make an excellent gift for a young child 18 mos to 3. Children would get a lot more mileage out of this over the year than something made of plastic.

I really can not say enough good things about this magazine. It is like a little book with all sorts of things. It usally starts with a short story about a little kid and his/her pet, following by a short poem that asks you to identify the real animal shown on the next page. After that, it usually teaches some shapes or an alphabet letter using an animal picture, e.g. using Lion to teach letter 'L'. And then, you can read a short poem and do a little bit hand dance. Following that is an activity that both an animal and a little kid likes to or can do, e.g., a kid likes to eat strawberries just like a vole, or a kid can gallop like a horse, etc.. After that, it is another identifying animal game that asks you to guess which animal on the next page is the one that a kid in costume tries to immitate. And then, it is a matching game in which you match some body parts to the animals they belong that are shown on the following page. Finally, the big finish is a short story about the animal shown on the cover of each issue. If you like to have more fun activities, you can visit some web pages whose URLs are shown on the last page.

Both my 1- and 3-year-old kids love this magazine. Though my son has progressed to another magazine titled "Your Big Backyard", he still loves to read this one. He usually will finish reading it right away, once it arrives. My daughter is younger, she likes to ask me to read this "Wild Animal Baby" story to her again and again.

Since there are no annoying ads in this magazine and every issue really looks like a well-printed book, you can keep all the issues on the bookshelves for long long time so that you kids can go back and enjoy reading them whenever they want. It really is a money-saving way to buy good books without thinking twice about it.

This is a wonderful publication that my daughter absolutely loves. She started receiving "Wild Animal Baby" around 13 months of age and she was interested in it immediately. She is now 18 months and still pulls out every issue daily. She loves flipping through it on her own or bringing it to me so we can read it together. The pages are bright and colorful and have always held her interest. And it's so much fun, she doesn't know that she's learning.
My only complaint is that because these magazines are so well-loved, that the pages are starting to fall out. If the publisher can find a way to keep the pages from falling out, I would without a doubt give it all 5 stars. Even as is, I highly recommend it and will be ordering it as a gift for others.

When Animal Baby arrives at our house, it's like Christmas Day. Our 16-month-old absolutely loves it. It's colorful, imaginative and holds her interest from cover-to-cover.

My only knock against it is the construction. It is not, as indicated, a board book. It is of mid-weight carboard construction and it falls apart after a few handlings. All of our copies are taped together and our baby is not particulalry destructive.

So get a subscription and a roll of clear postal tape and you're in business.