Baby's First Books - Filza - MammaFilz
Today we are handing over the blog to Filza from 'Mamma Filz', a fellow mummy of two little readers. Filza shares some great books over on her blog (and Instagram) often photographed with little hands clasping the pages. She also shares her favourite toddler crafts and recipes for sweet chocolate-y treats. Over to Filza...
Do
you have memories of picture books read to you when you were younger? Do you
remember any books that you read yourself when you were at primary school? I
have vivid memories of reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar when I was in nursery.
I recall the reading area with little seats and the well read copy of Eric
Carle’s book. It was a paperback copy and felt flimsy in my little hands. I was
fascinated by the holes in the book representing the caterpillar’s bites. I fell
in love with the illustrations and especially loved the food drawings.
Those amongst a whole host of memories I hope
my little ladies (a 2 year old and a 6 month old) will remember, having snuggly
reading time and enjoying the books read to them.
My two girls really do enjoy books. I am always
looking to see what books I can get them and adore the reading community on
Instagram (where I met Kim) and the super duper book bloggers where I get lots
of great suggestions. I try to also cater to my daughters interests. I also use
books as an opportunity to teach my daughters all sorts of things.
Books have been a great tool in developing my toddler’s
language, they say an apple a day but a book (two, three, four..) a day can
also do amazing things. As important
as it is to read to your child, it is also lovely to ask questions and engage
in conversations about what has been read as well as what can be seen in the
pictures.
There are some books that proved very popular with my toddler
when she was a lot younger. It is also lovely to see that her baby sister is
also enjoying these books now.
Baby’s Day by Little Tiger Press. With its rhyming text and
beautiful photos of real babies, this is a very fun read. The book shares a
baby’s day from waking, “Wake up Baby…” and ends with bedtime “Night Night ..” Little
One still enjoys reading this, recalling the text from each page by memory.
Baby squeals at this book and she loves to touch the photos of the different
babies in the story. It is a book inclusive of babies from around the world.
Brilliant.
We received this book from our health visitor at baby’s 3 month
old check-up. The book came in a pack made by the Bookstart Bookstart began in 1992 and is the world’s
first national bookgifting programme. It is ran by the reading charity
BookTrust. You may have also
received a pack. This is a charity that gifts book packs to little ones under
one years old, in England and Wales. They intend to “Inspire a love of reading”
and also give another pack to children just before they start school. I believe
Scotland’s equivalent charity is Bookbug. Bookstart also have a Bear Club. Their
websites, Booktrust.org.uk and http://www.bookstart.org.uk are filled
with great information, games and suggestions of good reads for your children.
They encourage you to become a member of your local library and
to encourage children to borrow books they have Bookstart Bear Club. My eldest
daughter loves this! She receives a stamp in her special Bookstart book each
time she visits the library and this then leads to certificates. A great
incentive. Do ask your health visitor if you have not received one. Packs can
vary but my youngest daughters looked like this.
This book includes ten rhymes and it also came with a CD,
perfect. Five Little Ducks, Incy Wincy Spider and I Hear Thunder are some of
the rhymes written in the book, complete with delicate illustrations. I
appreciate that this book may be a tad tricky to purchase now so here are a
list of similar books:
Nursery Rhymes by Veronique Petit
First Rhymes by Rod Campbell
Treasury of Nursery Rhymes Book and CD
by Lucy Cousins
The Puffin Book of Nursery Rhymes by
Raymond Briggs
Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes by Axel
Scheffler
The
Wheels on the Bus: Favourite
Nursery Rhymes By BBC
There are just so many lovely
books out there. Sometimes
by Emma Dodds is a book I bought when Little One was a few weeks old and it is
just gorgeous. Emma Dodds is very talented and her books are super.
“Sometimes you are good, sometimes you are bad. Sometimes you
are happy, Sometimes you are sad.” Dodd’s identifies the many emotions and
behaviours of children but no matter what we, their parents, carers,
grandparents, grown-ups, love them dearly and unconditionally. It is so
important for children to know this and to be reminded of this daily. Perhaps
some of the adjectives used in this book could have been better chosen however,
I believe that the words can be explored further with your little ones.
My eldest daughter and I had a
discussion about what her favourite picture book is. We discussed which book
would also be a nice book to read to children who have recently become older
siblings. She chose I
Love You as big as the world by David Van Buren. When I then mentioned to
Little One that I would be writing about the book in this post she described it
as the “I Love you Book.” How cute!
The book is just a delight, following two adorable bears on a
very busy day, sharing their immense love for each other. The illustrations are
completed beautifully by Tim Warnes and done in a style that I really do like. The
bears share playful, loving, relaxing moments and often hand in hand. The
repetition of “I Love you…” on each page makes the text memorable for little
ones and a joy to read. It is hopefully three words that the child reading
this book hears on a daily basis. A gorgeous book with a lovely message all
about love.
Have I tempted you to have
a search for these books? I do hope so.
Finally, Kim, thank you
for letting me share my thoughts on reading and favourites.
Baby Harvey or shall I say
Wee Page Turner, welcome to the world. We are sure BookBairn will have many
fantastic reads ready for you to enjoy and we look forward to finding out which
books your interests will lead you to.
What great recommendations Filza! Thank you! As you may have noticed in our previous blog post, The Wee Page Turner is already a fan of 'Sometimes' by Emma Dodd (though I actually prefer her book, 'Me'). And in Scotland we are lucky enough to have the Bookbug scheme which Katherine mentioned in our previous Baby's Love Books feature which is a similar scheme. I will need to look up 'I Love You as Big as the World' because it just sounds to irresistible.
Hope you enjoyed this most recent guest post, to find them all click here.
Happy reading,
Mummy, BookBairn and The Wee Page Turner xx
How to find Filza:
You can fins Filza's blog 'Mamma Filz' here and I highly recommend that you follow her beautiful bookish photographs over on Instagram.
I don't think I've come across these yet but look forward to hunting them out
ReplyDeleteWe have Sometimes already but not the others. I believe library requests need to go in!
DeleteSounds like some great recommendations. Also sounds like a great weekend. Sorry I couldn't be there to ruin it (only joking).
ReplyDeleteWe had a great time! And I think you would have enjoyed the Deer Centre!
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