Word Search

A couple of weeks back I found this site where you could make your own word search games. R had liked the concept in general - although the ones that we came across in books were a little difficult for him and he quickly lost interest.

The Word Search Maker Tool allows you to add your own words, select the grid size and of course the font. I printed a couple of these with his favorite words and with large font and he had a lot of fun spotting the words. He has got pretty good with this now. The following is a sample of a simple word search. Try it out when you get a chance !

Book Recommendations: 0 to 12 months

Here are some book recommendations based on feedback mostly from friends and some from R :).

1. Snappy Sounds Vroom !: R loved these books. We got 2 of the books in this series and it was the easiest way to make him giggle !
   
2. Where is Baby's Belly Button?: This is part of the Lift and Flap Book Series. Many of the books by Karen Katz are very nice. R tore away most of the popup flaps but still loves to read them.
   
3. Quack Quack
4. Bear Snores On
5. Baby Number Cruncher Teether Book
6. Home Sweet Home
7. Tiny Love Double Sided First Book
   
8. Bright Baby First Words

There is a nice BookFinder tool on the pbs.org website. I recently got some good recommendations for R - although these were for 2+ age range. Have fun reading !

Online Educational Games/Learning

Recently there was a discussion about this on the parents list at work. Some of the top picks were as follows:

Starfall : R has used this extensively. We introduced this to him at 18 months (especially their basic ABC section) and he started liking it. He went from spending 5 minutes to a good 30 minutes by the age of 2. He has now moved on to the other sections on the site which are very nice too. Overall this is a must-try site.

PBS Kids : R loves Word World and Sesame Street sections on the site. The Word World section is extremely entertaining and has lot of learning games. See my old post for more information. My only complain is that the site is extremely slow.

Literactive : Focused mostly on reading. Good site !

Nick Jr : I personally haven't tried this one but have heard great reviews from a lot of friends. I do plan to try this out sometime soon.

Tux Paint : The site provides an open source drawing software for kids. Again haven't tried this but the site has been highly recommended by a lot of parents

UpToTen : Looks like a cool site. Need to see if R likes it.

Story Line : On-line video streaming software where actors read the stories. R is a big fan of books so I might try this out soon. For now, we are focusing on been the "actors" ourselves :).

Common Sense Media : Provides information on a lot of sites and also reviews about them.

If you know of any other good sites, feel free to post the link in the comments section.

Toy Recommendations: 2 to 3 years

Here is a list of toy recommendations for the third year. Again mostly based on what R liked and played with.

Leapfrog Word Builder/Whammer: R absolutely loves the word builder. The same thing comes in a letter builder version as well. I would just go ahead and get the word builder as it has the letter mode in it as well.

Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD: Teaches letters and phonics. R used to watch this when he was around 20 months. He totally got hooked on to it.

Leapfrog Word Factory DVD: Teaches word building. R started watching this one once he knew his alphabet. This is a good next step to the Letter Factory DVD.

VTech On The Go Laptop: See my earlier post about this.

Standing Easel: We got this as a gift for R's second birthday. We have used the whiteboard a lot to play games and write letters and words :).

Trike or this: The first bike is extremely safe. The handle also helps us push the kid when he/she is just learning to ride the trike. The second one is unsafe if the child doesn't know how to bike. R started riding on the second one after he was able to bike with confidence.

Gertie Ball: If you want to get a ball for your kid to play with - this is the ball ! After trying a couple of balls we settled on this one.

12 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle or Pets in a Box Jigsaw Puzzle: Good next step puzzles for kids.

15 Random Things about R

This post is inspired by the 25 Random Things on Facebook. Although I haven't written mine I thought it would be a good idea to compile one for R. Here are 15 random things about R.

1. We decided on R's name a few weeks after we found out we were going to have a baby boy. I in fact got used to referring to him with his name while he was still in my tummy.
2. R was born 2 weeks before time but he made sure he came on a bright Saturday so that mommy didn't have to worry about daddy not been around. Daddy had failed 2 surprise calls so looks like he decided he couldn't take any more chances.
3. R was a very happy baby in general (note the word "baby" as this was more true in the first year :). A proof of this was an innocent question by daddy to his pediatrician "why doesn't he cry?". The doctor laughed loudly and said "and you have a problem with that ? "
4. He rolled over for the first time when he was 12 weeks - although he didn't repeat the big feat for another few weeks.
5. R cut his first tooth in the 7th month (although as an anxious mom i still feel the tooth was lurking since the first month and came out only later :). By the end of his first year he had 8 teeth and the rest came out soon as well.
6. R never crawled when he was required too. Turns out this is becoming pretty common. Of course he crawled for fun after he started walking.
7. He started walking when he was 11.5 months and had mastered it by 13 months.
8. He loves medicines (referred to as 'magic potion' by mommy and daddy). We have never had any trouble giving him medicines!
9. He was a very late talker and the first real word he ever said was "apple" [excluding all the baa's and boo's].
10. He is obsessed with letters and words. He knew his alphabet at 25 months. He could spell his own name at 27 months and even started spelling 'MOM' and 'DAD'. His teachers often joke that he should participate in the spelling bee championship.
11. He loves having books read to him and now reading them himself.
12. R loves Southern Indian food and is ready to eat dosa's anytime of the day.
13. He loves watching Sesame Street and his favorite character is Elmo !
14. During his second year he gallantly suffered through a bowl of avocado everyday due to his mom's obsession with his weight :).
15. He loves traveling and he is the kid to have on vacations!

Bay Area Kid Fun

A friend of mine recently recommended this great site for finding out cool stuff to do with kids in the bay area. Check out Bay Area Kid Fun - I am sure you won't be disappointed :).

Does a Panda Go to school ?

Last week I got the book Does a Panda Go to school? from the library. After reading the book once, me and R ended up creating our own "Who goes to school" game. This is how we played the game:

Me: Does a monkey go to school?
R: Noooooooo
Me: Does R go to school?
R: Yes !
Me: Does Mommy go to school?
R: Noooooooo
Me: Does a dog go to school ?
R: Noooooooo

And so on. We had a lot of fun with this game over the past 2 days. This time I made sure I took a small video of him while playing the game. Give the game a shot with your little one and have some fun of your own!

Toy Recommendations: 1 to 2 years

Here is a list of toy recommendations for the second year. Again mostly based on what R liked.

Puzzles:

Shapes Puzzle : I got this one to introduce R to puzzles. He loved it and mastered it very soon as well.

Numbers Peg Puzzle : I got this one along with the Shapes Puzzle and R loved it.

Alphabet Peg Puzzle : I got this when R was 20 months old. He did not like it in the beginning - I guess he was overwhelmed by it. However, after a couple of months he was able to do many of the letters and by 2 he could do the whole thing. The pegs are really nice for the little ones. Note the pieces are small so there needs to be a lot of monitoring when the kid is playing with it.

First Lego Set : Loads of fun for those lazy weekends.

Thomas the Train Beginner Train Set : A good first train set.

Doodle Board : We started off by getting a small doodle board (the one used for travel). R loved the concept and used to spend a lot of time playing with it. We eventually got a big board to satisfy his curiosity.

Little Tikes Sports Center : We got this as a gift and it has been a fun toy - especially for a lot of older kids that come home.

ABC Building Blocks or this : Great toy - absolutely worth the price. I got it for $10 when it was on sale.

Beads : I got this from the Lakeshore Learning Store and it is a fun activity for the kids. The only painful thing was the small beads which were all around the house !

Bookmobile

I just discovered this week that the Mountain View Library bookmobile visits our company once a week. I went to try it out and must say was very impressed. They gave me a card even though I was not a Mountain View resident and it took pretty much 2 minutes. I also got to pick up 6-7 books that I know R would like. Their catalog is available online and you can ask them to get preselected books as well.

It was always a hassle to try to fit the library visit on a weekend. R is already enjoying the books I got this week. I think I definitely scored one here with him ! I would recommend checking your local library to see if they have a similar program.

Toy Recommendations: 0 to 12 months

A very close friend of mine recently asked me for some toy recommendations for her niece. I sent her the following list mostly based on R's recommendations :). He has made use of almost all the toys we ever got for him - although there have been some favorites.

Smaller Toys

Counting Pal : R loved this one. He would finish his cereal in minutes while listening to the various tunes and playing with this toy. Since then I have gifted this to various friends.

Rock a Stack : Extremely silly toy but it has seen various uses over the years. R still plays with it once in a while.

Baby Blocks : He used to love playing with this one. Great for improving hand-eye co-ordination skills.

Choo Choo Train : Fun toy - our engine stopped working in some months though.

Alphabet Drum : R didn't have this one. We went to a friends place and he spent quite a lot of time playing with it.

Laugh and Learn Puppy : R didn't have this one - but have seen this one at a lot of friends place. This one is similar to the Leapfrog Tad which seems to be no longer available.

Rhyme and Discover Book : This was an all time favorite.

Learning Phone

Musical Mobile

Mozart Magical Cube

Larger Toys:

Play Gym : This was the most used toy in the first 6 months.

Learning Table/Playground : Extremely useful toy - R still plays with it once in a while.

Exersaucer : Great toy to keep the baby occupied and play by himself. R used this extensively from 5 months to almost 11 months.

Learning Home : Great learning toy. It takes a lot of space but well worth the money. R got this as a gift and still plays with it. It is amazing to see them play differently with the same toy over the years.