Disclaimer: I received these products for free in exchange for an honest review. I have not been compensated for a positive review and all opinions are entirely my own.
You should have been at my house when this package arrived, a big box of beautiful books—stories made from our favorite songs! We received the latest of the Music Together Singalong Storybooks for review, and my kids were stoked. As in, I didn’t know if I’d even get to open the box I had so many hands “helping” me.
We’ve enjoyed some of Music Together’s great Singalong Storybooks before, and I just can’t compliment them enough. Even my littlest still totes around his favorite Singalong board book, Hello, Everybody, and has me read it three or four times in a row before wriggling out of my lap. Now, he’s got a few new favorites.
These books are beautiful, and they are ideal stories for babies and toddlers. The idea behind the songs and stories is to use music and activity to teach kids not just music and rhythm and harmonies (though that’s a wonderful part of the experience), but language and sound and creativity. The huge range of experiences that these songs and books provide makes them suitable for a wide age-range of children. I really wanted to highlight that, so I’m actually doing this review in multiple posts. I’ll be concentrating on my Littlest one today and focusing on the older two in an upcoming post.
To start off, Littlest is about 20 mo. and his favorites are Ridin’ in the Car and Sandpiper. How do I know a book is his favorite? When he has me read it to him multiple times in a single sitting, or when he brings it to me to read to him. Most of the time, Littlest reads books the way the normal toddler does: we get through maybe one or two pages of actual reading, flip pages back and forth (because the sound of a turning page is golden), and close the book. The whole process is maybe 30 seconds long before he’s on the search for a new title.
But not with these books. I’m telling you, these books are something special. For one, we already know and love the tunes. When I start the Music Together songs, I have kids running to me from all over the house. Littlest absolutely lights up. So when I pull out a book and sing the book to the tune he already loves, he’s captivated.
He listens to every page.
He stays on a page and talks to me about what he sees, babbling and pointing.
He lets me finish the book. Then, he bobs his head great big and says, ” ‘gin!” (Baby language for “again.”) We literally read a book through 3 or 4 times this way before he decides to move along.
Why the magic? These books are fun and beautiful, but I’m super-impressed with how Littlest responds to these books. They are perfect stories for babies and toddlers because of the beautiful illustrations, engaging characters, and THE MUSIC!
The books are sung, not read. Catchy tunes keep the little ones actively involved in the process of reading. They don’t sit passively; they engage with the story. Also, many of the books have pages of sounds instead of words: “brrrr,” “beep, beep, beep,” “vroom,” “nyrrr” and others. That’s right where he’s at developmentally. He loves noises: animal noises, car noises, plane noises, etc. Then, add to that fact the beautiful illustrations with so many fun elements to point out and talk about. The music, the story, the pictures, the activity suggestions provided in the back, all keep him totally engaged. (And the website is now offering free coloring pages to match the stories! Oh, the bliss!)
We count. We talk about words he’s learning to say. We talk about faces the characters are making and make those same faces to each other.
He’s learning so much through these stories. And honestly, I think I am, too. I’m learning the fine art of reading to a toddler.
I highly recommend these stories for babies and toddlers and anyone who loves little ones. Story time will never the be same again. The Music Together Singalong Storybooks are available as hardbacks ($13.95) or board books ($9.95) on the website or on Amazon. Visit the website to watch a video of one of the storybooks, listen to samples of the music, and read reviews from teachers, librarians, and language experts that rave about these books.
(Note: My 6 year-old helped in the taking of some of these photos so that you could get a glimpse of us all snuggled up reading. I think he did pretty good for his photography lesson. Thanks, Helper!)
Disclaimer: I received these products for free in exchange for an honest review. I have not been compensated for a positive review and all opinions are entirely my own.
