Damien has a new toy in his diaper bag, a little early learning gem which I instantly fell in love with – the Munchkin Traveling Flash Cards.
I originally picked it up for its appeal in teaching Damien the uppercase alphabet and their sounds.
Here is what I love about this little book:
- Bright red uppercase letters with thick, simple font.
- Twenty six animal pictures for each letter, but on cards separate from the letter, so you can show the letter and picture separately (ideal), or both at the same time if you want to.
- Great quality, clear, real-life animal pictures.
- Clear, bold words below the pictures in English and Spanish
- Variety of animals introduce some fun and interesting new vocabulary, like U for [sea] Urchin.
But wait, there’s more! I actually didn’t realize until AFTER I brought this home that it is not only an alphabet flip book, but also includes
- Numbers 1-10, represented by groups of fish pictures, the numeral, and the word
- Shapes, including heart, square, star, rectangle, circle, and triangle (wish there were more, but these are good starters)
- Colors (on the shapes), including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple (again, there could be more, but still nice)
- All of these are in English and Spanish as well
The design is amazing, in my opinion.
- The cards are laminated and durable.
- The thick plastic and rubber handle makes a great teether.
- It’s small – about 3in x 3in and less than an inch thick, it fits easily in the diaper bag for travel or at home.
Some minor cons:
- Cards are sometimes slightly difficult to turn on the plastic rings.
- Would have preferred some more shapes (think diamond, hexagon, etc.) and colors (brown, silver, etc.). However since I purchased it for the alphabet portion this is not a big deal.
- The mirror on the cover gets scratched up and dirty easily.
So in one little flip book, you can teach your baby
- 26 alphabet names / shapes, 26 letter sounds, 26 animals (+26 in Spanish), 10 numerals, 10 quantities, 10 number names (+10 in Spanish), 6 shapes (+6 in Spanish), 6 colors (+6 in Spanish), for a total of no less than 168 bits of information clearly and simply presented.
I am pretty sure that this is the best $5 I have spent in a long time. Sure, I could have made something homemade, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as durable, portable, or cute, and would have likely taken a couple of hours to do so.
Are there any early learning gems you’ve come across worth sharing with other Doman Moms?
“My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly.”
Job 33:3
Thank you for your comments!
Damien is 9 months, 3 weeks old
[...] here and there with the letters of the alphabet since Damien was nine months old. Mostly with his munchkin travel flash cards, and mostly letter sounds not letter [...]