I was recently asked if I would like to review Babbling Babies and Toddler Talk activity packs from I CAN. I CAN is the children’s communication charity, they are there to ensure that no child is left out or left behind because of difficulty speaking or understanding. I CAN’s mission is to make sure that everyone in contact with children knows how important communication is, what a communication difficulty looks like and what they can do to help.

ICAN has produced these two activity packs for parents of children aged 0-3 to help develop their child’s speaking, listening and understanding skills. The packs can be purchased at their online shop for £7.99 in paperback or £12.99 in hardback.

Babbling Babies

“Babbling Babies is a beautifully illustrated activity pack to promote communication development of babies from birth to 18 months old. Learning to talk is the number one life skill for the 21st century. Communication is vital in making friends, letting people know how you feel and keeping you safe. Later, it helps in learning, knowing how to behave and getting on in school.

New babies are geared up to communicate, they do this when they let you know that they are hungry, uncomfortable or tired. How you respond to them will teach them the skills that they need to turn these cries into words then sentences over the next two years. Babbling Babies includes 30 inspiring activities for parents and adults to play and develop a baby’s communication skills.”

I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect when I agreed to review these activity packs but when they arrived I was pleasantly surprised. The hardback box contains 30 beautifully illustrated cards split into the five different categories (Playing and interacting, Learning to listen, Learning and understanding new words, expressing myself and exploring and developing). Each card has on the back lots of activities and games split into 3 age groups (birth to 6 months, 6-12 months and 12-18 months). From simple games such as Peek-a-boo to making music games and treasure basket games. There really are lots of fantastic ideas on the cards, I’ve been doing a few of them with Oscar and we’ve been having lots of fun and giggles whilst hopefully improving his currently non-existant communication skills

Toddler Talk

“Toddler Talk includes 35 inspiring activities on durable cards for parents and other adults to play with the toddler to develop the toddler’s communication skills. The activities have been developed by practitioners with specialist experience in developing communication with under threes. The activities are focused on the following five areas:
1.Attention and Listening
2.Understanding what is said
3.Learning and using new words
4.Building sentences
5.Talking socially

Toddlers need the space and time to process sounds and to learn what they mean. Eventually, words build into sentences, into mini-conversations and this means that children will be able to get the best of their new learning environments.”

Now Zara has always been a very talkative child anyway, in fact it scares me at just how much she understands and can communicate but we still had lots of fun playing with these cards. Games like one, two, three, jump encourage her to learn about actions and waiting whilst there are cards explaining how to make the most of books and reading with them. There are shopping games, fishing games and loads of activities which encourage language development. I love being able to just go and get a card and instantly having something fun to do with her

 I think these activity packs are a great idea and would definitely recommend them