First Words (My First Touch and Feel Picture Cards) Cards – 18 Dec. 2005

I am writing the same review for Colours and Shapes, First Words and Numbers and Counting.I do agree with other commenters about the American spellings but it's such a small thing it's not worth marking down for although it would be great if the publishers considered other words that are the same on both sides of the "pond."I was very pleased that my son clearly said "Dog" yesterday after showing me the dog card. This morning he pulled out the cake card and tried to say cake.I absolutely love these cards, they are better than a book as I don't have always start in the same place. I am using them with a 19 month old so also I don't have to have him actually sit with me or do the whole thing, we do one or two each day and the feeling aspect keeps him interested. The cards also give great ideas on the reverse, if you are not a teacher you may not think of asking certain questions or getting the child to trace the numbers. Since using these my son understands the concept of counting, he points at things with his "counting finger" as I call it and now he sees individual items, he even makes little noises like counting! He's not speaking yet but it's sweet to hear his inflection he goes down on the last item so I know he understands that he's counting even if he doesn't know all the words. These cards are great as they have overlapping ideas, if I pull out the number cards we can say words or look at colours or shapes and the same with all the others, you can count on all the cards or look at the words or the colours. I also love the languages aspect on each card. I am raising my son in a trilingual home, his father's language is not on the cards but his school language is so it makes it easier to introduce those words and give the cards even more longevity as he goes onto reading and writing. The only thing I wish is that this series had an ABC!! I'd love that. If you do read this DK please do an ABC with words both British and American children use and please ensure all the letters start with their phonic counterpart, it seems very hard to find friezes that do that successfully. A wonderful series that I have recommended to friends.

My 20 month old sone loves these word cards. I wasn't quite sure what these would be like and I actully though they would be more like puzzle piece cards that we have in other toddler books. However, as you can see in the photo, they are more like flash cards. They are packaged in a nice cardboard box (made out of the same material as a baby "board book"), with a Velcro flap attachment. The cards themselves are about six inches by two inches. On the front they have a picture of an object or animal, with part of the image made out of a "tactile substance", such as fake fur or metallic paper or cardboard. The front of the card also has the name of the object/animal printed in English (be aware that this is American English, so "jelly" for "jam" and "sweater" for "jumper"). On the back of the card there are several questions to ask a child about the image and a separate section showing what word (and phonetic pronunciation) for the image is in Spanish, French, German, and Chinese (does not say whether it is Mandarin or Cantonese). These cards will work for babies through to primary school. A child under one would probably like to look at the cards and touch them, my toddler likes to look and feel the cards and say what is on them (or repeat the word after me) and older children can talk about the image and use them as flash cards for the words in foreign languages.

I bought this for my daughter when she was about one year old and she still loves playing with the cards (she is now 1 1/2 years old), although some of them are already a bit damages. Initially I would spread out the cards on the floor and ask her to point at the card that shows a particular object; now I point at a card and ask her to pronounce the word. There are many other ways to use these cards now and when she is a bit older. Especially in the beginning she also spent quite some time playing with them alone, taking them out, looking attentively at them, and then putting them back into the box.

My daughter was saying what most of these were by 14 months. She loves the touch and feel part and the pictures and plays with them for ages. I have now got her the number ones. They are American spelling/words but it only affects 2 of them which is jelly instead of jam and sweater instead of jumper. I have put a white label over them and now she doesn't know. I love that I can teach her the words in different languages as well. Great fun and really really good buy.

I ordered these for my Son for his 2nd Birthday last year, Nearly a year on and this is by far one of the best things I have bought (I admit, I am one of these Mum's who googles things like 'top games for a 2 year old' !!, I lost them and ordered another pack, I then found the first pack and now we use it as a pair game, he can now name them all. I highly recommend ordering two, as there are pair games out there, but these cards really are lovely. He is always taking them out the cupboard to play 'the game'. Wish I had bought them earlier!!

After all the learning-by-flashcards hype, I ended up buying these. For the money, these are good value - robust enough for toddlers, nice touch-feel textures and vivid colourful photographs. They would make an ideal gift or a travel buddy for long flights or car journeys.In my opinion though, you can do just as well by making cheap cards at home. Indeed I have taught my daughter the entire alphabet, 1 - 10 numbers and basic words at only 19 months, simply by cutting out Amazon boxes into card-sized pieces, drawing pictures on one side and writing the number/letter/word on the other side. She treasures these home-made cards more and loves helping out in the creative process too.Just my two-cents on the entire flashcards debate but as a product, this is a good contender.

Big hit with the little people.