The Young Child's Busy Book of Playing, Learning, Stories, and Rhymes

Stories, rhymes, activities, and innovative ideas for crafts and games are designed to stimulate curiosity and teach vital early learning skills through creative play.

PreSchool-K-- All kinds of activities, stories, and entertainments for preschool and kindergarten children are crammed helter-skelter into a large volume illustrated with lots of cute, cheerful watercolors in a variety of sizes. The five senses, animal sounds, critters with mixed-up parts, crafts, funny poems, nursery rhymes, games, shapes, recipes, fairy tales, things to count, and sewing stitches are among the subjects jumbled together in no particular order. Luckily, there is a table of contents. The effect is one of information overload--confusing but amusing--with big, clear print and lots of frenetic action. Parents and teachers could use this as an encyclopedia of early learning, but there are plenty of individual titles that explore each area in depth. --Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

True to its title, this copiously illustrated compendium is indeed "busy." Carter attempts to entertain a broad spectrum of ages, resulting in a rather unfocused hodgepodge of activities--from relatively sophisticated arts and crafts projects and experiments with plants to early counting and alphabet games. Unfortunately, some of the ideas presented are paired with insufficiently detailed instructions. For example, although an illustration accompanies directions for making a "dam system," the cursory text reads: "Fill hollows of sand with water and use pipes to connect them." The book also contains a handful of well-known children's stories and numerous rhymes, as well as samplings of Carter's sprightly original verse: "Wouldn't it be funny / If cows made honey / And all the bees in the world / Said moo?" The volume's imaginative, versatile illustrators contribute a wide range of drawings, including realistic animals, cheerful cartoonlike characters and explicit how-to artwork. Ages 1-5.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.