Calm Down Boris, it's nearly Christmas!

When should you introduce your grandchildren to books?  Experts recommend from about four months old.

Soli at twelve months is developing a love for books.   Books with flaps and animals are a definite yes! and board books are great, especially for little sticky fingers.  Interactive books with sounds are also a firm favourite.

The series of books by David Ellwand are perfect for toddlers to explore with bold colourful pictures, easy turn pages and big buttons to press, over and over again! You can sing along to the tunes, as teddy bears help out on Old MacDonald's farm, row a boat and go on a big red bus ride. ' The wheels on the bus go round and round, all round Teddy Town'!

Soli can press the button to start the music to Old MacDonald Had A Farm

Soli was given several books for his birthday.  Even though some books are not for his age group, we enjoy looking at the pictures together.  Rod Campell's ' Oh Dear' and 'Dear Zoo' are both lovely  books and you don't have to read the words, just explore with lots of language, expression and sounds.  Soli enjoys opening all the flaps and giggles when I make the animal sounds.

You must meet Boris, the main character in the book 'Calm Down Boris', by Sam Lloyd.  Boris is a monster puppet with a great story to tell, recommended for two years up!  So at the moment we don't bother with any of the story and just have fun brushing, stroking and giving Boris something to eat.  Boris is a lovable monster and has given grandma lots of kisses, but Soli isn't having any of that!

Soli feeding Boris 

I think you can never go wrong with books for Christmas and there are so many to choose from.  It's lovely to see books my children enjoyed as toddlers, still popular.  'Tickle, Tickle' by Helen Oxenbury and  'Peepo' by Janet & Allan Ahlberg, were always favourites in our house and a pleasure to share.  Don't be tempted to get the stories on  DVD  though.  It's just not the same.  Young children really prefer to interact with you, listening to the sounds and intonation of speech and watching your interactive behaviour when they say or do something.

If you want to buy something a bit special, look on the website site,  notonthehighstreet.com.  I bought a gorgeous personalised Nursery Rhyme Book for Soli, with lots of familiar rhymes and some new ones,  personal to him.

Where to store your grandchild's first book collection?  Amazon have a good selection of book-stands, with fun designs starting from as little as £17, a great Christmas present idea. 💙🌝

Soli likes to to crawl over  to the book stand and choose his own books.