Soft Shapes: Shapes (Soft Shapes)

Rating:
Summary: stiff pages
Review: My six-month-old son is fascinated by mama's and papa's books -- he likes to try to turn the pages [and crinkle them up in his fist, and eat them] while I'm reading, so I thought this book might be a good idea for him. The binding is so stiff, however, that he can't keep the book open by himself yet. I have to hold it open, and the pages often snap closed again while I'm trying to take out the shapes. He seems to enjoy just having it around, and enjoys sucking on the corners of the book, even if he can't open it by himself.

There are eight foam/nerf-type "pages" [four shapes with facing text]: Find the yellow triangle. / [yellow triangle in a picture of a boat] / Find the orange circle. / [orange circle in a sun] / Find the purple square. / [purple square in a house] / Find the red heart. / [red heart in a teddy bear - underneath the heart it says "I love you!"] Nothing brilliant, but it's at least succinct. Each of the shapes can be removed from the book and then [hopefully] replaced.

Rating:
Summary: My son is growing into this book
Review: My son received this book as a gift when he was eight monthsold. The first thing he did was to pop it in his mouth--and with fourteeth he succeeded in giving it some good bite marks. I rescued it before he could take a bite out of any of the shapes, but I believe that he could have.

Now that he is outgrowing the Must-Put-New-Thing-In-My-Mouth phase (ten months) he really enjoys the book. He loves to take the shapes out of the book (one by one at mom's insistance!) and turn them over and over in his hands and look at them from all sides. He also likes to turn the chunky but light pages and he is learning to point at the shapes when I say the corresponding sentence ("Find the yellow triangle," for example). I only wish there were more than four shapes in the book.

In short, I would recommend closely monitoring babies in the heavy chewing phase while they have this book, but it seems to be a great way for children to learn shapes and colors.

Rating:
Summary: My son is growing into this book
Review: My son received this book as a gift when he was eight monthsold. The first thing he did was to pop it in his mouth--and with fourteeth he succeeded in giving it some good bite marks. I rescued it before he could take a bite out of any of the shapes, but I believe that he could have.

Now that he is outgrowing the Must-Put-New-Thing-In-My-Mouth phase (ten months) he really enjoys the book. He loves to take the shapes out of the book (one by one at mom's insistance!) and turn them over and over in his hands and look at them from all sides. He also likes to turn the chunky but light pages and he is learning to point at the shapes when I say the corresponding sentence ("Find the yellow triangle," for example). I only wish there were more than four shapes in the book.

In short, I would recommend closely monitoring babies in the heavy chewing phase while they have this book, but it seems to be a great way for children to learn shapes and colors.

Rating:
Summary: One of my daughter's favorites
Review: When I first bought this book, I wasn't all that pleased. It only has four shapes, and because the foam isn't "slippery", my daughter can't easily slide the shapes back into their spaces.

However, she LOVES the book. She "reads" it all the time, and really enjoys taking each shape out and putting it back in. It is also an excellent travel book - it doesn't weigh much, it can get wet, it is quiet, and it keeps her interest.

When I bought the book, she was 14 months old, and is now 18 months old. She doesn't put many things in her mouth, but the shapes do have a few teeth marks. I agree with other moms who have said that a determined child could take a bite out of the shapes... One final note on durability - the last page fell off pretty quickly.

Rating:
Summary: One of my daughter's favorites
Review: When I first bought this book, I wasn't all that pleased. It only has four shapes, and because the foam isn't "slippery", my daughter can't easily slide the shapes back into their spaces.

However, she LOVES the book. She "reads" it all the time, and really enjoys taking each shape out and putting it back in. It is also an excellent travel book - it doesn't weigh much, it can get wet, it is quiet, and it keeps her interest.

When I bought the book, she was 14 months old, and is now 18 months old. She doesn't put many things in her mouth, but the shapes do have a few teeth marks. I agree with other moms who have said that a determined child could take a bite out of the shapes... One final note on durability - the last page fell off pretty quickly.