Babies | Daddy Mojo

My First Seek and Learn: At Home, makes learning Spanish seem like play

No bones about it, full immersion is the best way to learn a second language. Full immersion is also a luxury. If you don’t live in a country where your native tongue isn’t the primary language or can’t afford a school where that’s the modus operandi of teaching, it’s also not an option. This is where you’re thankful for those relatives who still speak a second language fluently or need to seek out books that start at a very young age. My First Seek & Learn: At Home, Mi Premer Busca & Apprende: En Casa is the same either way you say it. It combines the curious element that toddlers have hardwired into their brains and adds a bi-lingual element that will pay dividends for years to come.

My First Seek and Learn: At Home uses common, household words and happy illustrations to make learning Spanish a seek and find, for ages two and up.

Open, abierto el libro y apprendre

It’s a Danny Go’s Volcano Adventure, world, we’re just living in it

When you know, you know, and even though I don’t have children in that demographic, you know when you see Danny Go. Danny Go! is the manic show for toddlers through first grade that your friend’s children are humming. The thing is, that the music is very catchy. It’s legitimately catchy-in a non-ironic manner, that adults will be bouncing along to the beats too. Their videos have millions upon millions of views. The videos have a wide cast of characters with distinct personalities. They’re hopelessly entertaining and Danny Go’s Volcano Adventure takes that spirit and jams it into an illustrated book for the same age.

Danny Go’s Volcano Adventure, preschool rockstar translates video energy to children’s interactive book fun.

Resistance is futile

Winnie-the-Pooh: 100th Anniversary Edition, a bit aged, still as awesome

I thought it was a velvet cover. But no, the cover to Winnie-the-Pooh: 100^th Anniversary (Winnie-the-Pooh; The House at Pooh Corner) (The Winnie-the-Pooh Collection) is a flocked cover. Flocking is a process where short fibers are glued to a surface and feels like velvet, but it is much cheaper. If the question was, how do make reading Winnie-the-Pooh more adorable, the answer would certainly be to provide it with a flocked cover.

Winnie-the-Pooh: 100th Anniversary Edition brims with life, energy, fun and doesn’t look a day over 100.

Pooh sticks at dawn!

Are You Snuggly? is good, silly board book fun with a big vocabulary

Snuggly is one of those adjectives that couples in the early phases of their relationships, as well as, parents to kids under two can earnestly use. It is a very appropriate adjective that correctly describes its intention. The ability to be seen as cuddling up with is a rare commodity. Are You Snuggly? is a playful board book that goes through a handful of animals and the very descriptive, and uncommon words used to describe them.

Are You Snuggly? is board book silliness that’s well constructed, with lots of cute animals asking simple questions.

chew on the pages, it’s all board book good

Night Night Tyrannosaurus, board book cutes with big-kid STEM

Back in my day board books were just about caterpillars, shapes and colors. Babies, crawlers and toddlers have it so good today. Night Night Tyrannosaurus and Night Night Ladybug are board books that swim with today’s books for young demographics. Tyrannosaurus and Ladybug each have a different focus, with one being on shapes and the other on colors. It has the mandatory aspects of education, but wraps it in the pleasantries of dinosaurs or insects. My four-year-old self describes this as a win/win when it comes to board books.

Night Night Tyrannosaurus is a board book that uses some go-to elements for toddlers and crawlers, but adds a little STEM.

Night night toddlers, hello Stem curiosity

Don’t Draw in This Book! is finger-tracing laughs for ages 1-6

Last year, I was teaching a high school English class, and one of the students went rogue. They started drawing phallic shapes with various curse words directed at me. I know, normally one would expect that from elementary school students, but this student was special. Thankfully, their handwriting was poor and identical to the handwritten essays I asked them to do, thus, it was quite simple to confirm who the culprit was. Don’t Draw in This Book! is the toddler, pre-k and kindergarten entry point that kids need for a couple of reasons.

Don’t Draw in This Book! is an impossible to resist board book that engages kids one through six to touch, trace, laugh and learn.

The press the button series is a go-to for toddlers

It’s Busy Down in the Woods Today is a poetic seek-and-find for today

Someplace, somewhere, there is a doctor’s or dentist’s office waiting for a copy of It’s Busy Down in the Woods Today. Wait, the mere thought of associating those offices with the book might put off the pre-K or kindergarten crowd. Instead, let’s say that It’s Busy Down in the Woods Today: Friends to Meet, Places to Explore and over 100 Things to Find is the rabbit hole, busy time, chill-out companion that young, manic minds need, even though they may not want it.

It’s Busy Down in the Woods Today is a seek-and-find book in Brown Bear Wood series, but offers a homespun, poetic twist for ages two to six.

There are other things to look for than a skinny beatnik guy

Are You Small?, illustrated book genius or fun, whatever you like

I’m currently teaching a high school English class and they won’t tell you that they want order, structure and something to do. Left to their own devices most of them would be content spinning their energy and creative juices wasting time on their handheld computers that can also make phone calls. Students crave order and boundaries, but they won’t tell you that. Illustrated books have their own unwritten set of rules, mores and means that they’re presented to their key audience to maximize the book’s attention. Are You Small? is the sibling to Are You Big? and hits the same great high notes, in the same manner, albeit in a key that’s smaller in stature.

Are You Small? is an illustrated book that posits to young children how small is small and a basic lesson in relativity, or it’s all just for fun.

If fun is relative, then this book is relatively