Reviewed by Shelley East
Old Macdonald is one of my daughters favourite songs. She instantly took to the hard back book and was delighted with the illustrations. On each page are pictures of all the animals that were on the farm and song words. Each page encourages mime and my daughter enjoyed performing the actions.
The illustrations are clear and easy to recognise with the sounds that the animals make displayed on the page. Each page is different and provides ideas for conversation with your child and the images are appropriate in size to allow your child to recognise and point to the animals. Each child on the pages is dressed differently and also includes male and female characters as well as ensuring multi-cultural children are integrated within the book. It is very well thought out and displayed and we also discussed what the children were wearing which my daughter was very enthusiastic about as she could point to her own clothes in recognition. I encouraged this with lots of praise and clapping and she really enjoyed the book and getting involved for a reward.
This book is designed to develop a child’s language. The strong influence of using such a well-known song is a fantastic idea as it captures the child’s attention straight away and the actions and movements aid coordination. I was very impressed by the italic captions and arrows to show parents how to teach sign language and it is actually very easy to do and is a very good way to aid communication! This is a perfect read for children from babies to toddlers as it can be used throughout different stages in their development and is educational without being formal. We have read this book several times and because it is so interactive my little one remains amused each time.
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £4.99
Available to buy from Child’s Play here.
