We Love to Sing Along product reviews

Working as an under 2's teacher I am always looking for books which will amuse and delight the children while standing up to lots of handling. It's not always an easy task but I'm pleased to say We Love to Sing Along ticked all the boxes! Not only is a a nice thick broad book, it is also a delightful read/sing. It incorporates some of my favourite songs with the most delightful pictures.

The second I introduced it to the children I had a group of fans, despite my terrible singing they all came running. We sung through the book once and then we went through again looking at the pictures. The children were enchanted by the images and kept finding things to point out on each page. By the 3rd time through the book most of the children were joining in singing the songs that they knew, Twinkle, twinkle and Rain, rain go away.

Since introducing the book to the children it has quickly become a favourite, it has been dragged around everywhere. It's had a few wipe downs due to sticky fingers and is still looking as good as new. It's passing the handling test with flying colours. We have read/ sung the book so many times that the children are now beginning to sing the two songs that were introduced to them through the book. Any book that holds the children's attention and draws them into learning is a winner to me.

Board books are a great idea for toddlers - they will stand up to a bit of rough treatment from little hands, and they can easily be wiped clean when the invariably sticky fingers become a little too enthusiastic. This means that the books last quite well and may even survive long enough to be passed on to the next child in the family. Our twins are most enthusiastic when it comes to new books. This one features two children on the front cover. The dark haired child was wearing a floral top, so Teina decided that was her, and Tuakana became the blonde child!

The girls are always happy to sit down and look at the pictures while a story is read to them. (Often this means backtracking to look at the previous page again, but who says a story has to be sequential?) On this occasion, we had rather a different approach. The main pages consisted of the words of four different nursery songs accompanied by the most delightful illustrations. I sang the four songs to them, stopping frequently for the girls to point to items like the teddy and the bike. After we had gone right through the book, they went and got their teddies to show me, and when we started a second sing-through one of the teddies sat on the floor so he could hear us.

Once we had gone through the words twice, Teina decided to join in and sing along with me. Tuakana was a little shyer, but I could see that both girls were fascinated by the idea of singing a book rather than just reading it, so it was just a matter of time before they were both having a go. Teina was not bothered that she did not know the words; it is the charm of toddlers that, once they decide to do something, they do it full on and with no embarrassment whatsoever!

I would like to have seen a CD included (or alternatively, a downloadable link) that would go with the text. This would add to the fun for the children and they would enjoy having their "own" music. It would also give them access to the idea of singing along karaoke-style. Not that this fazed Teina in the least, but it might have given Tuakana confidence to join in more quickly. However, she took things at her own pace, and by the time I left their house (leaving the book with them, of course) she was singing as lustily as her sister.