Design and Features
Baby Einstein Books come in a variety of infant and toddler titles and formats including mirror and touch and feel board books, soft waterproof bath-books, soft bed-time books and interactive books for toddlers such as the Animal Match pictured above.
Rather than tell a story each Baby Einstein title explores a theme such as animals, water, shapes, emotions, colours and your baby's environment. They are boldly illustrated in bright colours.
Performance and Drawbacks
Baby Einstein wouldn't be my first choice of book for my toddler because they are a bit "Disney" in the illustration department if you know what I mean. However, not only have I been out-voted by our enthusiastic parent product testers who provided feedback for this review, I've been out-voted by my own little guy who loves the illustrations and subject matters.
Babies and toddlers enjoy the interactive nature of these books and parents like it that they can choose a book that might distract their toddler at the time they need it, i.e. during bath time or going to bed.
There's a Baby Einstein book covering most topics that may interest you and your baby and they provide an opportunity for parents to explore themes in conjunction with the books. Reasonably complex themes are communicated to toddlers in ways they can comprehend such as the Water Water Everywhere bath-book which explains all the different kinds of water in our environment.
One of the really popular aspect of Baby Einstein books is that they are widely available at a reasonable price. They provide much better option than lollies to keep your child occupied while you are out and about shopping. Sure you pay more but will eventually save at the dentist and you are teaching your child to occupy themselves rather than just keeping them quite by keeping their mouth full. Plus books are enjoyed over and over again.
There is controversy, particularly in the US, about the appropriateness of Baby Einstein products for toddlers. This mainly relates to their DVDs, and them replacing healthy parent interaction. This is not relevant to the books which encourage the opposite.
You might want to let your bath-books air for a while to get rid of the plastic smell before giving it to your child and don't let your baby have their Lullaby Time book in their bed while sleeping until they are older than 12 months (as per SIDS Guidelines).
Conclusion
Baby Einstein books undoubtedly get the parents thumbs up for value for money and the babies and toddlers thumbs up for fun reading time. Mix them up with some quality story-books and you've got the perfect plan to create a little bookworm.
You can find Baby Einstein books at your local bookstore, supermarket or newsagent.
About Baby Einstein
Baby Einstein is a Disney brand which is huge in America. In addition to the books they make a range of videos, toys, CDs and activities.
