I think that is a great idea! There are lots of Australian ones of course if that is one of your countries. Are you after picture books or short chapter books? There are lot featuring Australian animals and there are also a lot of books with an Aboriginal theme.

I just found a nice website that has children's book listed per country - Read Around the World http://delightfulchildrensbooks.com/2011/05/26/read-around-the-world-this-summer/

Another site http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/632293-children-s-books-set-around-the-world
Another http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/books/detailListBooks.asp?idBookLists=280
Another http://www.sln.org.uk/geography/Documents/primary/Some%20Story%20and%20non-fiction%20books.pdf

Also another that comes to mind is Boy Overboard by Morris Gleitzman, which is a story of an Afghan family who seek refugee status in Australia but this may be for a little older with the themes involved

Yes I was going to say Turtle Logo too.

An actual robot one would be good to see visually what is happening. You can build your own if you are handy!

There are a few others to buy though. I've never seen one in action, only in video.

I guess initially you could also have your toddler walk out the commands eg forward 1, turn left etc and see what pattern they make. Or use a peg board with a piece of string

Another vote for Ergo carrier. We had the sports version as my husband is tall and it had longer straps. It was very comfortable and we used it for hours at a time. It was handy for naps when out and about

I tried a Hug a bub (long piece of fabric) but I couldn't really get the hang of it, especially when the Ergo was so easy.

[0-12 months]

Another favourite books thread... I thought I'd split it up into ages as I'm after book recommendations for around 18m - 2yo. I'm finding it hard to find books that are not too simple but that also don't have long sections of text as they don't hold her attention. Sometimes I think I've found a winner only to have her show no interest what so ever. When did others like books like The Gruffalo?

These are the books my daughter enjoyed at different times

0-12 months
Black and White by Tania Hoban (I used this and others in the series when she was very young)
Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes by Annie Kubler (she enjoyed looking at the faces in this one - there isn't a great deal of text)
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown 
Dear Zoo by Rod Campbell
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
That's Not My ... books by Fiona Watt
Baby Touch Squeaky Book by Ladybird
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See by Bill Martin Jr
I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti Shustak
Peekaboo Zoo by Mandy Ross
Eyes, Nose, Toes Peekaboo by DK Publishing
Whose Stripes by Fiona Phillipson
Sweet Dreams, Maisy by Lucy Cousins


12-18 months
My Very First Book of Colors by Eric Carle (I think this book was one of the ways she learnt all her colours early)
There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly by Pam Adams (she loves poking her finger through the hole)
In the Night Garden books by Andrew Davenport (particularly the ones that follow the story line of the tv show like Igglepiggle Lost)
Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball by Vicki Churchill (it took a while to warm up to this one but now it's a fav)
Dig Dig Digging by Margaret Mayo
Maisy Takes a Bath by Lucy Cousins (she loves saying Ding, Dong when the doorbell rings)
Hello Baby! by Mem Fox (we have to do all the actions like rolling eyes, twitching nose)
I Spy Little Animals by Jean Marzollo (there are a few others in the series but she likes this one the best)
Slinky Malinki Open The Door by Lynley Dodd (I think I will buy a few more Hairy Maclary as they seem to fit the bill)
Hippo Has a Hat by Julia Donaldson (she loves this at the moment - I have ordered a few more by Julia Donaldson and hope they arrive soon)
Colour books (Blue, Orange, Red and Purple) by Sharon Gordon (these are library books and she also loves them! they are no longer in print and I can't find them to buy in English - only Spanish. Unless I pay a lot for shipping 2nd hand to Australia)
Old Macdonald's Farm by Liz Pichon (another library book - it has actions but we just did all of the noises)
This Old Man by Pam Adams (lots of holes to poke fingers through)

Thanks for your reply! your children sound very lucky to have all these languages surrounding them

I guess one thing I am concerned about is that my mother in law has always spoken English to my daughter. If she suddenly just starts speaking French to her, is that going to be a little odd? I thought maybe if she eased into it, but I don't know how you ease into things like this   or maybe she should say something in French, and then in English etc? I don't know whether this would help or hinder. I just don't want to confuse my daughter at this peak time of language acquisition

I think my daughter's first word was ki (short for kitty) as that was what we always refer to our cats as - kitties

I'll be trying a few of these ideas! My daughter usually decides she will start clapping in the next section, eg with Bach or another composer, after the clap along is finished

I have an early talker (compared to normal milestone charts anyway). At nearly 17months she says about 400 words. I have also only recently discovered that she can finish the ends of sentences in books.

I must say I don't think we did anything in particular to encourage this. In fact, I've only just discovered the world of EL a month ago.

We did do what my husband calls "saying what you are doing" e.g. "I'm putting you in your high chair now..." etc. And named everything that was pointed at.

However she is only just starting to join words together into 2 and 3 word phrases. So I wonder whether it is just a great memory that has allowed her to learn so many words, rather than any special ability linguistically (if that makes sense)

Hi all,

I am after advice on teaching my toddler French. Here is the background information:

My daughter is 17months old and we speak English at home. She has a very large productive vocabulary (says 400 words) and is just starting to string words together. She does seem to have an incredible memory - reminding me of things we need to buy at the shops that I might have said 2 days prior. We have just started LR and LMus. We will not do LMath but use other methods

One of her grandparents speaks fluent French but is extremely nervous/embarrassed about trying to teach my daughter. They spend 1 whole day together a week (8 hours) and one afternoon (about 3 hours).

So I'm wondering a few things
- is it best to delay starting for another year or so, until my daughter has a good grasp on the English language? Or would it be best to start as soon as possible? Are there arguments to go both ways on this?
- what advice/encouragement can I give to her grandparent?
- any tips on a plan/structure etc for me? do I fill in the rest of the week with electronic activities? or do I just leave it to these 2 days when she shes her grandparent?
- should I incorporate French into LR or stick with English

thanks in advance for any advice

We did 1 term of lessons at 6 months old. But it was so incredibly boring and repetitive that we stopped going to lessons. Every single week they did the exact same thing. And this class was meant to go up to 18months old! It is a shame that this is our closest pool and has the best water treatment system in town (no chlorine). I just wish their lessons were better. The next closest pool has really high chlorine levels and only has 2 showers available.

My daughter is now 17months and I am considering putting her back into lessons but I am hesitating. She goes swimming once a week with her grandparents so she is familiar with the water. She loves it - well most of it... not water on her face. We did do the ____, ready go for months and months when my daughter was a baby. But we stopped. I wish we had continued to do that so we wouldn't have this problem now.

Maybe I will get them to watch some Uswim videos and see if we can follow some concepts from that. Also I found this blog very interesting - it is someone who details what their child did in swimming lessons over a year or more, and includes the lessons content/activities, even diagrams etc  http://www.bringemup.com/sections/Infant-Swimming

Hello and welcome. I am new here and from Australia too. I am a bit late to the party as daughter is 17months and I have only just discovered EL

Hi and welcome to the forum. I am pretty new too but hoping to meet some great people on here!

My daughter also dislikes the Pattern Phonics section of LR and turns her head away as soon as it comes on.

Is it possible to insert pictures into this section like the other sections? Or are there files available to download as custom content that use the pattern phonic words but make it a bit more interesting?

I am also thinking of using Dad Dudes method of flash cards to do it, but maybe just keeping it electronic as physical cards are a huge distraction for us at the moment

thanks for the video links

to copy onto DVD - do you have a video editing program like windows movie maker? You could try dragging the clips into there and making a movie. Then search google for how to burn a dvd from windows movie maker. There are a few methods - one uses DVD flick

that is great news
I'm still on the look out for signs of success but we have only really just started. But I am excited by what is to come by hearing these success stories!