Babbling Babies I CAN

Opening the cards I was really struck by the delightful pictures, bright colours and lovely feel of the work cards. There are some great ideas for communicating with babies, from fairly 'obvious' activities like peepo to really creative and inventive new ideas. As my little girl has been delayed in her communication (due to sight problems and overall delay), it has been reassuring to have this extra help. Many of the activities can be easily incorporated into our daily routines. I would recommend them for any parents who wonder whether they are doing enough to help stimulate their children's communication skills, or feel they need some fresh input.

I have both Babbling Babies and Toddler Talk and both resources are very useful for ideas and suggestions for my 3 year old son who at present has no speech.
The games are very fun to do and easy to prepare as there isn't a lot of resources needed and the cards also have suggestions for progress etc.
My son enjoyed all of the activities and it has helped his communication and listening skills and I have picked up useful information on how to progress his speech through play in the future.
All cards are easy to do and have explanations for why and what the games achieve and how you can progress.
I would recommend these to anyone who has a toddler who has a speech delay or limited speech for their age.

Babbling Babies has been developed by ICAN, the charity that supports children with speech, language and communication difficulties. They recognise that learning to talk is the number one life skill for the 21st century. Babbling babies is a collection of 30 wipeable communication cards each measuring 21cm x15cm. They are stored in a sturdy presentation box and are colour coded and named into the following 5 groups each with a developmental theme:
Yellow: "Chatterbox the Canary" -Learning and understanding new words.
Red: "Mischievous the Monkey"- Playing and interacting.
Green: "Big Ears the Elephant" - Learning to listen.
Blue: "Brilliant the Butterfly" - Expressing myself.
Brown: Brave the Bear"- Exploring and developing.
Each Card is beautifully illustrated on the front and on the reverse is where the learning starts. Each card being subdivided into three age groups: 0-6 months, 6-12 months and 12-18 months. The activities are structured using fun ideas both parents or practitioners can use with babies either individually or in a group setting. Advice is given on how to use these with more than one baby at a time. Being both an experienced practitioner and mother I was delighted to pick up some exciting new ways to communicate with babies. Many of the activities can be used during everyday routines such as changing a nappy, mealtimes and bath time as well as when out walking with a baby in a buggy.
These cards would be invaluable to a structured group setting and a suggested timetable covering a six week period is included. I also feel that many of the activities could be incorporated by practitioners when teaching baby massage to parents.
Fathers often feel left out in the early days but by using these cards they too could become more involved in their baby's learning and development. I would recommend these cards for both parents and early years practitioners alike.

Parents want to do the best for their children but once physical needs are taken care of, most of us can benefit from ideas about how to interact and play with our babies. This beautifully presented resource from the Children's Communication Charity ICAN provides lots of practical tools to do just that. The activities, some familiar and some less so, are divided into five key areas of Playing and interacting, Learning to listen, Learning and understanding new words, Expressing myself and Exploring and developing.
The activities are set out clearly on individual cards, with ways in which they can be used to suit the age and developmental stage of the baby. The focus is on using day to day experiences and interactions between the adult and baby to promote communication. I think they will be very useful for and popular with new mums.

I was given this as a gift I work with young children but also have young children at home,
The book is made up of 30 cards and a information booklet in a presentation box.
The cards are grouped into areas such as playing and interaction, learning to listen, learning and understanding new words, expressing myself and exploring and developing.
Each card is colour coded featuring a different illustrated character and has 3 activity ideas on the back one for each age 0-6 months,6-12 months and 12-18 months.

From a parents point of view I thought it was a great information pack I could use a different card to try out an activity each day.
The cards are organised into development areas so I am able to work on different areas of development each day or focus on one area each week.
I found the cards easy to use and really motivated me to spend time together trying out new activities. I really like how simple they are and that they require so little forward planning.

From a practitioners point of view I think they are great for using to create a small program of activities to use each day and as they are simple and divided into areas this supports the EYFS framework. I think they would be particularly good for using with children who are just settling into nursery as they encourage a quick quiet activity to promote bonding and would be a great starting point whilst you get to know more about the child.

I think they could also be used as a training resource for parents during some of the sessions we run as they are so simple and quick to use.

Received these as a gift for my 7 month old baby. Beautifully designed, clear instructions and loads of great ideas to get interacting with LO!
We just use a card or two a day and makes me feel as if I am doing something constructive to help develop LO's language abilities.
Really nice to have some direction and guidance with such an important develpment.
Each card has three sections, 0-6 months, 6-12 months and 12-18 months. Some 'lazy day' activities and some which require a little more forward planning...hiding toys in jelly for example, fantastic fun, very rewarding, lots of giggles from both of us!
Would definitely recommend these as a gift or as something to help you aid your own child's language development. Will also be looking at the next set of cards "Toddler Talk" when LO is older!!