Kitchen Table Reviews: Hello, Dinosaurs!
Colorful dinosaurs and fun finger puppets are the perfect way to introduce babies to reading.
Hello, Dinosaurs!
We have a lot of friends who are having babies, recently, and of course one of my favorite gifts to give a brand new human is a great book or two. My son recently pointed out, though, that it’s not as though a baby can really enjoy a book. This led to either a fascinating discussion about fostering literacy or me droning on and on while he rolled his eyes, depending on whose version of the story you believe. Ahem.
Regardless, when I saw this adorable little hand puppet and book, I thought I’d found the baby gift we could all agree upon.
Me: So do you think this is a good baby gift?
Son: Definitely! Everyone likes dinosaurs, especially little kids.
Daughter: It’s really colorful and cute, and babies like that. It says it’s for ages 0-2, so I guess the adult could do the hand puppet for a little baby, and then as the kid gets older, like when he’s a toddler, he can try to do it himself.
Me: Or she.
Daughter: Well, mostly boys like dinosaurs.
Son: No, everyone likes dinosaurs!
Me: Yeah, everyone likes dinosaurs! You like dinosaurs!
Daughter: I do?
Me: Yes! Hello? The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins?
Daughter: Whatever. That was different. I just mean that with little kids, boys usually like dinosaurs more than girls.
This led to either a fascinating discussion about rejection of societal gender norms or me droning on and on while she rolled her eyes, depending on whose version of the story you believe. Ahem.
[I am kind of on a roll with the lecturing this week. I’m not sure whether that’s a good or bad thing.]
Son: Well, anyway, I think it’s good because it’s both a little book and a set of five finger puppets that are way fun.
Me: I like that the hand puppet is big enough for a grown-up. Sometimes these things are too small for bigger hands.
Daughter: Once a kid is a little older he’ll want to wear it himself, though, and I wonder if it’d be too big for a little kid…?
Me: It might be hard for a toddler to control all five dinosaurs, but they probably wouldn’t care.
Son: Probably a toddler would just want to chew on them.
Me: Mmmm, yummy dinosaurs. Hey, what about the actual book?
Son: It was good. Short and colorful.
Daughter: A good way to get babies interested in reading. And in eating dinosaurs.
Me: Um, okay.
In the end, we deemed it a pretty awesome baby/toddler gift, combining a toy and a book to make both even better.
Pros: Soft and colorful—perfect for babies. Everyone loves dinosaurs (and puppets). Puppet glove is large enough to accommodate adults.
Cons: Puppet glove is probably too large for a small child to adequately manipulate the puppets. My frequent lectures. I seriously doubt that real dinosaurs were ever this cute.
Hello, Dinosaurs! gets three thumbs and five silly finger-puppet dinosaurs up from our kitchen table.
