Saturday, January 29, 2011

National Puzzle Day, Jan. 29th






Usborne Puzzle Books help reading comprehension & visual discrimination which in turn helps with reading, spelling, and writing.

Jigsaw Puzzle Books also stimulates small motor skills and spatial awareness.
"Studies have suggested a link between a well-developed sense of spatial awareness and artistic creativity, as well as success in math. It can also be important in the development of abstract thought. The ability to organize and classify abstract mental concepts is related to the ability to organize and classify objects in space. Visual thinkers, in particular, will tend to use their visual imagination to organize abstract thought."

And they are just plain FUN!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Why sticker books are an important tool for learning.

Sticker books tap into the interest area of a child. When a parent supports a child’s interest, it promotes independence and autonomy leading to healthy social-emotional development.


The Sticker Dolly books also promote cognitive development through matching and association, creative reasoning and self-identification. They encourage your child to recall what they already know and strengthen the learning pathways. There is also an element of creative thinking or story-telling. Encourage your child’s imagination by asking questions about the dolls’ identities, likes, dislikes, favorite food, etc.


Sticker books helps develop the fine motor skills to prepare and support the ability to write words, and draw. The Usborne Sticker books also help with the development of eye-hand coordination which promotes the ability to use manipulative in learning, art skills, and gross motor activities like sports, climbing and jumping, as well as spatial awareness.


The theory is that when all of these development realms are tapped into regularly, children will have more success in school and, some say most importantly, higher level problems solving and reasoning skills.


Usborne books tap into these on a regular basis. We have nearly 100 different sticker books for all ages and interests ranging from pre-school ABC to Internet Linked World History Sticker Atlas, foreign language to great works of art, animals, and dollies galore.


Thursday, January 20, 2011

Did You Know?


A child's reading fluency and comprehension increases by listening to a story while reading it. Try leaving your Closed Captioning on when watching TV.
Usborne books with CD allow a child to enjoy Story Time, anytime. Do you remember listening to a particular book, on a record or cassette tape, when you were young?

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Sunday, January 16, 2011

January Winner


Ellyn Waters is the winner of the January Free Book Drawing!
Congratulations!

Don't forget to sign up for the monthly drawing for $50 in FREE books!

What books would you choose?

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Book of the Week


New for January 2011!
by Wendy Harmer
272pp
$16.99

Elly Pickering is dreading telling her parents that she's lost her mobile phone - again - what with the Global Financial crisis and everything. But losing her mobile is just the beginning. A series of technological happenings and manipulations leads Elly to question her priorities, her friendships, and Will, her fabulous - she thought - boyfriend. Is she facing certain social death? Or can a technological breakdown sometimes be kind of a good thing?

Thursday, January 13, 2011

New Catalog!


New Spring 2011 Catalog ready to download.

Are you looking for that special book to help spark your child's interest in reading, learn his math, history, or science? What about learning to draw, imagine and create, or books just for fun?? We have them all.

Research shows that people learn 20% from reading, 30% from hearing, 40% from saying, and 60% from doing. Usborne has activity books, hands on experiments, and parent guides. We offer "doing" books on just about any subject.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Introducing Prepositions




The new Busy Bug Book is not only delightfully illustrated, but the literacy component introduces high level prepositions as the little bug travels along, around, beside and across its travels.


Thursday, January 6, 2011

Book of the Week

How Big Was a Dinosaur?

The Answer is on a Huge Poster inside!
by Anna Milbourne
Ages 3 yrs +
24pp


Pipkin is a little penguin who asks very BIG questions! Just how big was a dinosaur? As big as a car? As big as a house? This delightful picture book has the answers.


Pipkin meets all kinds of different dinosaurs: from little ones to big roaring ones with very big teeth!

  • This fun book includes a huge fold-out poster, beautifully illustrated to show just how big a dinosaur was in comparison to little Pipkin.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Increase your child's vocabulary.


Introduce a new word and ask them to guess which definition is right? Is HALIBUT a fish, a game or a President? They'll want to learn more when they're having fun!

OR...Pick a new word every day and teach it to your kid. Use it so they hear it in context. Encourage them to use it, and use it yourself. Even over-using it will be fun. Pick a word like 'outstanding' and use it whenever something is 'good'.