My First Touch & Feel Picture Cards: Animals (My 1st T&F Picture Cards) Cards – December 5, 2005

The following reviews and images are for both the DK My First Touch & Feel Animal cards, and the DK My First Touch and Feel picture cards. I decided to combine both reviews into one because-for whatever reason- it's not letting me post 2 separate reviews. The Animal cards images are labeled with "AN" and the first words cards images are labeled with "FW". Each set comes with 17 cards. To get all 34 cards, you must purchase the 2 different sets---------------------This review is of the DK My First Touch & Feel Animal Picture Cards (AN)I bought this card set for my non verbal 3 year old son. He currently is enrolled in the Early Childhood Special Education program. I'm constantly looking for activities that will grab his interest as well as assist him in the various areas he struggles in. This does that.Included in this purchase is 17 large cards (16 touch and feel, 1 card with suggestions on how to best use the cards). They all come in a sturdy storage case that can easily be tossed in a toy box or set on a book shelf. Please see included image.The included flash cards are:CrabPuppyMonkeyFishCatRabbitSheepParrotCowTurtleTigerElephantDuckDolphinHorseZebraPlease see included images (labeled "AN") for examplesThe images on the front of the cards are not illustrations, but are actual pictures of the items. On the backside of the card are suggestions for questions to engage your child, as well as spellings and pronunciations of the word in other languages. Please see included images for example.We use these cards to work on speech as well as animal identification. The cards are extremely sturdy and have endured a lot of abuse since we got them.Although the box it comes with is perfectly suitable for storing your cards, I keep them in a plastic container with a latch. This is so that I can store multiple sets all together.-----------------------This review is of the DK My First Words Touch & Feel Picture Cards: First words (FW)I bought this card set for my non verbal 3 year old son. He currently is enrolled in the Early Childhood Special Education program. I'm constantly looking for activities that will grab his interest as well as assist him in the various areas he struggles in. This does that.Included in this purchase is 17 large cards (16 touch and feel, 1 card with suggestions on how to best use the cards). They all come in a sturdy storage case that can easily be tossed in a toy box or set on a book shelf. Please see included images.The included flash cards are:DogKittenSweaterFire TruckFishKeysCarTeddy BearCornAppleShoesMirrorBallJellyTractorBabyPlease see included images (labeled "FW") for examplesThe images on the front of the cards are not illustrations, but are actual pictures of the items. On the backside of the card are suggestions for questions to engage your child, as well as spellings and pronunciations of the word in other languages. Please see included images for example.We use these cards to work on speech as well as item identification. The cards are extremely sturdy and have endured a lot of abuse since we got them.Although the box it comes with is perfectly suitable for storing your cards, I keep them in a plastic container with a latch. This is so that I can store multiple sets all together.

I have several of these "My First" card sets and I think this is my favorite. These cards seem to be marketed towards infants and toddlers but I think they really work well for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. I think it all depends on what you do with the cards. I work with infants and toddlers that have developmental delays and I love these cards.Here is what I really like about these cards:- Size - the cards are 4.25 inches by 7 inches. They are a great size for little hands to hold so they really feel like the size of a book.- Quality - the cards are a very thick cardboard.- Picture - the picture is like a photograph so it's a real animal not a drawing or clip art. This is probably for me one of the most important features. Infants and toddlers sometimes have a hard time recognizing drawings the same way they do real pictures. I try as much as possible to use pictures and books of real photographs versus drawings.- Texture - Each of these cards has some sort of texture or something different about them. Some have fur, hair, bumps or sparkles. This gives kids a whole other sensory experience when using the cards and also holds attention of young ones.- Variety - this set comes with 16 different cards. Here is a list of animals in this set - monkey, cow, puppy, sheep, elephant, crab, tiger, rabbit, dolphin, kitten, parrot, zebra, turtle, duck, horse, and fish.- Back of the card - One nice thing about these cards is the information on the back of the card. On the back it has the name of the animal, some questions to ask and ways to say monkey in other languages. These can be some nice hints for parents, caregivers, etc... who might need some help with how to use the cards. You will have to vary this for different ages and different developmental skills. With some of the kids I see, I might just say the name of the animal and the sounds they make and others we might talk about colors and how the animal feels.Box - so sometimes it's the small things that make a difference. The fact that these cards come in a box that Velcro's shut was a huge plus. I carry them with me in their box and it keeps them from getting lost, etc...I have to say in this set, the favorite so far among kids has been the monkey. He has long hair that kids seem to love touching. I love the ones that have a lot of texture because these can be great to use with kids with vision impairments. They can feel the texture.I am extremely pleased with this set of cards. Kids seem to love them!

My first cards are absolutely amazing! They not only help develop your child's visual skills and vocabulary but also enhance their sensory development. We’ve tried every set we could find, and I wholeheartedly recommend them to parents, teachers, and caregivers alike!