Play and discover
Tiptoi starter set: My son freaks out with these three books
Our son is no longer a Tiptoi beginner. He maneuvers his way through his favorite Tiptoi books after every meal.
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Keeping your own children busy is one of the greatest challenges facing millions of parents in Germany, and not just in times of a pandemic. Tiptoi books are a fun and at the same time educational pastime for the little ones, our author finds – and presents the Tiptoi charts of his two-year-old son.
The last bite of bread and butter is still half in his mouth as our son’s eyes are already wandering from the dining table towards the bookshelf. “Duck book, papa!”, It bubbles confidently from the child who is still chewing. And woe betide papa doesn’t leave everything behind and make his way to the beloved book with the most beautiful nursery rhymes. The title shows, among other things, two ducks – it is clear that this must be the duck book. But where is the pen? Because without the Tiptoi pen, the ducklings remain silent. Ha, found! And let’s go. “Sign up, papa,” the little one mumbles in concentration and taps a small green dot on the first page. “Don’t go, papa.” “You have to switch on the pen, honey”, I explain patiently and get a short “Okay” for it. After that everything goes very quickly. Our two-year-old folds over the robust pages with determination and at a breathtaking pace, typing here and there as the mood takes him. And that’s exactly how it should be.
Seeing, hearing, learning: the idea behind Tiptoi
Ten years ago a game manufacturer from southern Germany brought the digital learning system onto the market. It started with one Tiptoi starter set. The centerpiece is the so-called Tiptoi pen, with which children can tap pictures and symbols in books and games and thus explore the world audiovisually. The pen resembles an oversized carrot with the point of contact at the tip. In the upper part, the little explorers will find the controls and a loudspeaker. With our son, the volume is always fully turned up and the pen is right on his ear (when he is not whirling the digital carrot over the images of excavators, animals and police cars). The popular concept got a fresh-up five years ago. Since 2015, noises can also be recorded and played back with the second generation pen.
What’s wrong with curiosity?
Most children are likely to come into contact with books very early in their lives. Even our junior listened more or less attentively to short stories in his first year of life, rummaged through children’s books to bite into on the lap of mum or dad or discovered funny details in hidden object books. He now decides for himself which bedtime story he would like to hear in the evening, because he can read – like his big brother (5) of course not yet. Grandma gave him the Tiptoi starter set for his third birthday. And after a few teething problems, he too quickly whirled through the Tiptoi world with the digital carrot like a wild man. Yes, the books are only recommended from the age of four, presumably for empirical reasons or because the brains of two- and three-year-olds cannot yet grasp the developer’s idea. I say: you don’t have to either. A thousand times more I would rather hand one of these books to my boys than bother them with a smartphone, tablet or a mobile game console. Yes, our two-year-old usually taps around in the books without a specific idea. It’s called curiosity. What is to be bad about it? He learns by listening, knows how whale song sounds and after a short time he sings enthusiastically to lines of children’s songs.
My two year old son’s Tiptoi charts
1st place: My most beautiful children’s songs
The undisputed number 1 is the already mentioned Entchenbuch with 18 der most beautiful children’s songs and all sorts of little stories and funny details. And that is exactly what Junior finds most exciting, of course. So exciting that they are played and repeated in a continuous loop while eating. “I can do better,” protests the donkey in the well-known vocal duel with the cuckoo. “I …”, “I can …”, “I can …”, “I can do better …” “I can do better”. Followed by the first line of the song, before the page is quickly turned and the birds are ceremoniously blown with blackbirds, thrushes and hoopoes. The current top hit in the children’s charts is the somewhat gloomy story about two little wolves who sadly roam the forest at night and constantly bump into roots. Closely followed by the gang of monkeys who are desperately looking for a coconut and “snowflakes, white skirts”. The latter, by the way, is the only song that our mini DJ savored to the last note, with the imaginary snowball flying in a wide arc over the dining table at the end.
2nd place: construction site vehicles (pocket version)
It is no longer a secret that young parents spend a lot of time on the fences of construction sites when they go for a walk with their offspring. Bulldozers, cranes, dump trucks and all the other colossi with big tires are too fascinating for the curious child’s eyes. So I’m hardly surprised that our little Tiptoi expert also likes excavators and co. When reading. He was particularly taken with Paul, the construction worker who told him in the book “Construction site vehicles“patiently explains how a concrete pump works and why every construction site has to have a toilet block. This question is what worries the junior Dixie is locked. “Who took the key with him again?” he curses – and our son can hardly keep himself from laughing, over and over again.
3rd place: Animals picture dictionary
The acoustic world tour into the animal kingdom also makes it to the podium of our future little bookworm. From the capercaillie to the zebra. From the jungle to the colorful underwater world – in Image lexicon animals there’s everything that interests little scientists. And naturally, a two-year-old also explores and discovers the world of animals in a completely different way than mom and dad. “Dad, is that?” He asks with wide eyes and taps on a lynx, which shortly afterwards hisses angrily in his ear. The dwarf acknowledges Papa’s explanation with an “Okay, okay”. And already he has the jungle animals on the next page on the wrap. He taps a blue note symbol in the corner and then grabs the mighty python that lurks in a tree for prey. “See the great giant snake, it goes out to its catch …”. With the carrot to his ear, Junior slides back and forth on his chair to the beat of the popular kindergarten song and grins like a honey cake horse. “[…] on the big long wreath is a head and also a tail. “Shut up, next book.
In fourth and fifth place of our two-year-old’s favorite books are currently “Discover the farm“, a classic among the many Tiptoi books and”My best songs for on the go“, a newcomer who recently made it onto the bookshelf and which reminds dad of his own childhood. Patrick Fix also illustrated the book in a loving and funny way. Current top click and favorite joke of the family:” A hedgehog hits a cactus and asks: Is it you, Mommy? “A thigh-throb that our second-born boy and his big brother regularly laugh at Book for the whole family.
In addition to Tiptoi books, there are now numerous games, puzzles and a junior globe on the market that children can discover and research with the Tiptoi pen. If you only have one pen from the Tiptoi starter set, but two children who want to play with it, you will get it Tiptoi pen also individually.
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