Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

About me: special education teacher, former pre-school teacher, mom I bought this for my almost 3 year old daughter as a Christmas present, but pulled it out one day while we were waiting for dinner to cook. So glad I did---she loved it! She finished 34 activities in one evening (of her own choosing--I'd recommend letting less enthusiastic kids do only one or two at a time). Pros: Lots of fun spending time working with my little girl. She had fun too and felt proud of herself, so it's great for building self-esteem and increasing skills. Pictures are fun and colorful. We talked a lot about the different animals we saw and I was able to introduce some new vocabulary words by mentioning that the lion had a mane, or that the animals were going on a safari or using binoculars, etc. Good for counting, especially the sticker pages, as well as animal, color, and shape recognition. Each activity has a note for parents regarding the activity or skill being worked on, and the pages increase in skill difficulty. There is a certificate of achievement for when your child finishes the book--my daughter is excited about that. Cons: There was a distinct jump in skill level required for activities toward the end of the book. My not-quite-3 year old did fine completing a 3 piece picture that had 2 pieces to paste back in, but the next activity was 4 pieces that needed to be put together a certain way to make a complete picture. She didn't quite get it. Also, the pages aren't perforated at the top, so we left them in the book as we worked. This meant the book wanted to keep flopping closed as we got towards the end, but I just put a paperweight on it. It also means that if your child is an enthusiastic gluer the pages will stick together. May be a con for some: This is definitely an activity book that requires assistance and encouragement from parents. I don't personally view this as a con, but just be aware if you are purchasing it with the intent for your child to work independently. This wouldn't be the right book to give if you need to get some chores done, for instance, unless your child is older and/or already fairly proficient at cutting skills, etc. There are 39 different pages in this book with different sticker/paste skills to work on. Here is a break-down of the hierarchy used: 1-3: Put stickers anywhere you want to on the page. 4-8: Put stickers in the white area of a picture to complete it. They start with circles, then a triangle and rectangles. 9-25: Glue picture on the white area. Parents need to cut out the shape first; you'll also need to provide your own glue. We used a glue stick. 26-29: Glue multiple pictures onto the page as you like. 30-39: Glue pieces of a larger picture together like a very simple puzzle. The first one has 2 halves of a penguin, while the last one is 6 pieces that fit together to make a snake. I hope this review helps! I have already decided to order more Kumon books for the kids in her Preschool class as holiday gifts since this one was such a success.