Ally Aldridge Books, Review

Learning through art with Arty Mouse

I discovered Arty Mouse last year at Felixstowe Book Festival (2027) and been a fan ever since. I was pleased to see them in attendance again this year and again offering amazing deals on their brilliant books. Click here to see my post on their event.

Here are a couple of reviews on the titles I’ve brought and used with my son:

Play Clay

This book is box shaped and inside is a plastic tray with all the bits you need to complete the pages. There is plasticine and cardboard cut out shapes (for example eyes, legs, hat). You then use the plasticine and shapes to complete the image and can draw with a wipe clean pen. Each page has a prompt, I.e a birthday cake that needs so many candles. This encourages counting as well as being creative.

My son had really enjoyed this book and it is easy enough to follow that he can do it independently on his own. When finished all the parts tidy away inside the book, ready for another day.

The only issue we’ve had is we lost some of the cardboard shapes so at the event I suggested they sell add on or replacement packs to increase the longevity of their reusable product.

Printing

This book is another box shaped one and inside is a plastic tray with all the bits you need to complete the pages. There is a stamp and foam shapes. You then use them stamp the shapes to complete the image and can draw with a wipe clean pen. Each page has a prompt, I.e a Loch Ness monster with missing humps. This encourages them to think about the shapes around them and how they make pictures.

My son loves this book too and on the last page he enjoy the freedom to make his own stamp picture. He is confident to use this without supervision due to clear easy to follow instructions.

My only suggestion to Arty Mouse would be to enable add on packs to collect more shapes and maybe even different colour ink pads.

I love how easy it is to tidy away, store and it’s a whole activity in one. Sometimes the plastic tray gets in the way of pressing down on pages on the left, so it might be nice to be able to remove the tray and reattach it afterwards.

Flash Cards (Numbers)

These are classic flash cards and store neatly in a box with the pen and cloth for wiping the cards clean when you are finished.

The cards have the familiar Arty Mouse characters. One side has the number for children to trace and can be found within the numeric picture. The other side has the number written as a word to practice writing. This is a great set to practice hand coordination with a pen and is really good quality.

At the FBF event, Noah had fun using their Words pack. The image below shows him using the pack -ignore the cat scratch on his face, he learnt a valuable lesson about not getting in the cats space that morning too.

Sticker Doodles

This was a book I bought at this years FBF and as soon as we got home Noah was straight into it.

I was a little hesitant about buying this book as it’s not reusable like the others. This book encourages children to draw in it with the wipe clean pen and at the back is a selection of sticker shapes that children can use to finish the pictures on the pages.

Noah has enjoyed playing with this book and has only torn one sticker – they do sometimes need a little help getting them off the pages.

Here’s a little video of Noah using the sticker book as soon as we got home.

They also had a book for cutting that I almost bought Noah as he is very into scissors at the moment. Maybe, I’ll get that next time…

My thoughts…

I also bought two more of the box sets but put them away for Noah’s birthday or Christmas. The box style books do make beautiful gifts.

All the titles I have bought have been of a high quality and the characters are appealing to preschool and early years children.

I hope they attend future FBF, as I would go to their stand. I also would be interested in buying more from their range. I am a fan, especially of the titles that can be reused.

*****

Have you tried any of the Arty Mouse titles?  Do you know any similar books that I should check out – I’d love to hear your recommendations.

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Ally plus text

Ally Aldridge Writing

Day 16 – Play

Give a child a box

There’s no greater toy

Let a child create

Their imagination brings joy

Never are they alone

With a made up friend

They can bring anything alive

With their bright inquisitive minds

Go and save your money

And let your child play

Let them get messy

Let them explore

There’s no need for plastic

Expensive and noisy

To make their own games

Your child has the resources

Give them a broom

They’ll be happy for hours

*****

Day 16’s challenge

For Day 16 the challenge was to write a poem “that prominently features the idea of play. It could be a poem about a sport or game, a poem about people who play (or are playing a game), or even a poem in the form of the rules for a sport or game that you’ve just made up (sort of like Calvinball).”

When I first approached this task I thought of Peculiar Pets by Victoria Roberts. It’s a picture book about a little girl that wants a pet but her mum says “We’ll see” whenever she asks. The little girl creates pets out of bits and pieces around the home. It is a delightful read about a child’s imagination and creative play.

I thought about how parents spend a lot on toys, only for their child to be more fascinated by the box. For example, my son loves his cars. We’ve tried to engage him in other toys but he always returns to his Hot Wheels. The only toy that’s competed is his Kindle and balance bike. And in the summer I got a cheap broom from pound land to sweep the gravel back and my son found it and spent hours playing with it. It cost me £1!

I’m sure there are other parents that can relate to this poem. I’d love to hear your thoughts.