Blog Action Day: Wild Animal Baby

Today is Blog Action Day, and the topic is The Environment. Bloggers across the world are going to be writing about this topic. It will be neat to see who participates!

About a year ago, a neat little book arrived in the mail addressed to Claire. It looked kinda like it was part of a magazine subscription, but it was thicker paper, and it was just her size. I was thinking it was a gift from someone, but I couldn’t tell for sure. I did some calling around, and that’s when I discovered it was a surprise birthday gift from Grandma. As what happens sometimes with gift subscriptions, the book arrived before the little “Gift for You” postcard. That’s when I found out that my mom gives all her grandkids a subscription to The National Wildlife Federation’s Wild Animal Baby.

What a great idea! Claire loves it! Every month or so (there are 10 issues per year), a new issue arrives, and she loves it to pieces (quite literally, I’m afraid). I was very impressed with the quality of the books and the entertainment and educational value of the pictures and stories. They not only discuss colors, shapes, numbers and letters, but they are also fostering a love of the environment in Claire.

We read every issue of Wild Animal Baby to her over and over and over, usually starting the moment we bring it in from the mailbox. She never tires of looking at the different animals or the pretty pictures. She’s at the stage where she will pretend to read the book to us, as well. I can tell which page she’s on by the different sound effects she uses or her version of how the story goes.

For someone who’s not even two years old yet, it’s amazing how quickly she’s catching on, and I’m so glad that she’ll grow up to have an appreciation for the world around her. My hubby and I wanted to instill these values in her, and this subscription makes that very easy to do.

Here she is with one of the issues.

Because Claire enjoys this book so much, I’ve given gift subscriptions to other friends of ours. It feels good knowing that our money is going to a worthy cause, and that other kids are getting to share in the Wild Animal Baby experience.

So, if you’re trying to think of a creative gift to give a little kid, check out the different subscriptions at The National Wildlife Federation. They have Wild Animal Baby for ages 0 to 4, Your Big Backyard for ages 3 to 7, and Ranger Rick for ages 7 and up.

It’s never too early to start paying attention to the world around us or understand how interconnected we all are, and Wild Animal Baby is an awesome place to begin.