Baby Bundles: Pets

For an overview of the Baby Bundles early literacy kits, please visit the original post. The cost listed is the list price of each item, regardless of whether or not we got it on sale/discount. The activity sheets amount was calculated by cost of binder clip + lamination sheets.

Itemized List

• Tote Bag ($6.89) — 4Imprint
• Fifteen Animals by Sandra Boynton ($6.95) — Baker & Taylor
• My First Pets by DK Kids ($5.99) — Baker & Taylor
• Hape Walk-a-Long Puppy ($24.99) — Amazon
• Activity Sheets ($2.55) — created in-house

Total Cost: $47.37

Confession time: I actually started with toys while I was creating Baby Bundles. Since baby/toddler toys are a relatively small market compared with children’s toys, it seemed like I should get a list of toys that were appropriate for circulation before I picked out themes. Luckily, the toys lent themselves to natural themes and I still have a list of toys that I may use for future kits!

The Hape Walk-a-Long Puppy is the most expensive toy that I purchased for the Baby Bundles. But it is such a great, well-made toy. The pull string encourages grasping tools for good fine-motor development. And the fact that it is a pull-along toy encourages gross motor movement at home. I would love to have these kinds of toys available in the library, but the one that I did try to put out was broken within a week with the constant use. I was glad to be able to add a pull-along toy to the circulating Baby Bundles.

I really wanted to include books that showcased a lot of other pets since my toy choice was a specific pet. I also wanted to include a photo-illustrated book to show a different perspective. It was easy to choose my illustrated title though —
Fifteen Animals is my favorite Sandra Boynton book ever. It’s funny and makes a great flannelboard too. And then I added My First Pets to the Bundle to complete it.

It’s been ten months since the Baby Bundles debuted and this Bundle has circulated twelve times.