Finding the right toys or play aids that make my toddler’s work time (I mean the play time) interesting and fun has become my favorite conscious pass time. We are a multi-lingual household speaking Telugu, Kannada, English and Hindi. Speaking to the child in the language is the best way to make them learn the language. And there are multiple external aids too that I found that helped her learning process. Sharing the Telugu language aids that I discovered so far.
Books
Reading books is one of our favorite ways to teach the language. While we find a variety of books in English, finding Telugu books especially the ones that I can let my infant and toddler (below 2) use it were quite hard to find.
Our favorite book is “My First Words Book“. It has a good selection of words from everyday activities and it is a board book which is perfect even for the infants. With its bright colors it makes the reading time interesting for the little ones.
Namaste Gang is a small business from India that curates lovely, rare and meaningful collection of books in Telugu. Its a great gift idea too. If you are looking for “Pedda Bala Shiksha“, the one stop encyclopedia for all knowledge in Telugu.
Tulika Books has a wide selection of books for all ages in many Indian languages. Our favorites have been “Gajapathi – Kulapathi” and “Ranganna”.
Some other websites to look for Telugu books are here, here and here. When you are in India and have a chance, I highly recommend visiting in person to one of Visalandhra book houses. I found this cute book for my love of Baapu Bommalu.
Peg Puzzles
Varnamala – Peg puzzles are one of the first puzzles introduced to a toddler and I had to find one in Telugu. These two were a pleasant find on Amazon.in. I particularly liked that I could find the “Acchulu” and “Hallulu” separately. There are multiple options for these which you can find under the search result “Telugu Puzzles” on their website. I introduced these puzzles to her when I noticed interest in her in learning “ABC” so that she could co-relate that these are the “ABCs” of Telugu.
Numbers – This is not for me as I myself don’t know or use numbers written in Telugu. But, if you are interested, here is a peg puzzle for the numbers in Telugu.
Interactive Cards
Mana Maasalu – There is a phase when we teach days of the week and months of a year to our little one. During that stage, it would be perfect to teach the names of the months in Telugu too. Right?! Namaste Gang has their in-house published Mana Maasalu flash cards with bright illustrations. Bonus – It also comes with a set of coloring cards when you opt for that combo.
Some other flash cards, that I found interesting (did not buy) are here, here and here.
Lingdodo Telugu pad
Screen free interractive pads are great to keep the toddlers occupied during car rides or flight journeys, provided the volume is low. The Telugu Pad from Lingdodo has been amazing to provide screen free interractive entertainment. Check out my post here for a detailed review.
Alphabets
There is nothing like a simple and relatable Varnamala book. Many books in the market have the standard words but the “Varnamala Book” from Namaste Gang is a unique one in this category. We could relate to many pictures and words from the book and I am sure you will too. The letter pegs and the alphabet sheet will add to the fun learning experience.
We all started practicing tracing letters on a slate. Remember! Well, this is a slight advanced way of doing it! This Telugu Letters Tracing board is great for children starting with their writing skills in Telugu. It is an erasable board which leads to no paper waste and the children can do it on their own. Also, this would make a great gift for Aksharabhyasam, the ritual that is performed to start the education journey of a child). Bhaasha basics also personalizes it with the child’s name and offers free shipping.
Play Mats
To be honest, I am not a fan of play mats that have letters or numbers on it. May be it is my sentiment of associating learning and education to Goddess Saaraswathi and not stepping on it. There is absolutely no judgment if that works for you. If yes, Bhaasha Basics have them as foam mats which is a puzzle in itself.
Website
I came across this new website called “sweet Telugu” which is dedicated to teaching Telugu in a fun and interactive way to the younger generation. http://sweetelugu.com
Enjoy Learning! Please do drop a comment if this was useful.
– Signing off
No Comments