Product Review: Baby Einstein Discovery Cards

The Baby Einstein company produces many things touted to be instructional for very young children. What began in 1997 with one person producing a single video, has blossomed into a company now owned by Disney that produces things ranging from DVDs to toys and clothing. Discovery Cards are educational flash cards produced by the Baby Einstein company, and are for use by children as young as 9 months old.

Six sets of Baby Einstein Discovery Cards are available: Animal, Numbers and Shapes, Seasons, Baby Noah Touch and Feel, Alphabet, and Nature. Each card is printed on thick, durable cardboard and has a colorful picture on the front side, with a description or interesting facts on the reverse side. The cards were developed to be used during parent-child interaction, and are set up as such.

I have purchased three of these Baby Einstein Discovery Card sets: the Animal (29 cards), Baby Noah Touch and Feel (10 cards), and the Nature Discovery cards (29 cards).

The Baby Einstein Animal Discovery Cards include animals that young children would recognize (dogs and cats) as well as some many never encounter (sea turtles, otter). My 18-month old enjoys mimicking the sounds of the animals she recognizes and is beginning to remember some of the other animals when I quiz her. As she grows older, the facts on the back will be a good addition to our interaction. Thus, I like the fact that we will be using these cards for a long time to come.

The Baby Einstein Baby Noah Touch and Feel cards have patches of synthetic fur (skin, etc) that stick through on the animal's body. So, your child will learn that a bear has long wiry hair, a giraffe has short velvety hair, and a dolphin is slippery. These tactile cards also come with information on the reverse side.

I would recommend the Baby Einstein Nature Discovery Cards be used with children a little older than 18 months. The photographs on the cards are beautiful, but contain images that would be difficult for smaller children to understand. For instance, the picture on the 'stars' card is a picture of the night-time sky rather than the five-pointed star most toddlers are learning to identify. Other pictures that may be difficult for little ones to understand include beach, sunset, wetlands, planet, comet, and waves.

Some of the photographs on these cards are the same photographs that are used in other Baby Einstein products such as book and DVDs. Thus, there is a continuity there that may help your child learn.

These cards are relatively durable, although our lion and dog cards do have big creases in them, and my daughter has eaten the corner of the horse card. The Baby Noah Touch and Feel cards are a tad more durable, because they are thicker to accommodate whatever tactile object is sticking through. If you are looking for something more indestructible, I would recommend a board book instead. Additionally, the boxes that these cards come in are not very durable. I have resorted to putting the cards in an old plastic VHS box.

Overall I would highly recommend the three sets of Baby Einstein Discovery Cards I have reviewed. I enjoy using them with my daughter, and she asks for them as often as she does any of her books.