Five Little Ducks: A Slide and Count Book

Five Little Ducks: A Slide and Count Book is a lovely first counting book for children aged two years plus, and will test their fine motor skills, too, when sliding the counters around the pages.

The board book follows the nursery rhyme of 'five little ducks' but it can be read if the reader doesn't know the song.  Beginning with 'Five little ducks went swimming one day....', there are ducklings pictured on each of the five counters, and children slide each duck across the page, from the start of their journey to the end, 'over the hills and far away'.  

The person sharing the book will need to make sure that all the counters are ready at the top of each page, before sharing the book, to make it easier for the counters to be moved. When I shared this, I angled the page so gravity helps the counters slide down and it soon developed into a race to see how fast the children could send the ducklings on their way! (with much fun had by all).

Each page you turn has one fewer duck, until there is just one duck remaining - and then all five swim back on the final page, with a little help from the young reader.

This sliders book is a novel and fun way for children to learn to count backwards, from five to one, while for younger children, it's a lovely way to help them learn pushing and pulling with their fingers.  The board book format is sturdy, although I noticed that my adult finger nails will leave marks on the page, so take care.

Board book / Reviewed by Elen Green

Suggested Reading Age 3+