Freebear Montessori Busy Book For Kids, Anatomy

I got this for my 6yo and it’s awesome. We put the velcro stickers on together and after doing the book twice, I then quizzed her on it and she did awesome! Great pearing of reading, processing and movement – perfect for her retention!

Quality: everything is thicker paper product and also laminated. I have 0 concerned about quality.

Accuracy: completely accurate, I even verified content before letting her read through it.

Ease of use: perfect for children, she is easily able to take off pieces and then put them back on the pages.

Packaging: it comes with a bag, so perfect for when all the little parts aren’t velcroed appropriately.

I highly recommend!

UPDATE: This has already been thrown out. Don’t waste your money. Look for one that’s magnetic and actually preschooler friendly. Once all the tags a taken off the page, my 6yr old had no idea where anything went back together and they all sat in the bag. There aren’t any cues to help show young kids where to put the velcro pieces back to so this is absolutely not a use alone learning board but even with supervision, many adults would struggle their way through putting pieces back where they go.

The pros: Colors and graphics look very nice. It comes with a carrying bag with a zipper to help keep pieces inside, which as a mom to young kids, I greatly appreciate. The labels are made of thick cardboard and could certainly be ruined if left unattended, but with supervision, this may hold up.

The cons: It will take some getting used to to ignore the grammatical errors. The descriptions are less than thorough but more than preschool friendly. This is definitely geared more for younger elementary aged children than preschool. I bought as a supplemental learning guide for my 2 & 6 yr olds, but this was way over my 6yr old’s head and will require quite a bit more instruction than I was hoping it would require. My 10yr old has taken a far more interested liking in it, but the material is below her level. As a mom who’s medically trained and whose children have been age appropriately medically trained since early toddlerhood, I’d place this around grades 1-2 for age level appropriateness. (This isn’t to say the material is not emotionally efficient or psychologically appropriate, it is however much harder concepts than a preschooler will willingly grasp- i.e. medical terminology for muscles and the beginning circulatory system. Medical concepts for preschool would be more of HOW the muscles work, the digestive system, even the reproductive system, and less about proper terminology for muscles.) One of my bigger complaints is the durability of this. This isn’t magnetic and with repeated play, the velcro on these will likely wear thin quickly. Another strange fact, it starts with having print on both sides of the page. Then it went to only one sided, but then back to two sided. It isn’t missing pages, just oddly put together. The last page also isn’t labeled as the other pages are. Like they only had enough stickers to fully fill two pages and just decided not to include other labels for the last page and just print them on. Not a big deal, but it shows how much thought went into this production. Side note: there are EXACTLY the amount of stickers you need, no extras. Don’t lose them otherwise something isn’t getting used.

Overall, looks decent, but functionality is lacking. If I didn’t just spend 30 mins setting this up, I’d absolutely return it for something written correctly and as a better and more age appropriate resource.

First, I will start by saying that there is quite a bit of assembly at start. You have to adhere the Velcro to each of the pieces and each part of the board. Mine did not come with directions and for someone who is unfamiliar with human anatomy, it may be more difficult to assemble. It took me about an hour to put together but my daughter (4) really enjoyed helping me place the adhesives. There are a bunch of pieces and I keep them organized in zip lock baggies sectioned by groups.

Second, the book is well made, cute, and colorful. It serves its purpose for toddler use and it makes learning about the human body fun for kids. I chose this book primarily because it discusses healthy and unhealthy habits and I thought it would be a nice opening to talk about these things in homeschooling.

However – I might be pickier because I’m in the medical profession BUT I’m annoyed? (I don’t know if that’s the right word) that the human anatomy is not complete or accurate. For example, there’s multiple organs missing is the diagram and the heart and other organs are not in the correct place. There’s also sections of the brain that aren’t discussed or pointed out. I did notice that there’s a section in digestive health that talks about the missing organs and I understand that this was more than likely due to constrained space. I suppose I just had an expectation? that it would be more anatomically complete and correct.

This isn’t something I let my child sit with alone, but it has led to a lot of engaged conversations. Easy to store and has held up to toddler regularly playing with it.