What's the Play Smart secret? Making learning fun!

Created by educational experts, the award-winning Play Smart series uses Gakken's unique fun-first method of completing age-appropriate activities that are progressively more challenging, building on small achievements, and fostering an eagerness to learn.

Play Smart's philosophy rewards success and builds confidence. The variety of activities leads to creative problem-solving skills and prepares children for the journey of lifelong learning.

Play Smart Alphabet 3+ includes a variety of entertaining and engaging puzzles, games, and challenges that get kids prepped for preschool!

It's backwards It's inside out It's every letter for itself This laugh-out-loud romp is not your average alphabet book
Z is tired of always having to be last when the alphabet family lines up. He is demanding fair and equal treatment The letters (more or less) agree to go backwards, but it's not long before P has some ideas of his own. And so does H, for that matter. In fact, it seems as if almost every letter has a different opinion about how the alphabet should be arranged. It's chaos It's pandemonium And it's definitely not as easy as A-B-C Filled with visually humorous details, Bob Kolar's colorful illustrations are the perfect foil for Alethea Kontis's snappy story about the comic confusion that comes when the letters of the alphabet, like a class of unruly children, step out of order and show that each one has a mind of its own.

Look, Jane.  Look, Dick.  See Funny Sally.  Funny, funny Sally.

"A charming tribute to the quirkiness of collective nouns ... puns and wordplay abound." - Foreword, starred review A sloth of bears, a smack of jellyfish, a nuisance of cats - these are some of the surprising and idiosyncratic names we have for groups of animals. Inspired by the evocative possibilities of collective nouns, also called "terms of venery," author Kyle Lukoff and illustrator Natalie Nelson have created a picture book full of clever wordplay and delightful illustrations. Each spread features a nugget of a story using a particular term, which is accompanied by a collage illustration that serves as the visual punch line. But where did these unusual names come from? Many of them can be traced back to a book on hunting, hawking and heraldry, printed in 1486 - the Book of St. Albans, which has been reproduced many times since. A Storytelling of Ravens provides a unique opportunity to explore and rejoice in the oddities of the English language. Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.4 Ask and answer questions about unknown words in a text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7 With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts). CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.2.7 Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.7 Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

How many women artists can you name? From Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe, to Jaune Quick-to-See Smith and Xenobia Bailey, this lushly illustrated alphabet picture book presents both famous and underrepresented women in the fine arts from a variety of genres: painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, and more. Each spread features a simple line of text encapsulating the creator's iconic work in one word, such as "D is for Dots" (Yayoi Kusama) and "S is for Spider" (Louise Bourgeois), followed by slightly longer text about the artist for older readers who would like to know more. Backmatter includes photos, extended biographies, and discussion questions for budding creatives and trailblazers.

ABC Dance! is a lively romp through the alphabet from aardvark to zebra: Aardvarks arrive with a band of baboons! Now clog-dancing camels have entered the room!? With its vibrant art and cheerful rhyming text, plus an introduction to the ABCs, the book is a joy for grown-ups and children to read aloud together.

Part of the bestselling TouchThinkLearn series! TouchThinkLearn: ABC is an interactive board book with scooped-out die-cuts and raised elements that invites little readers to explore the letters of the alphabet in a whole new way. * Made in the landmark TouchThinkLearn format-over 850,000 copies sold in the series * From acclaimed author Xavier Deneux * Dynamic, tactile features make learning the alphabet fun and engaging This exquisitely designed chunky board book is an essential tool for hands-on learning. * Ideal for preschoolers * Great sensory board book * Perfect gift for baby showers, birthdays, holidays, and more.

The letter "O" has had it with always being in the middle! So she imagines moving instead to the head of the line. Enough with the alphabet, they'll call it the olphabet! While being first has its obvious perks, "O" begins to realize that much would also be lost, including friends. Will "O" decide to move? Or will she come to value her spot between "N" and "P?"

In the colorful and letter-filled Capital City, there's never a moment's rest for Private I, the city's best investigator. Trouble seems to always have a way of finding him-trouble with a capital T. On this particular day, T tells Private I that his watch is missing. And T isn't alone-the citizens of Capital City have lost track of timepieces all over town! Can Private I catch the perp and make up for lost time before it's too late?

"A told B,
and B told C,
"I'll meet you at the top of the coconut tree."
"So begins the lively alphabet rhyme that children and their parents love to recite. Martin and Archambault's rhythmic chant and Caldecott Honor artist Lois Ehlert's bold, cheerful art has made "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" a favorite for twenty years To celebrate the 20th anniversary, we are offering a new lap-sized edition of "Chicka Chicka ABC" that will surely delight a new generation of "Chicka Chicka" fans.

Say "hello" to this colourful first word book with bumpy pages, flaps, finger trails and tabs for easy page-turning. By seeing and feeling the images, and then hearing someone say the words, young children are using three senses to learn language and make an association between picture and word. BABY SAYS has tabs and flaps to develop gross motor skills, and bumpy finger trails for fine motor skills. Each double page has a theme based on familiar things - animals, family, park, mealtime and on the road - and a gentle rhyming text leads you through the book. This internationally successful Baby Sensory series is bright, bold and built for babies, with strong embedded materials and thick board pages that will endure lots of enthusiastic handling. Other titles in the series are BABY LOOK, a sensory playbook with sliders, holes, textures and lots to learn, and BABY LOVE, a touch-and-feel bedtime book with fur, glitter, felt, a mini book, and a soft blanket. Printed on FSC board from sustainable forests. Perfect for children 1 to 3 years.

Learn the letters of the alphabet in this colourful board book full of cute animals! "I love my ABC because..." This touching board book combines the letters of the alphabet with cute illustrations of young animals. From Aa is for apple and Ff is for friends to Zz is for zebra, there are so many fun things for readers to name - no wonder everyone loves their ABC!

Learn with the PAW Patrol pups! Help your little learner get ready to go, go, go with this colourful PAW Patrol activity book. Children are introduced to position and direction words alongside their loveable and playful PAW Patrol friends. Children can learn to describe where things are, from in front and behind to inside and outside, with fun games and mazes alongside the pups Look out for the badge awarded at the end of the book Ideal for pre-schoolers getting ready for school Children will be on a roll in no time!

Scholastic Early Learners: Interactive books for hands-on learning. Perfect for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and first graders, too! Write and Wipe: Learn to Write is perfect for helping children who are learning to write their letters. The book comes with a wipe-clean pen and the glossy board is easy to clean, so that children can try a page, wipe it clean, and try it again!This interactive book uses dots and arrows to show children exactly how to write all the letters of the alphabet, both capitals and lowercase. It also provides words to trace for each letter, developing children's awareness of letter sounds.Scholastic Early Learners: Interactive books for hands-on learning. Perfect for babies, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and first graders, too!

Here is the ABC like you've never seen it: featuring Donovan Bixley's uniquely Kiwi characters. Look out for the milkshake-making cow, the All Black lambs, the cute pink ski-bunny, the colossal squid, and many more of Donovan's vibrant, amusing illustrations. Fun for the kids--and fun for the adults!