My Big Book of the Five Senses (Patrick George Books)

How adept are children at appreciating great design - particularly graphic design? Surprisingly adept as a matter of fact. With each new generation, children are soaking up more clever designs in their formative years than their parents have probably been exposed to their entire lives.

We've previously appreciated the cool and clever designs of Patrick George books in "When I Grow Up" - a book which lets children imagine what they might become when they first take a few faltering steps on their chosen career path.

In "My Big Book of the Five Senses" Patrick George Books have rounded up previous sensory books into one delicious tome - and what this book has in common with all the other Patrick George titles is that clever design.

Obviously, though the target age is a little younger than Charlotte, she appreciates the thought that has gone into this book to make it engaging - and dare we say "clever" in a way that children can relate to and tap into.

Our five senses (Taste, Touch, Smell, Hearing and Sight) are explored in fun illustrations that beautifully compliment and flow into each other. Though the book lacks the acetates (clear pages) that the previous 'single sense' editions had, the illustrations still flow together beautifully and children will enjoy finding all the 'objects within objects' in each scene.

Each picture comes with a minimalist word count to accompany it, but opens the door for discussion and exploration as children enjoy picking out the way each picture retains elements of the opposite (or previous) page during our sensory exploration.

It's been really interesting to see Charlotte's level of engagement with this - though your younger children might not marvel at the neat design ideas here, they'll love identifying the way images are hidden within others, or each themed illustration contains elements of the senses being described.

"My Big Book of the Five Senses" is due for release on the 1st of May 2014. In the meantime, here's a great clip of "I See..." which is a previously available title, elements of which are included in this sensory collection.

‘I See…’ by PatrickGeorge from PatrickGeorge on Vimeo.

Charlotte's best bit: Exploring taste and sight.

Daddy's Favourite bit: Fabulous design that children will absolutely love exploring in a nice round-up of previous titles.

(Preview copy kindly sent to us for review by Patrick George Books)