Our Experience with the 7 Gnomes Course

We've had the 7 Gnomes course for ages, and it's been a staple in our household. My son went through it first, but now my daughter's been doing it too - she's almost 3, so we've completed the whole thing with her.

I'm excited to share how I've been using it with both kids.

We've got a huge stash of materials for the activities.

First, a little tip: if you do decide to buy this course, there's extra material in the middle of each book that's really useful. I kept it all in a separate folder and just pulled it out when we were doing crafts or activities.

About the course.

There are 12 books in the set.

Honestly, some of them might be a bit hard for a two-year-old to understand. I think it's geared towards a more advanced kid, because my son didn't really get it until he was three, but my daughter understood it all by two-and-a-half.

So, I wanted to go through each book in a bit more detail.

1. Counting.

This one teaches counting. It's a simple, nice story to help kids understand numbers. There's a clear explanation on the cover.

The pictures are really interesting.

2. Color and shape.

My daughter liked this book too. There's a note for parents to help them understand what's going on.

This one's great for cutting out shapes and gluing them onto a page - it's really easy and fun.

3. Plasticine pictures.

I actually recommend cutting out the pictures and laminating the book, because otherwise it's just a one-time use.

4. Seasons.

This book is used very often and lost, so I couldn't take a picture. But it's just about the four seasons. Yeah, it's pretty straightforward. We look at the pictures and always discuss what's drawn.

5. Professions.

Another explanation for parents. It's in all the books.

This book has a pretty large number of professions.

In subsequent courses, the number of professions will be supplemented with new ones.

This book will have an application-game like lotto. We store it with other applications in a file.

6. In the forest clearing.

This book teaches about nature, the nature of our latitude, and you can also study animals, birds, insects with it. It's easy to learn and understand.

We've already glued the materials to the book. Before that, I carefully cut it out and stored it.

7. Finger Painting.

Honestly, neither my son nor daughter was really into finger painting because they'd rather make a mess than create something. But they're great with markers and crayons, and they love getting messy with paint.

This one didn't work for us.

8. Pets.

Honestly, this book is pretty weak. It's got a bunch of generic pages about kittens, puppies, fish, and parrots. I mean, it's the same stuff you'd find in other books for younger kids.

The drawings are also super unrealistic.

9. Where Do Animals Live?

This book is actually pretty interesting, teaching kids about animals from all around the world. But it's definitely not for younger kids - my son started to get it around 3.5 years old, and my daughter is just getting it now at 3.

I have to admit, I didn't even know about some of these animals...

10. Alphabet.

We were considering this one, but we're actually using a different book because this one is super fragile and has already torn.

Honestly, I didn't see the point of studying letters from this book. But we do occasionally open it to take a look.

11. A clever little scissor.

Frankly, we haven't cut anything yet because our daughter is still learning to cut, and cutting something like this is still beyond her abilities.

My son might be able to cut it, but something like this probably won't interest him.

12. What's good?

The biggest minus in this course is the drawings in this book.Yes, there's a good poem, it's useful and smart.

But the drawings are just ugly.

By the way, there's a book online with drawings by Soviet artists - everything is drawn very harmoniously. And here, it's just ugliness that they're trying to feed us, not for a small price.

This is just a disaster, not pictures. And there are tasks where you need to choose a good child who is dressed neatly, and a dirty one who is dressed untidily. How to choose, when they all look untidy.

This is a book where I just read the poem. But the pictures we don't consider.

My opinion.

We're using the 7 Gnomes course as an addition to our educational routine, and it's been a decent supplement. However, I don't think it's worth getting too caught up in this course. It's very limiting for the child, and in principle, you can find much more in other books.

As an additional material, you can take it, but don't expect too much.

Thanks for your attention and happy shopping!