Archive for the ‘Education’ Category

One of my favorite sources for educational tools and supplies to use with my children is the company  Learning Resources. I’m pretty excited about checking out, researching, and deciding what products I would like to bring into my home to use for preschool and early education with not only daughter but my son too. It’s really nice that there’s so many products available in wide range of ages! And I was very happy to see that with the 2012 New Year, many exciting new products have been released!

One of the latest products from Learning Resources that my family and I have been enjoying quite a bit  is the Froggy Feeding Fun set.   My daughter whom is 3 1/2 years old absolutely loves Froggy Feeding Fun. This particular set is in a must have product for your preschooler. The two rubber frogs included are made to emphasize proper handwriting position in developing thumb-forefinger strength by squeezing the frogs mouths to open! How neat is that?

Along with those awesome muscle building frogs in the set,  60 flies, 1 number cube, 1 color cube and Activity Guide are also included. Children can develop number sense, color, and counting recognition.  The activity guide gives several suggested activities  and intervention strategies to do with your child in getting the most out of the Froggy Feeding Fun Activity set.

My daughter and I have been sitting together a few days a week and playing with this set together. We’ve right now been rolling the color and number dice and feeding our frogs that particular number to see who can fill up their frogs mouth completely first! She’s been having a lot of fun with it. I have seen great results in her pencil holding and also in her counting ability, both things she was struggling with before!

There’s nothing I dislike about this set. The recommend age of use is for children ages 3-7 and I would say with the numerous ways you can use this activity kit that’s about perfect. This product is great for home or classroom use! I would highly recommend anyone looking for a fun way to teach counting, colors, taking turns, and looking to develop fine motor skills in a exciting way.

You can purchase the Froggy Feeding Fun Activity set for $21.99 on the Learning Resource Website.

Get Connected with Learning Resources…

Request a mail catalog | Sign up for Email Updates | Follow them on Twitter (@LearningHandsOn) |Become a Facebook Fan |Follow their Hands On Learning Blog

-Win it-

Learning Resources is giving one of my readers a chance to win their very own Froggy Feeding Fun Activity Set!
Please Enter Below. US and Canada only please.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned products in exchange for my opinion of them. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.

I remember when I was a child watching as my Sunday School teacher taught stories from the Bible using multiple felt character pieces displayed on large felt boards. I was quite captivated as a child and really enjoyed how the stories told were visually brought to life. I don’t know about you, but I have a better understanding and can grasp what is going on when I have visuals and the same applies with my daughter. She’s very visual and totally a hands on learner.

I had no idea until just recently that I could purchase felt kits, storyboards, and activities books just like the ones I enjoyed as a child from the company called Betty Lukens. I’m so happy a fellow homeschooling mother and a dear friend let me know all about them!   The products offered at Betty Lukens are extremely affordable and can be used not just at church or school but also are wonderful for home use!

I was able to review the Basic Learning Skills Feltbook Activity Kit from Betty Lukens for my daughter Melody! The activity kit arrived all ready for me to spend a little bit of time to prepare it for use. It took a little longer than I expected but I had a lot fun putting it together knowing my daughter would benefit so much from it. If you purchase an activity book kit, be ready for cutting, gluing, and the punching a hole through the pages to hold everything together. Construction was pretty easy and I’ll say it will go by much faster if you have hand held rotary cutter on hand! I used Tacky glue to glue the pages together leaving a pocket at the top for the activity pieces. And we used a nail to make holes through the pages to thread the included yarn through to tie the pages together.

My daughter is quite taken with the felt activity book! In fact, it’s one of her favorite learning tools.  It’s been a wonderful quiet time thing for her to do but hasn’t been just limited too. I’ve sat with her and we’ve made games of each of the pages and sometimes I let her play with it all on her own. In this particular activity book children can learn their colors, shapes, numbers, months of the year, days of the week, opposites, telling time, and more!

I really love how colorful and durable the book I reviewed is! I know it will last for quite a long time. And it’s very pleasing to know not only my daughter but my son will be able to enjoy as well when he’s a bit older. I plan on taking this book along with us when we go on trips and my daughter needs something fun to do. She’s not huge into coloring books so this is right up her alley. It promotes imagination, dexterity, and so much more!

The Betty Lukens Learning with Felt line offers over 30 sets geared to children of all ages. Themes include animals & nature, science and learning, dress up dolls, bible stories, and so much more! There’s nothing I don’t love about Betty Lukens products. Toys that are not just fun but educational too.  If you check out the website, there’s even a fun free interactive felt set for kids to play with online!

If you are interested in purchasing a Betty Lukens Feltbook Activity Kit like the one I reviewed note that it cost $14.95, which I find to be a real deal! These are books that will played with over and over again! Be sure to check out all the other products offered to find something perfect for use with your own children or church/school classroom!

Caldecott Favorites Featuring 23 Award Winning Stories
in  The Snowy Day 3 pk. DVD Collection.

Caldecott award winners including Ezra Jack Keats’ The Snowy Day, Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling and Denise Fleming’s In the Small, Small Pond come together for the first time in Caldecott Favorites!

The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott, and it is awarded annually by the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. On November 22, Scholastic Storybook Treasures will pay homage to this prestigious award with CALDECOTT FAVORITES, a 3-disc set featuring timeless adaptations of some of the 20th Century’s best loved children’s literature.

Highlighted by Caldecott Award winners Robert McCloskey’s “Make Way for Ducklings” (1942) and “The Snowy Day” (1963) by Ezra Jack Keats and Caldecott Honor stories “In the Small, Small Pond” and Jerry Pinkney’s “The Ugly Duckling” — which are packaged together for the very first time in CALDECOTT FAVORITES — the set also features modern classics such as “Bear Snores On”, “Bark George”, “The Story About Ping”, “Antarctic Antics” and more!

Perfect for building early reading skills, the set features the ever-popular enhanced read along function, bonus stories and Spanish versions of “The Snowy Day”, “Whistle for Wille” and “Make Way for Ducklings”. Stories teach children the importance of being honest, being light hearted, and respecting themselves, others, and the world around them. Run time of the collection in entirety is 199 minutes.

My family personally enjoyed this collection very much. My three and a half year old daughter was quite taken with The Story of Ping and the Snowy Day story the most. Though I’ve noticed her taking a like to a few of the others the more she has watched. She now keeps asking me when it’s going to snow. That might be a problem because it doesn’t snow too often where we live in Oregon. So this mom is crossing her fingers and hoping for a little snow. But until then we will continue to bundle up for family movie afternoon’s and night as we make Caldecott’s Favorites some of our very own!

If you are interested in purchasing Caldecott Favorites Featuring The Snowy Day DVD collection, it’s $18.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping at Amazon.com and perfect for gift giving this holiday season! A must have for home, libraries, and the classroom!

Disclaimer: I was sent the above product mentioned for review. This review is 100% my opinion and has not been edited or reviewed by anyone. I was not compensated in any other way for this product review.