Moon Dough Magic Zoo & Gomu Review & Giveaway!

I’ve recently had the opportunity to review a couple of great kids products.

The first is Moon Dough Magic Zoo.  You have probably already heard of Moon Dough, but they added some really cool features to this product that make it more fun!  

The Moon Dough Magic Zoo has little holder thingy (that’s a technical term) that you put the moon dough in to make the desired animal shape.  After you put the moon dough in it, you put it on the wind up base, then into the the zoo.  You wind the handle at the top of the zoo and out pops your animal and it walks across the floor or table (whatever surface you are playing on)!!!  The set comes with penguin, gorilla, bear and fence molds.

The box says it is for ages 3 and up.  That is accurate, however… my 3 year old had a hard time doing it all… without making a huge mess!  She was able to do it… just not in a way that made mommy happy.  And, even my 9 year old thought it was cool when the animal came waddling out of the cage!

				Just a few pics of my kiddos playing with their Moon Dough!

The other product we got to check out is called Gomu.  They are collectable erasers.  For my kids, they are more a collectable than an eraser… think silly bands… did your kids get crazy with silly bands like mine did (or maybe your kids are still into them?… yeah, mine too)?


They took a little while figuring out who would get which Gomu and then we put them in little baggies with their name on them so that there would be no arguing about whose are whose!  They like to take their Gomu with them and play with them in the van.

“Organized” Gomu fun! ;)

Besides being fun to collect all the different varieties of Gomu (there are over 100 different erasers to collect!), one of the most fun parts of Gomu is that each one has 3 or more pieces that you can take apart and put back together again over and over, just like you would a puzzle!  Of course, that feature is a winner for the kiddos!


Who wants a Moon Dough Magic Zoo and a pack of Gomu for their kids?


Of course you all do!  Well, I’m giving you one of my sets of each!


Wanna know how to win??  Wanna?  … Wanna?  It’s easy, just fill out the rafflecopter form below and you are entered to win!  The first entry listed is the only mandatory entry.  All the rest are just extra… the more you do, the more entries you have!  Good luck!


*Disclaimer: Just in case it wasn’t obvious to the wonderful FTC people, yes, I was given product to facilitate this review.  The company did not obligate me to write a positive review.  All thoughts are my own.  The company did not send me product to give away to readers, that decision was my own, just since I love my readers.

A Blogtastic Extravaganza 2.0 WINNERS!!

I know that some of you are on the edge of your seats waiting for an email from me saying you won one of my prize packs for A Blogtastic Extravaganza.... 

Well,  if you are

Colleen

or

Kari

then you know that you are the winners of my giveaways!

Colleen won the Back to 'Home' School prize pack

and

Kari won the Back to 'After' School prize pack

Congrats to you both!!  I know you will enjoy all of your goodies!

A Blogtastic Extravaganza 2.0 Giveaway Event Is Here!

Okay… the moment you all have been waiting for is finally here!

For those who don't already know, A Blogtastic Extravaganza 2.0 is a giveaway event hosted by Jessica from My Silly Monkeys that is held on over 100 blogs.  Each blog will be hosting a different giveaway on their blog that is worth $50 or more! All you do is hop from blog to blog entering all the giveaways that interest you!  I have 2 packages to give away!!

You already know about the sponsors, but I will tell you one more time what you can win!

For the Back to ‘Home’ School Package (worth $1036):

• Complete online course from Learning Aids

• A Well Planned Day Planner with Binder and a one year subscription to Home Educating Family Publishing magazine from Home Educating Family Magazine.

• Preschool Activities in a Bag e-books 1 and 2 , Science Experiments in a Bag e-books 1-3, and Math Games in a Bag e-book from Activity Bags.

• One year of Download ‘N Go Unit Studies from Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett

• Workbooks 1 and 2 from New American Cursive

For the Back to ‘After’ School Package (worth $135.97)(Open to the US only):

• Bank It!, Telling Time with Tibbar, and Our World Puzzle Set from Simply Fun

• Word Girl Word Builder, Alphabet Matcher, and Clifford Category Matcher from Twisterz Toys

What do you have to do to win???

It’s easy!  All you have to do, is use the rafflecopter form below to do all your entries.  For the mandatory entries, you just have to tell me which package you would rather win (if you love both… tell me that too!) and you need to follow my blog in a new way and let me know in the extra info area on the form (after you click, “I DID THIS!”) how you are following me.  If you are already following me in all ways, let me know that, as well!

Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett #ABE2 Sponsor Spotlight

Have you entered to win the prize packs in my A Blogtastic Extravaganza giveaway yet??

If not, you still have until Sunday night to get your entries in!

I wanted to tell you a little bit more about one of my sponsors, first, though.

Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett was gracious enough to offer up their One Year of Download ‘N Go Unit Studies to the winner of my Back to ‘Home’ School package!!!  That is 36 downloadable one week unit studies!!  Here’s a list of the units you will get if you win:

1. Amelia Earhart
2. Astonishing Animals
3. Ben Franklin
4. Chocolate Challenge
5. Constitution Celebration
6. Crazy Cartoons
7. Creation Camouflage
8. Crunchy Cookies
9. Davy Crockett
10. Dolphin Days
11. Easter Promise
12. Expedition Africa
13. Expedition Australia
14. Expedition Canada
15. Expedition China
16. Expedition Ireland
17. Expedition Israel
18. Expedition Mexico
19. George Washington
20. Goofy Gecko
21. Handsome Horses
22. Hoppin’ Popcorn
23. Kite Capers
24. Lewis & Clark
25. Magnificent Moon
26. Pizza Party
27. Prairie Pioneers
28. Rocking Robots
29. Roller Coasters
30. Simply Soccer
31. Sunny Seashells
32. Terrific Tigers
33. Tremendous Trees
34. Twisting Tornadoes
35. Valentine’s Day
36. Whale Tales

Seriously, I’m jealous!

While I didn’t have time to review what she is offering my winner (because I didn’t have 36 weeks to do it!! ), I did have the opportunity to see the Pizza Party Unit Study.  That may sound like kind of a silly thing to ‘study’ with your child (at least that’s what I thought when I first saw the title… maybe it’s just me), but I tell you what… there is a lot you can pack in to a study about pizza!  Amanda did a great job!  With this one, your child will learn soooo much about Italy and the famous people from there!  Oh yeah… and they get to eat pizza…. it’s an automatic win for the kids!

Okay, what are you waiting for???

Go enter to win!!!

And while you’re on a roll, go get some extra entries into the giveaway too and give all my sponsors some love!   That’s how I get more awesome stuff for you guys.

Activity Bags Sponsor Spotlight #ABE2

One of my awesome sponsors for A Blogtastic Extravaganza 2.0 is Activity Bags!!

Just to be clear, when you get Activity Bags, you are not actually getting a bag.  What you get is an e-book with tons of different activities for you to put together in a bag.  Then, when it is time to do one of them, it is ready to go.  I know that may sound like a lot of work at first, but it really can be fun just putting them together!

Activity Bags was generous enough to send my family the Preschool Activities in a Bag 1 & 2, Science Experiments in a Bag 1, 2, & 3, and Math Games in a Bag.  We have 3 plastic boxes with lids.  One for each subject and the bags are in their respective boxes. (pictures will be coming soon)

As I’ve stated before, when a child is able to play a game AND learn something it is such a great thing!  Momma is happy knowing her child is learning and having fun and the child is happy he gets to play all day!  Activity Bags’ tagline is, “Where fun and education fit in the same bag!” and I do believe they have achieved their goal.

I am so excited to be able to use these bags with my kids this school year.  I am soooo happy to have the Preschool Activities bags so that my 3 year old can feel like she is a part of the school day.  She is really too young for a lot of it, yet, but she want to do ‘cool’ so badly!  She watches her brother and sister do it and she wants to, too.  In fact, lately, she has been taking out blank paper and a pencil and telling me she’s doing her math.  She then just scribbles on the paper.  It’s super cute.  She is going to LOVE the stuff that is just for her!

The science experiments and math games are sure to be a big hit in our house, too.  I’m lucky, in that there really is no subject that my kids don’t like.  I’m happy to have things like Activity Bags that keep their enthusiasm for learning at a high level!

Okay, so on to the giveaway…. the winner of the A Blogtastic Extravaganza, Back to ‘Home’ School prize pack will win:
Preschool Activities in a Bag e-books 1 &2
Science Experiments in a Bag e-books 1, 2, & 3
Math Games in a Bag e-book

All you have to do to win is go to my A Blogtastic Extravaganza 2.0 post and fill out the form (takes 2 minutes, tops)!

Good luck!!

New American Cursive–Sponsor Spotlight–#ABE2

My last sponsor for A Blogtastic Extravaganza is New American Cursive!

New American Cursive is a handwriting curriculum that is just wonderful!  I know that sounds weird… I mean, it’s handwriting… but it is!  The reason I like it so much is because it teaches cursive in the way that most of us currently write.  You know those fancy F’s and T’s??  There are none of those is New American Cursive!  I love this!  Who writes like that anymore??  Okay… I know some of you do… and more power to ya… but for the most part when people are writing in cursive and they need to do a capital T, they just do a print capital T, and then continue the rest of the word in cursive.  Right??  I know that’s what I do.

Well, New American Cursive took notice and made some workbooks that will teach a child cursive, while leaving out all the crazy letters that none very few of us write anymore.  Some of the advantages to this handwriting curriculum as stated on their website are:

• Unnecessary strokes eliminated -- NAC® has from 5 to 31 fewer strokes than the current five most used cursive styles.
• "T" & "F" capitals are printed forms to reduce confusion between them; printed capital "Z" is easier & more fun to make.
• "M" & "N" have less retracing, allowing the writer to move forward on the page more fluidly.
• Balanced length on the upper and lower extensions of the f, g, j, p, q, y & z.

Also, check out 7 year old Grazia Ferraro’s awesome handwriting on the New American Cursive’s Facebook page.  She won the World Penmanship Contest in her age group. Congratulations Grazia!  Oh, did I mention she is a New American Cursive student??

Alright, so what will New American Cursive send to the winner of my A Blogtastic Extravaganza 2.0 Back to ‘Home’ School winner??  I’m glad you asked… the winner will receive (among the other prizes) New American Cursive Workbooks 1 AND 2.

Just head on over to the A Blogtastic Extravaganza giveaway post and enter to win!

AND… if you ‘like’ the New American Cursive Facebook page, you get an extra entry into the giveaway!!  Yay!  You have to go to the extra entries post to make it count, but it is well worth it and there are other extra entries you can do while you are there!

Good luck!

Twisterz Toys Sponsor Spotlight #ABE2

My next sponsor spotlight for A Blogtastic Extravaganza 2.0 (ABE2) is Twisterz Toys.

Twisterz Toys has non electronic toys that can help your child learn their letters, spell words, sort objects into groups, and more.  I love that they are extremely portable!  It is an easy toy to keep in your vehicle so that when the kids are bored on a trip, whether 10 minutes or 10 hours, they can get out their Twisterz Toys and have some fun!

My older two have had a good time helping my 3 yr. old with the sorting Twisterz Toy.  They love to help her learn!

I love that these are non electronic AND portable.  I know I already said this, but it is so important!  I don’t allow my kids to play their DS in the grocery store, restaurant or anywhere else I feel like they should be interacting with human beings instead of staring at a screen!  That being said, I would totally let my kids bring their Twisterz Toys into a restaurant or grocery store or where ever!!

Another great thing about the Twisterz Toys is that you can change them up.  The end twists off so that you can change out what your child is learning!  This is especially true for the Alphabet Matcher, because with it comes extra pieces so you can switch up which letters your child is working on.  We just keep our extra pieces in a plastic baggy for when we want to change them up so they all stay together when we aren’t using them.  That system is working well so far (as long as the 3 yr. old doesn’t find the bag…).

Twisterz Toys is offering the same Twisterz products that they sent me to the winner of the A Blogtastic Extravaganza 2.0 Back to ‘After’ School prize pack on my blog!

The winner will receive:
Word Girl Word Builder
Alphabet Matcher
Clifford Category Matcher

Also, check out the extra content you can download and teach your kids on their site!

Go check out the early entries post to get some early entries into the giveaway before it begins tonight!!