Tots and Me 4 Year Blogiversary Celebration Giveaway

It's my 4 year Blogiversary Celebration Giveaway!

I can't believe as of  Thursday I will have been blogging for 4 years. I am so thankful for all my readers and to show my appreciation I thought it would be nice to have a special giveaway. There will be 4 winners, one for each year I have been blogging. Each winner will receive 1 of 4 different Educational Insights products. 

Raccoon Rumpus

The Sea Squad: Puppets on a Stick

Animal Eye Viewers

Kidnoculars

Click on the following links for each of the products reviews.

Raccoon Rumpus Review

The Sea Squad

GeoSafari Jr. Kidnoculars

Animal Viewers

All you need to do is enter in the Rafflecopter form below. There are only 3 simple mandatory entries, with the remainder of the entries being optional. Remember, you do not have to do the extra entries, but they will increase your odds of winning. 

This giveaway is open to US to those 18 and over. 

The giveaway runs August 26 - September 7

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!

There will be 4 winners. 

Each winner will receive 1 of the 4 products.

a Rafflecopter giveaway Disclosure: I received the 4 products listed above in exchange for my honest review. I received no further compensation. This did not in any way influence my review. I only recommend products I use personally and feel will be a good products for my readers.

Animal Eye Viewers Review

My 4 Year Blogiversary Celebration is here and I would like to share a final review with you for the last of the 4 products we received from Educational Insights.

These are Animal Eye Viewers. They come in a set of 3, including an insect, a shark and a chameleon. 

With these fun viewers your children can get an idea of how each of these different animals views the world. 

With the insect viewer your child will see things as an insect with compound eyes sees things, thanks to the pixelated view through many lenses. 

With the chameleon viewer your child can move the eyes in separate directions just like a chameleon can do, seeing in two different directions at once. 

With the shark viewer your child will see things though a blue haze, along with not being able to see straight ahead, but being able to see behind them as a shark does.

Each Animal Eye Viewer comes with a little bit of information about the animal along with instructions on how to find the free downloadable play-and-learn activities. These activities include:

• Why animals don't play baseball.
• Don't sneak up behind a shark.
• Zap a (pretend) bug.
• Going buggy with insect eyes
• along with a couple more, plus fun suggestions of things to view through the eye viewers.

These are great for pretend play and for extension activities if you are learning about these sort of animals. 

The Animal Eye Viewers can be purchased from Educational Insights for $27.99. You can also purchase them at Amazon.

You can find Educational Insights on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.

Don't forget to stop back to enter the giveaway for your chance to win a set of Animal Eye Viewers!!

Disclosure: I received the GeoSafari Jr. Kidnoculars from Educational Insights in exchange for my honest review. I received no further compensation. This did not in any way influence my review. I only recommend products I use personally and feel will be a good products for my readers.

Educational Insights Kidnoculars Review

My 4 Year Blogiversary Celebration is less than a day away and I would like to share another one of the great products Educational Insights has allowed me to review for them, another one of the 4 products you may be able to win in the Giveaway.

The GeoSafari Jr. Kidnoculars are sturdy, colorful binoculars made specifically for young children.  They are focus-free so children don't have to fiddle with a little knob to be able to see clearly , and they have "perfect-fit goggles" to help the children know where to place them on their face. They are just the right size for young children, the eye pieces being just the right size and distance apart. All of my children enjoyed using them around the house, in the yard, on walks and . . . at the football game.

I was afraid they weren't going to let them in due to all the new NFL regulations, but no one said a word about them. I was thrilled to be able to take them in with us, as were the children.

Even Harold was curious and wanted a chance.

Unlike children's play binoculars these have a decent amount of magnification power to them, 2x magnification to be specific. I have to confess, I actually used them myself during the game and I was able to see what was going on down on the field pretty well.  Which is saying something because we are on the second level. I also love that the rubbery ends help to protect them when they fall, which happens a lot with young children. 

While Amelia and I enjoy looking for birds and other critters, Tabitha enjoys looking at the sky and the clouds when we go on walks. 

One other feature I would like to mention is the breakaway neck strap closure. 

This is a safety feature to prevent strangulation as it will come undone if the child gets it caught on something. While I think this is a great feature I have noticed that it comes undone way too easily. If the girls decide to run with them on, they tend to fall off their neck if they are not holding on to them. I have also noticed that they are a bit heavy on the neck unless you are holding onto them constantly. Those concerns aside, I really love this product, as do the children. 

The Award Winning GeoSafari Jr. Kidnoculars can be purchased from Educational Insights for $14.99. You can also purchase them at Toysrus.com.

You can find Educational Insights on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.

Don't forget to stop back this week to enter the giveaway for your chance to win a pair of Kidnoculars!!

Disclosure: I received the GeoSafari Jr. Kidnoculars from Educational Insights in exchange for my honest review. I received no further compensation. This did not in any way influence my review. I only recommend products I use personally and feel will be a good products for my readers.

Educational Insights: The Sea Squad Puppets on a Stick Review

We continue to get closer to my 4 Year Blogiversary Celebration. This is the second review of these cute preschool toys from Educational Insights that are to be featured in the Blogiversary Giveaway that is scheduled to start this coming Monday.
Have I mentioned how much I love Educational Insights' products? They have such a wide variety of games, toys and learning products. You can find items for several different subjects including: Early Childhood, Math, Language, Spanish, Science and Social Studies. We have enjoyed several of their games, with the newest being Raccoon Rumpus which is great for reinforcing colors. With all their activities we have in our home, I never really looked into Educational Insights Role Playing Activities. When I was offered the chance to try out their new Sea Squad Puppets on a Stick I was a little hesitant at first. I am so glad we have these though, the children play with them all the time.

Let me introduce you to Chomper, Bob, Dipper and Flipper:

These googly-eyed puppets are made of plastic and are quite durable. They have mouths that open and close using 1 of 2 methods.  The child could hold the puppet in one hand and pull the knob on the bottom down with the other hand, or they can hold it in one hand and move the little lever up and down with their thumb. Amelia has stated she prefers the two handed method because she can't open the mouth all the way using one hand. However, Tabitha is a little older and can easily use the lever to make the puppets talk. The added benefit to the one handed method is that Tabitha can use 2 puppets at once.

Chomper

Bob

Dipper

Flipper

The children love to carry the puppets around and have them talk to each other, even Harold enjoys carrying them around. But there favorite thing to do is put on puppet shows. We have discovered that the play pen makes a great puppet stage, especially when we use the blue blanket which looks like waves. Perfect for under the sea puppet shows. 

I was going to share a video of the children's puppet show, but it turns out our living room is too dark. However, here is a video from Education Insights featuring The Sea Squad!

The children love using their imaginations, so these puppets are just wonderful for them.  There are times I have to tell them what they are saying is not appropriate if they are being mean, helping them to work on communication skills and manners. I would highly recommend them if your children love pretend play. 

The Sea Squad  can be purchased from Educational Insights for $39.99. You can also purchase it at Amazon.

You can find Educational Insights on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.

Don't forget to stop back next week to enter the giveaway for your chance to win The Sea Squad!!

Disclosure: I received The Sea Squad from Educational Insights in exchange for my honest review. I received no further compensation. This did not in any way influence my review. I only recommend products I use personally and feel will be a good products for my readers.

Educational Insights: Raccoon Rumpus Game Review

I am so excited that my 4 Year Blogiversary Celebration is almost here. If you didn't see the post earlier, I am going to be having a giveaway featuring 4 wonderful preschool products from Educational Insights. There will be 4 winners (1 for each year I've been blogging), and each winner will get one of the products. You can check out the post here to see all of the products.

Educational Insights has generously allowed the children and I to try out these 4 preschool products. I love how their products are both fun and educational.

Today I would love to share about the first product called Raccoon Rumpus.

The game comes enclosed in this really cool box. Not only does it make me think of a closet, a dresser or maybe a trunk that the raccoons are rummaging through to find costumes to try on, but it is quite sturdy too. 

The instructions are conveniently printed on the inside of the box top. Then there is a separate compartment for the dice. The one is a color die, the other is a costume die. Finally, there are 4 raccoon cards and 20 costume cards.  

These cute little raccoons actually get to put on the clothes chosen as the game is played. The head is 3-Dimensional so it pokes up through the hole in the card.

I just have to share a couple of pictures to show all of the cute costumes the raccoons can choose from.

The children wanted daddy to play with them. That was fine because it left me free to take pictures. 

We laid the cards out in the middle of the table. The girls had fun looking at the costumes. Of course, Tabitha hoped to have the chance to have her raccoon wear the princess outfit. 

The game is very easy to play. The dice are rolled and then you get to pick 1 or 2 costumes based on the resulting combination. With the costume die you can roll either a shirt (top), pants (bottom), shirt & pants or underwear. This is then combined with either 1 of 5 colors or the rainbow side of the color die. 

In the above picture daddy rolled a shirt and the red, so he was able to choose an outfit with a red shirt. He chose the firefighter.

Now, I mentioned the "special" dice sides above. Most of the time you would be picking up one card, but if you roll the side with the shirt and pants you get to choose two different cards. If you roll the underwear you would have to put all your clothes cards back.  And if you were to roll the rainbow you get to choose any outfit.

Yes, Tabitha was able to get her princess card.

The winner is the first one to have 5 costume cards. 

The children loved playing Raccoon Rumpus. The first time they played they played 3 games in a row. They love playing with the raccoons and having them pick up their own costumes. Mommy loves that Hannah gets to work on her colors. Additionally we have a chance to think about different professions as they decide what they want their raccoons to dress like.

Even Harold got involved. He wanted to have his own raccoon.

I did stay right there while he played. I made sure he wasn't putting the dice in his mouth. I also helped him find the right clothes, giving him a chance to learn his colors. He was mostly interested in rolling the dice (across the table). 

In addition to this version of the game, there are instructions for a bonus game called "Costume Memory Game." In this game all the cards are face down and you only use the color die. You are to roll the die and flip over a costume card. If the top or bottom matches the color you can keep the card, otherwise you need to flip it back over. I love this twist on the memory game. 

I rolled purple and was fortunate enough to turn over a costume with purple pants, so I could pick it up and put it on my raccoon.

Amelia was thrilled to have won the first time we played.

I would highly recommend this fun game for young children. It is recommended for children 3 and over because of the choking hazard of the dice. This game is great for learning or reinforcing colors. Children also learn they need to look for an article of clothing in a specific color. The bonus game is a really neat twist on memory. Though Tabitha prefers the normal game because she has a better chance to get the princess costume. In other words, I think she would have loved it if she had been as lucky as her sister and rolled bunches of rainbows so she could always be guaranteed to pick up a costume. 

Raccoon Rumpus can be purchased from Educational Insights for $14.99. And you can also purchase it from Amazon.

You can find Educational Insights on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube.

Don't forget to stop back next week to enter the giveaway for your chance to win Raccoon Rumpus!!

I received the Raccoon Rumpus from Educational Insights in exchange for my honest review. I received no further compensation. This did not in any way influence my review. I only recommend products I use personally and feel will be a good products for my readers.

4 Year Blogiversary Celebration Is Nearly Here!

I can not believe I have been blogging for almost 4 years! Next week I will be celebrating my Blogiversary. When I first started my blog I wondered if anyone would ever read what I wrote. Slowly, I started to gain readers. I remember being thrilled when I reached 100 GFC followers. And the numbers continued to climb and I am so thankful for all my faithful followers. If it wasn't for you my blog wouldn't be here today. Though my blog has changed a bit since its beginning, I still desire to share with other moms. I want to share the fun activities we do and products I find helpful, so you will find school-type posts on my blog along with reviews and giveaways.

In celebration I will be bringing you a wonderful giveaway starting next week!

There will be 4 winners! Each winner will win 1 of these 4 Educational Insights products!

Raccoon Rumpus

The Sea Squad: Puppets on a Stick

Animal Eye Viewers

Kidnoculars

Stay tuned for reviews of each of these really cool, fun and educational products.

Raccoon Rumpus Review

And, don't forget to stop back starting Monday August 26 for your chance to win.

One Year!!!

I can't believe it is my one year blog-iversary.  When I started this blog I wanted to have a place to record what I was doing with the girls.  It was to be a record, a memory, but also a way to share with other moms the crafts we were doing.  I hoped to be of help to others, but I wasn't sure how when I had no followers.  In the past year  I have gained many blog friends and discovered so many interesting blogs.  So, I wanted to say a great big thank you to  those of you who are regular readers.

I have an idea for a giveaway and I am working on it.  I was hoping to have it ready to celebrate one year of blogging and making friends.  Unfortunately, as I have been so busy with the girls, between trying to plan and implement lessons and take care of the baby, I am a bit behind.  So stay tuned.

I am looking forward to this next year.  As I looked back on this year I am amazed at how the girls have grown. I see how much they have learned, realizing I helped them.  I haven't sent them out to another teacher/daycare worker for them to share in the accomplishments.  (I have nothing against day care workers, I was one and loved it, but it is sad to see children being raised by others.  Day care workers are with children so many more hours than parents usually.  I had to send my older children out to others and missed so much.)

I have so much planned for this year, but have been hesitant to share it.  One, because I am not near as organized as it seems so many are.  Two, I fear to plan too far in advance and too much because Miss Hannah has been making it near impossible to get more than one thing accomplished each day.  She has been taking a decent nap in the afternoon, so that is when the organization has been taking place.  Typically, though, she will wake up when I am in the middle of something and I will lose my motivation or, due to the older girls' curiosity and mischief, will end up having to start from the beginning the next time I have a chance to organize. Our playroom is organized, but the lesson area is in the dining room and it is slow going.  I really hoped to have it ready by the start of the school year.  Let's put it this way: Close, but no cigar.

Hannah has seemed a little more fussy lately.  For the first time in weeks she didn't sleep through the night last night (I know, I know, I am fortunate that my 4 1/2 month does sleep through the night). We are not sure if she is teething, big possibility as her fist is constantly in her mouth.  Our other theory was, perhaps it is time for some baby food.  Four and a half months, later than we started Tabitha and Amelia, so today (well, looking at the clock yesterday August 27th) we gave her the first taste of rice cereal mixed with water.  She seemed to like it.

Getting bib on 

Yes, we had a little trouble keeping her hand out of her mouth

My baby is growing up too fast.  You would think I would know that having seen 5 other children zinging through milestones.  Still, I get emotional.

Anyhow, I will be sharing our weekly post on Sunday as we have to put our ants together yet.  Our activities this week were quite similar to last week's seeing as we are still focusing on a number and a color.  That doesn't mean I will not be posting.  I have projects and pictures to share.  Just got to finish the one project.  Tomorrow will not be a day for posting as we are taking the girls to their first Buffalo Bills game of the season (okay, preseason). It is Kid's Day and the girls are so excited. And after I finally get the room organized I will be sharing our school room and our curriculum. I'm just a tad bit behind everyone else.  So glad I do not have to report to the school district for another 5 years.