Last weekend I begrudgingly bought Big Brother a new iPad game. I didn't honestly look into it much but to read the description and it looked cute and somewhat educational. However, that was the BEST $4.99 I have ever spend on an app.
Scribblenauts is an educational app that is cleverly disguised as general silliness. You are presented with a problem to solve. The kids want to fish but all they have is a hole in the ground. You have to fill it with water, fish, and then outfit them with fishing gear. Then this sneaky game gets into some serious critical thinking. Add 5 other types of animals that live in the water. The way to get all of these items is to pull up the keypad and spell the words. Sneaky educational fun.
I spent all weekend spelling words for Big Brother. He is in 1st grade and reads at probably an early 3rd grade level and can spell ok, but not great. He wrote down words that I spelled, sounded some out, and we googled a lot of information together. I assumed he would get tired of all that "schoolwork" pretty fast. Then he asked me to spell…giant hungry rainbow beaver. Huh?
And he got a giant hungry rainbow beaver. Best. $4.99. Ever. He is hooked on the silliness and I'm hooked the skills he is learning.
*This post was not sponsored by anyone. However, if the makers of Scribblenauts want to send me another iPad so I can get mine back from Big Brother that would be awesome.
Thank you to Crocs for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about Crocs’ new Back to School line. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions expressed here are my own.
If you have kids, you have been back to school shopping. Honestly, this is one of the most frustrating times of the year for me and my boys. They are tall and skinny. Pants don't fit. The don't want to try clothes on. They only want shirts with Lego characters on them.
Shoes though, they will try on. They want the latest and coolest shoes on the planet. And they can't squeeze their feet, be too hard to put on or take off, and have some sort of special feature like lights or glow in the dark. At Little Brother's school they are required to wear tennis shoes every day! Thank goodness for Crocs.
The Crocs Back to School kids' line are school-approved on the outside (because they're close-toed and close-heeled), but have the same comfort in the inside.
There are 13 new styles for boys and girls from K-8. Click here to see the school approved styles.
Don't forget to enter the giveaway for a family vacation to San Diego while you are there (no purchase necessary)!
There are totally cute styles for boys and girls. I was really excited to see a high top sneaker! As I was looking at the shoes, Big Brother, who can now read EVERYTHING, came up and told me he had to have these shoes. Why? The glow in the dark – the ultimate status of cool. At $30 they are a lot cheaper than the light up Sketchers.
My fav shoes for girls are the adorable Mary Jane style sneakers. They come in 4 different colors. These are also $30.
The music video is interactive- you can click on the shoes in the video to go directly to the shoes' corresponding pages on the Crocs official site.
Try to find the hidden Easter Egg within the video, click on it and see what happens! Attached is a photo hint for you to share with your readers.
ClickN KIDS and ClickN SPELL are online programs to help your child learn to read and spell. You can find the programs online at clicknkids.com.
When I originally started testing this product, I thought only my kindergartener would be interested because he is just learning how to read and spell. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Little Brother was quite interested too.
Big Brother and Little Brother both love the characters in the programs and their silly antics in the intro videos to lessons. They also both loved the comments like, "You got it! and Good job!" after each correct answer.
ClickN KIDS is a phonics program that teaches the sounds of letters and how to recognize them both by clicking on the letter on the screen and typing the letter on the keyboard. I was very pleased that Big Brother was breezing through the lessons quickly but also wanted to go back and play them again. Little Brother hasn't quite gotten the hang of the mouse so he needs help to play, but he has started to recognize a good handful of letters from watching Big Brother play. I also helped Little Brother play along with the lessons.
ClickN SPELL takes the phonics program one step further and teaches kids to spell. It starts with easy, common words. The word is read in a sentence and then the child is asked to spell the word using the keyboard. The first time the word is spelled, the word is on the screen to look at. The second time, the word is removed so the child can spell the word from memory.
Both programs would be great for homeschooling or for reinforcing the skills your child is learning in school while also learning computer skills. The parents dashboard is quite nice. I can preview lessons, change the lesson that my child is on by moving forward or going back, as well as get progress reports.
You can try a couple of lessons free before you buy the programs at the ClickNKids website. ClickN READ Phonics costs $59.95 for one child. You can make 3 payments for the program. ClickN SPELL is $49.95 and can also be paid for in 3 payments. School accounts are also available.
Norah Jones' new album Featuring will be available in stores today, November 16. This is a must have for any Norah Jones fans. Each song on the album features a different group or artist. The tracks span her entire career with collaborations over the past decade. Also included are recordings by some of Jones’ own bands and side projects (The Little Willies and El Madmo), and performances with artists that she’s toured with including M. Ward, Sasha Dobson, and Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.
This CD is Norah Jones as you know her, sultry, sassy, but with many different flavors. My kids loved Virginia Moon the best. I am hard pressed to choose my favorite song but Dear John is a front runner. The track list is impressive as is the price, $9.99.
1. Love Me – The Little Willies
2. Virginia Moon – The Foo Fighters featuring Norah Jones
3. Turn Them – Sean Bones featuring Norah Jones
4. Baby It's Cold Outside – Willie Nelson featuring Norah Jones
5. Bull Rider – Norah Jones and Sasha Dobson
6. Ruler Of My Heart – Dirty Dozen Brass Band featuring Norah Jones
7. The Best Part – El Madmo
8. Take Off Your Cool – OutKast featuring Norah Jones
9. Life Is Better – Q-Tip featuring Norah Jones
10. Soon The New Day – Talib Kweli featuring Norah Jones
11. Little Lou, Prophet Jack, Ugly John – Belle & Sebastian featuring Norah Jones
12. Here We Go Again – Ray Charles featuring Norah Jones
13. Loretta – Norah Jones featuring Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
14. Dear John – Ryan Adams featuring Norah Jones
15. Creepin' In – Norah Jones featuring Dolly Parton
16. Court & Spark – Herbie Hancock featuring Norah Jones
17. More Than This – Charlie Hunter featuring Norah Jones
18. Blue Bayou – Norah Jones featuring M. Ward
* This review is my personal opinion. I am entered to win a gift card through One2One Network by participating.
Dishwater Dreams has a new affiliate sponsor- a fabulous new jewelry retailer Waxing Poetic that specializes in modern heirloom jewelry and charm jewelry. Their charm jewelry is favorite among mothers and grandmothers who combine a necklace with charms to represent each of their children and grandchildren. I love the idea of mixing and matching charms to create my own personal story.
My son’s birthday is coming up soon and he has asked for a portable DVD player. Unfortunately, this is all my fault. We borrowed one recently and he just thought it was the neatest thing ever. Then again, he is turning 5 so you can understand his amazement at a gadget that plays Veggie Tales in the bathroom. I started looking for some inexpensive sites and ran across DVD Player Portable in the UK. They have great prices so I thought I’d share the link just in case you have a kid that needs to be able to watch SpongeBob in the tub.
Etsy is a wonderful place to find handmade and vintage items to purchase. I recently opened my own Etsy store, SewCrossed, and wanted to let you all know about the wonderful shops available. If you want your shop reviewed, please send me an e-mail. Sellers who purchase from my store (include a note with your purchase) or host a giveaway on this blog will be automatically accepted for review. A new store will be reviewed each Wednesday.
Suwanee’s Adornments
This lovely shop has vintage and handmade jewelry. I have to say that I am impressed with the variety in the selection. There are many different styles and colors to choose from. The prices are extremely reasonable. In fact, I found some lovely earrings and bracelets priced below what I had found items of lesser beauty for in store in my area. Here are some of my favorite items. Please stop by Suwanee’s Adornments and outfit your jewelry box with something new for spring or look for great gifts!
As an avid Pogo.com fan, I was excited when I hear that Pocket Pogo games would be available with badges. I got the Word Whomp game as this is one of my favorite Club Pogo games. Three badges were available with the touch screen game.
1. Graphics – The graphics are terrible. It is all black and gray. If you are not in a well lit area, you can’t see the screen. The letters are not in a line like in the game, but spread about the board.
2. Sound – The sound is actually quite loud and there isn’t any way to adjust the volume.
3. Touch Screen – The game came with two stylus to use with the game. The touch screen does actually work quite well with the stylus. It does not work well without the stylus.
4. Game play – There are 4 games that come with the handheld. The only game with badges is Word Whomp. The other games are also word games. You get 2 minutes to solve the puzzle. No additional time is given for finding words. The words you have already found are not shown. You are told how many words are left for a brief moment after finding each word. The number of words remaining is then replaced with your score. Supposedly you also get a code once you reach 1 million tokens on the handheld to apply them to your Pogo account. You get 20,000 tokens for registering the game.
5. Badges – It took me exactly 7 games to get all 3 badges for this game. There are three score levels to reach, 50 points, 70 points, and 85 points. The first badge I got on the first game, the second on the second game. To get the 85 point badge, you must find all of the words.
Overall – The cost of $19.99 for these games is absurd. With virtually no graphics, limited functionality, and the fact that these are one time use only on the codes, I suggest foregoing these badges and saving your money. I will not be buying any more unless the price is drastically reduced to $4.99 or less.
