Sesame Street Big Elmo Fun DVD (Giveaway)

Since Kaila could say Elmo before she could say Mommy, I knew she would enjoy Sesame Street’s latest DVD release – Big Elmo Fun.

Get ready to join Elmo and Abby for some BIG fun as Warner Home Video (WHV) and Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street, release Sesame Street: Big Elmo Fun on DVD April 3, 2012 at an SRP of $14.98. Sesame Street: Big Elmo Fun features three full-length stories, two engaging new songs, a special animated book extra and the full-length bonus content “Monster Hits.”

courtesy of Sesame Workshop

In the first episode, Elmozilla, the gang is using a growth chart to measure their heights. They’re learning that everyone grows at the own rate but Elmo was to be bigger . . . right now. Abby grants his wish and he finds himself taller than everyone and everything around him. When Elmo’s growing gets out of control, it’s up to his friends to figure out a way to get Elmo back to his adorable size.

Elmo and the Monarch Butterfly is a cute segment that my kids really enjoyed. Elmo and Telly are hunting for insects on Sesame Street. They find ants, ladybugs, and a butterfly. They notice that the butterfly is all by himself so Elmo decides he wants to become a butterfly himself to keep it company . . . but he doesn’t know how. So, Telly and Elmo research the stages that butterflies go through . . . egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and finally a beautiful butterfly. In the end the butterfly and Elmo Butterfly become friends.

However, my favorite story was Cast Iron Cooks. As a fan of The Food Network and Iron Chef, this hilarious spoof starring Jason Schwartzman had me laughing so hard! In the first round of this segment, Alan, Elmo, and Chris compete against the Iron Chefs to create a “P” Stew. In the second round, the teams must create a stew dish using only ingredients starting with the letter P. In the second round, each team must bake a pie using exactly 8 apples. The final round has the teams cooking Half-garian Goulash. They can use any ingredient they want but everything must be cut in half. Who will win the competition?

This DVD contains some great new songs with our favorite being All Kinds of Fun. It has a very upbeat reggae beat and even I found myself swaying back and forth. Some other bonus features include:

• Animated book: Flutter By, Butterfly
• Brand new song: Measure Yeah Measure
• Downloadable Activity Book
• Tips for Parents
• Full-length video “Monster Hits”

It’s big fun for everyone in your family! Purchase your copy of Big Elmo Fun at Amazon.com for $9.66.

This post was written for Sesame Workshop who provided the complimentary copy for review and giveaway.

WIN IT!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Frozen Planet on Discovery Channel (Giveaway)

If you’re looking for an educational video that is not only captivating but informative as well, you owe it to yourself and your family to check out Frozen Planet ($39.98) – currently available on DVD.

A BBC/Discovery Channel co-production four years in the making, Frozen Planet is ambitious and epic in scale and provides the ultimate portrait of our earth’s Polar Regions, capturing the power of natural elements and the fragile, jaw-dropping beauty of scenery unlike anywhere else in the world. This landmark high definition series brings to the screen the frozen wilderness of the polar region for what could be the last time before they change forever.

courtesy of BBC

We received Frozen Planet to review and we found that we were glued to the television from the very beginning. The breathtaking images, special effects, and natural environmental beauty are things that I know I’ll never see in person in my lifetime but it’s okay. Frozen Planet brings these images into my home . . . and in HD fashion.

We chose a night to view Frozen Planet . . .

Made sure we were stocked with snacks . . .

And snuggled in.

DISC 1 – The Ends of the Earth, Spring, Summer

It begins at the North Pole located in the Arctic Ocean where there is only one sunrise and one sunset per year. In between that, there is approximately 6 months of harsh coldness known as the Polar Winter. During the Polar Spring, the sun starts to rise and the wildlife come out to breed. We see a male polar bear looking for a mate then fending off other competitors. It’s pretty amazing that they’re actually able to find each other in what seems to be such a vast land mass. Polar Summer is when the frozen ocean starts to melt and the sea birds show up in mass. So do the humpback whales as they feed off the trill and herring. Then Polar Autumn arrives and the sun starts to set again and the water begins to freeze over. Now the creatures depart to seek shelter.

What I found to be interesting is the way the inland starts to melt and create lakes which eventually overflow and make their way through the land of ice. These rivers carve paths until it finally loosens a giant plane of ice which then separates from the land and becomes a glacier. The glacier makes it way to the ocean it where it eventually collapse and creates an iceberg.

However, my favorite part was the segment on snowflakes. I had no idea that snowflakes are crystals that are formed around a single particle of dust. They all have a 6 part symmetry yet no two snowflakes are alike.

We then head to the Tundra where we see a pack of wolves on the hunt. They come across a herd of bison and the fight begins. This part was a little hard for the kids to watch since they’re such animal lovers. However, I took this opportunity to explain to them about the circle of life and that all animals have to eat to survive. Still, it was a little traumatic to see a single young bison being attacked.

Next is Antarctica which is surrounded by a sea of ice. Here we see a sea lion trying to catch a penguin and killer whales dancing in the ocean. Once the ocean starts to melt they show how a herd of killer whales plot to catch a seal trapped on a floating piece of ice. They use their tails to create waves in the ocean which in turn knocks the seal off his perch. Once the seal is in the ocean, the whales create strong underwater currents to tire out the seal until they’re able to catch it. It was pretty amazing to see them all work together.

We also go under the sea of ice where we find amazing lifeforms like giant jellyfishes, spiders with legs that measure half a meter, and bug-looking creatures that are the size of a dinner plate.

DISC 2 – Autumn, Winter, The Last Frontier

This DVD begins with Autumn in the Arctic with an unusual sight . . . polar bears rolling and lying in a meadow of grass. I didn’t even know they could survive without snow.

Belugas (white whales) are drawn to the Canadian Arctic where they swim into shallow waters and scrub their bodies against the rocks and pebbles to get rid of loose and dead skin. It was so cool to see hundreds of white whales in the clear water just kind of rolling around.

They also show baby birds learning how to fly. It was actually kind of funny to see the baby tumble head-over-heels when it hit the ground . . . that is, until the fox at him.

There’s also a hilarious segment on 2 penguins trying to make their nests. While one penguin goes off to find rocks the other one keeps going to the first one’s nest and taking hers. When the second one comes back you can see her looking around for the missing rock. You can almost hear her saying, “WTH?” I couldn’t stop laughing!

As Winter approaches, the penguins know that they have to raise their chicks who currently do not have water-proof fur. The sad thing is that for those penguins who have multiple chicks they usually find that only one will end up surviving. And as the edge of the sea ice advances up to 2 miles a day, the penguins know that the great white wilderness is coming.

DISC 3 – On Thin Ice, Bonus Features

The Arctic and Antarctic are changing and it’s going to effect the entire planet. Studies show that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of Earth. Since 1980, there’s been a 30% drop in the area covered by ice. This effects the way that animals hunt and the availability of their food supply. The melting ice also affect the people who live in the surrounding areas and need to travel on the ice every day. Cracks in the ice can prevent them from crossing over the frozen sea.

There are also some great special features included:

• Science at the Ends of the Earth – An examination of the remarkable scientific work being performed at the South Pole
• Freeze Frame – A series of 6 10-minute “making of” featurettes, one for each episode. This is a cool way to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the video was made. Seeing the video crews at work was just as interesting as the video itself.
• Production Video Diaries – A set of 47 video shorts made by the Frozen Planet producers, directors, camera crew and more giving personal insights into this remarkable series. It was eye-opening to see things from their point of view.
• Frozen Planet: The Epic Journey – The best moments from this remarkable series compiled into one 60-minute highlights special. This is especially good for classroom who do not have the time to watch the entire DVD set.

Throughout the video we were in just awe of what we saw. The way everything was filmed was just so amazing and so real that you almost feel like you’re right there. The scenes are something we’ll never see in real life and it’s so wonderful to be able to experience the majestic beauty of the polar regions for ourselves. I mean, you can read about it in books and look at sharp images but video is the way to go if you want the full effect. And with the narration of David Attenborough, you’ll get never get lost in what’s happening on the screen.

There’s also a behind-the-scenes segment where they show you how some of the video clips were filmed. What really impressed me was the extra care the film crew took to preserve the nature around them. You can tell that they have the ultimate respect for nature and the environment around them.

Frozen Planet is an amazing educational video for kids. In fact, Kacie said they’ve already watched Planet Earth (another BBC Home Entertainment release) in school. She’s going to be taking this DVD to show to her class and I know the students will get such a great view of the frozen world around them and the importance of taking care of our environment.

Frozen Planet airs every Sunday night at 8 pm on Discovery. Enter to win a Manitoba vacation for 2 featuring the polar bears of Churchill!

This post was written for BBC Home Entertainment who provided the complimentary copy as well as some Frozen Planet swag and a gift card in exchange for my honest review.

WIN IT!

Read more

Cypher Kids Club 3D Learning System Giveaway

We all know that technology has taken education to another level but we’ve never experienced anything quite like the Cypher 3D Learning System. Now my kids can learn about animals, colors, shapes, modes of transportation, numbers, & letters in a three dimensional way without the glasses.

We received the Wild Animal Adventures kit which included 18 3D interactive learning cards and a software CD. Just install the software on your Windows PC and launch the program. That’s it! No registration. No profile to set-up. No configurations needed. We had our program up and running within 5 minutes.

To use the software, just click on the animal you’d like to learn about and locate the coordinating card. Bring the scan code up to your webcam and watch the magic happen.

Now, even though I had an idea of what to expect I was still blown away by what I saw. Right on my screen there was a 3D life-like image of a polar bear! Rotate the card and the image rotated, too. Bring the card further back or closer to the webcam to change the size of the image. Remove the card from view and the polar bear stayed right there on the screen . . . walking, moving, trying to catch a walrus, and making polar bear noises. It was truly amazing!

There’s also a narrator that shares some interesting facts about the particular animal and things you probably didn’t know yourself. For example, did you know that polar bears have oily fur which is waterproof? This allows them to shake themselves dry after a swim.

When I first introduced my kids to the program they were speechless. Kaila kept trying to touch the animals and couldn’t understand why they looked so real. Kiana loved playing with the cards and moving the images around on the screen. This gave her the ability to see the animal and their habitat through various angles. Even Kacie who thinks she can’t be surprised by anything anymore was pretty mesmerized. She loves animals so this was especially interesting to her. She enjoyed learning more about each animal and seeing them in their own environment.

My kids and I have always been very visual learners so the Cypher 3D Learning System was pretty awesome in our opinion. It has got to be one of our favorite educational tools that we’ve had the pleasure of reviewing. We’re looking forward to adding some of the other sets to our collection when they become available to the public in June 2012.

Register your email today at Cypher Kids and receive a FREE Digi and Beebot card when the product launches in June!

WIN IT!

Read more

Creative Groove – Monetizing Your Mom Blog Online Course (Giveaway)

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to commentor #2: Annie!

Whether you’re a seasoned blogger or just starting out, monetizing your blog is something that I’m sure most of us would love to learn more about. Well, now you can with Creative Groove.

In March, they will be launching a 3-week online course taught by popular youthologist/author Vanessa Van Petten on how to “Monetize Your Mom Blog.” Vanessa grew her own blog from 30 to 300,000 readers per month, and they’re really excited to have her on board and learn from her experiences.

• How to get more traffic
• How to get blog sponsors
• How to actually make a living blogging
• How to get more subscribers
• How to connect with other bloggers
• How to produce click-worthy content for parents
• How to use social networks for marketing and spreading your message
• Search engine optimization (SEO)

WIN IT!

Creative Groove is giving away a FREE class registration to one lucky person! All other entrants will receive a 15% discount. Please keep in mind that Creative Groove is requesting that your email addresses be forwarded to them so they can send the discount code to you. If you prefer not to be contacted please mention this in your comment entry.

To enter:

• Just mention in comments before midnight, March 1st your blog’s name and what you’re hoping to learn from the class. That’s it!
• A random winner will be selected and notified via email shortly thereafter.
• The winner will then have 2 days to claim their prize.

To earn extra entries, you may do one or all of the following. Each one counts as an extra ticket but you must leave a separate comment for each one.

• Subscribe to An Island Life’s feed.
• Follow An Island Life on Twitter.
• Follow Creative Groove on Twitter.
• Tweet this giveaway (once daily). Enter to #win a FREE online course on Monetizing Your Mom Blog ($145) from @CreativeGroove & @Kailani http://islandlife808.com/?p=32497
  
• Like An Island Life on Facebook.
• Like An Island Life’s Facebook Fan Page
• Like Creative Groove on Facebook.
• Place our button in your sidebar.
• Follow me at Pinterest.
• Follow me at Google+
• Mention this giveaway on your blog with a link back here.

This giveaway is open to US addresses. Good luck!

This post was written for Creative Groove who provided the information and item for giveaway.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. One entry per household. US only. 18+over.

The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning. Winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond. All prizes that are not claimed will be re-awarded.

We are not responsible for any negative outcome from using or winning this prize.

We are not responsible for any company who does not fulfill their end of the giveaway agreement. However, we will make every attempt to rectify the situation.

Next Page »