Elmo’s World: Favorite Things!

La la la la. La la la la. Elmo’s World.

I bet almost every child (and parent) knows how that song goes. All I have to do is see a picture of Elmo and that tune immediately starts playing in my head. Elmo’s World debuted in 1998 and regularly plays during the last 15 minutes of each Sesame Street episode. Each segment follows a familiar pattern in which Elmo introduces his pet fish Dorothy and the topic of day. It’s then followed by a skit by Mr. Noodle, real life children giving their take on the topic, video of a child in a real life setting, Dorothy imagining Elmo playing out various roles relating to the subject, as well as “Computer” sending emails to Elmo and a counting segment. All of this is shown in a computer animated crayon-drawn room imagined by Elmo himself.

In Elmo’s World: Favorite Things! we’re entertained with 4 segments dealing with:

• Dinosaurs
• Building Things
• Birthdays
• School

Our favorite episode was Birthdays because we were able to celebrate Dorothy’s special day. The kids on the show explained how they wrapped gifts for her – like a new rock for her fish tank and fish food. They also presented her with a tiny cake for this special occasion. We also saw the hilarious Mr. Noodle try to wrap a tiny gift box with a huge piece of wrapping paper only to have him get tangled up in the tape. Kaila even tried to blow out the candles on the screen after counting them on the cake.

What we really like about Elmo’s World is that not only does it teach educational content like counting and enumeration but also social skills including self-confidence, friendship, and conflict resolution. In Elmo’s World: Favorite Things! the emotional development and cognitive reasoning curriculums are reinforced for preschoolers as they have fun discovering and exploring new and exciting activities.

Elmo’s World: Favorite Things! is a great addition to any family video library. In fact, we’ve watched it a few times already and even Kiana (6) still enjoys it. Elmo’s world is and always will be a classic.

Purchase your copy of Elmo Worlds: Favorite Things at Amazon.com for $11.99.

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Crayola Goes High Tech (Giveaway)

Remember when Crayola meant just crayons? Well, they’ve now gone high tech with their brand new Crayola Story Studio where your child becomes a part of the story. Imagine the look on your child’s face when they see their photo transformed into a cartoon character and placed right into the story with a Disney Princess, Spider-Man, or the gang from Cars 2($4.99 – $7.99).

It’s really easy to do! Just login to Crayola Story Studio, register for an account, input the unique code that comes with your packet, and upload a photo. That’s basically it! Once the photo is uploaded the program will scan and transform it into a cartoon character. However, you’ll also have the option to change different features to makes sure it looks exactly the way you want.

Next, select which story you’d like to print out. We did the Disney Princess kit and our choices were Cinderella, Belle, Ariel, Aurora, Tiana, or Rapunzel.

Kacie chose Tiana.

Kiana selected Cinderella.

Once we selected the princess the program showed us the 10-page coloring page story complete with their image on each page. There’s also a place on the bottom of each page where your child can write in their own story. I would have preferred to have the option of typing in the story and printing it out for a more finished look but the kids just loved coming up with their own fairy tales.

Each kit comes with 10 skinny markers, 3 wide markers, 2 tubes of glitter glue, 30 blank sheets for the coloring pages, 6 glossy sheets for the book’s cover, and 3 story binding strips to make your book look like the real thing.

The Crayola ColorStudio HD App for iPad is a set of coloring pages organized by theme. You’re able to select which type of drawing tool you’d like to use – paint brush, crayon, colored pencil, wide tip marker, or skinny marker – as well as the colors associated with each tool. You also have the option of changing the width of your tool’s tip, filling in an entire section with a specific color, or erase a mistake.

You can also design your very own coloring pages using various backgrounds, clip art, thought bubbles, animated weather scenes, and even sounds. Once your color page is done you can fill it in using the same tool bar described above. And if you’re the more creative type you can start with a blank page and draw a scene to be colored.

The Crayola ColorStudio HD App can be used with just your fingers but why not draw like a real artist with the Griffin iMarker Digital Stylus ($29.99)? This wide drawing tool is great for tiny hands and runs one 1 AA battery. It’s so much fun to use and makes coloring the pages a lot easier and authentic. The only thing is that sometimes my tool seemed to “run out” of color so I had to kind of “refill” it by pressing on the tool bar again. The iMarker has a soft rubber tip and cap which makes it look like an actual pen. Although, I kind of wished there was a way to attach the cap to the back of the pen so the kids couldn’t lose it. Other than that, we loved it!

Crayola has found a way to bring the classic crayon into the 21 century and spark creativity in a whole new way.

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Screendreams Giveaway

I recently had the chance to review 3 DVDs from Screendreams.  MoMA-The museum of Modern Art, Living Earth and Living Aquarium.  These are beautiful DVD’s that display images on your TV while you listen to soothing music.  It is just like a screen saver for your computer but instead it is for your TV.

I really love the DVDs because they are great for homeschooling?  I bet you wonder why that is.  Let me talk about each one of them and you will see why.

First I will talk about Living Earth because that is the one I watched with my kids first.  Living Earth has 42 beautiful scenescapes and 12 relaxing musical selections to choose from.  You can choose to play all the scenes, change the seconds between each scene and change the music to what you like best.  I love that the music is so calm because that helps calm my kids.  So why is this good for homeschooling?  With all the scenes to see you can work with your children on seasons and also teach them about different habitats.  Two things that we have already gone over in homeschooling with my 5 year old.

Next there is the MoMA- The Museum of Modern Art.  Now be careful with this one because if your don’t want your children to exposed to nudity at a young age then this is not a right choice for them.  I should’ve known being a lover of art that there may have been some nudity involved in this DVD.  It just slipped my mind.  As an adult I loved the different art and also that you have an option to select info about the artwork.  My favorite Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night is the very first painting in the series.  I love that in the future  for homeschooling I can go through and fast forward to get to a painting that is appropriate for my children and we can pause it and learn about what medium was used, who painted the picture, when he/she lived and also what the painting was about.  Talk about great art history.  Of course this will be used for homeschooling when my kids get a little bit older.

Saving the best for last, well the best for my kids is the Living Aquarium.  What kid doesn’t like to watch fish swim.  It is also so calming for them.  My kids are 8, 5, 2, and 1 and just love to watch these fish go across the TV Screen.  Of course instantly my kids found this DVD to be fun not only because of the fish but also they made it into a game of eye spy!  I also think it is a great DVD to use to count how many color fish that are on the TV.

So if you are looking for DVDs that have beautiful music, beautiful scenes and great for learning then you should check out Screendreams.

You can find all of the DVDs here.  Living Earth can be purchased for $10.95 here,  MoMA- Museum of Modern Art can be purchased for $14.95 here, and Living Aquarium can be purchased for $10.95 here.

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Just Dance Kids 2 Wii (Giveaway)

Just Dance Kids 2 on Wii is back with 40 fun and crazy dance routines designed especially for kids, featuring the songs they love! Includes covers of today’s hottest hits for older kids, like “Love Me,” “Whip My Hair,” and “Just The Way You Are.” Also included are popular songs from kids’ favorite TV shows and movies, such as “Despicable Me,” and “The Robot Song” from Yo Gabba Gabba. Plus, Just Dance Kids 2 includes mixes of classic kids songs like “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” and “The Hokey Pokey” for younger kids to enjoy.

We received a copy of Just Dance Kids 2 Wii to review and thought it was a great way to get the family up and dancing. This Wii game comes with 40 fun dance routines with songs that almost every age will recognize. They had songs for Kaila (Five Little Monkeys & Itsy Bitsy Spider), songs for Kiana (Yo Gabba Gabba Hold Still & I Am a Gummy Bear), and songs for Kacie (Burnin’ Up & Rocketeer). It’s so hard to find a Wii game that all my kids can enjoy and this is definitely one of them.

Just Dance Kids 2 Wii gives you the option to play together on one team or in competition mode. Basically, you just pick the song you want and copy the kids dancing on the screen. The more accurate you are the more points you get. There’s also a little silhouette on the bottom of the screen that shows your child which direction they should be moving. And of course, there are little messages like “Perfect” “Good” “Yeah” that encourages your child along. Kacie and Kiana loved dancing along while Kaila preferred to just watch what was happening on screen.

And if your kids have their personal favorite songs, like mine do, they can create their own playlist for easy song selection. However, one of my favorite feature is the Shuffle Mode where you can create the amount of time, play mode, and types of songs kids dance to for a continuous non-stop dance party!

Just Dance Kids 2 Wii is such a nice change from all the “catching the bad guys” games out there. This one allows my kids to be just kids and dance to their hearts content.

Purchase your copy for $29.99 at Amazon.com.

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