DaySpring Christmas Cards {Review}

I was given the wonderful opportunity to review beautiful Studio DaySpring Christmas cards this year! I usually make my own cards but was ecstatic to have this opportunity to use a beautiful design by DaySpring.  I was able to see MANY DaySpring products, including their gorgeous cards, while at the Relevant Conference back in October.

Here is the card I chose {with our family info deleted}…

I got the 5x7 flat card and included our family information on the back!  I was VERY impressed with the quality when the cards arrived in the mail.  I usually do my own designs and have them printed myself, I am so glad I had this opportunity to use Studio DaySpring this year!!!!

If you are quick and order TODAY {11/30} you can get 30% off using the code SUPER30!!!

Play This Way ~ U-Play Mat Giveaway

Congratulations #19 ~ Lauren, You Won!

Play This Way Every Day was started by Dr. Jen ~ a pediatrician AND a mom of 2 sets of twins! Talk about experience, huh? Wow, I was impressed when I read her about page!

Play This Way Every Day was founded in 2008 with the goal of enhancing interactive floor play between toddlers and parents.

We were sent the entire set {U-Play Mat Professional Edition} to review…

The 4x6 cards slide into the pockets like this…

The size is perfect, because you could easily use 4x6 photos also! I haven’t tried that yet, but think it would be a great idea, especially for family members’ photos!

Here you can see Ladybug with the mat, this photo was taken after we played together one day. She likes to collect all of the cards and hug them as you can see. I let her explore freely after we did some of the activities together.

She enjoyed our play time together but her attention span is a bit short! This will be great for working on that! The images are a tad bit unrealistic {for some of the animals especially, you can see them here in PDF form}, and this was the only problem I had with the entire kit. I tend to be a bit more Montessori minded and go for natural, life-like images when teaching names of animals and items. The images are bright and certainly cute, but the green elephant threw me a tad. Obviously Ladybug didn’t mind that at all and she was very drawn to the images. Krash liked them a lot also. So, it isn’t really a problem, but I wanted to point it out in case anyone else might want to know!

What I loved about the U-Play Mat…

• It is a great way to expose your child to different items you may have forgotten about! There are several things we talk about daily but as we used the kit I realized how many simple items I had not taught Ladybug through natural exposure.
• The mat is awesome, I LOVE the shape and the concept of the pockets to hold the cards. It is perfect for the games suggested in the little booklet that comes with the kit.
• It grows with your child. The ideas seem endless, there are so many ways to expand on knowledge using this simple tool.
• It would be wonderful for children who need extra help; whether with speech, language acquisition {ESL possibly}, attention span, and more. I can see this tool being something certain parents would really benefit from.
• The cards are thick and have rounded edges-which I love. Ladybug is able to freely explore them and they are sturdy and safe.

Overall we are very thankful to have this kit in our home and I think it will be used for many years, especially with Ladybug as she grows.

BUY IT…

Can’t wait to see if you’ll win? You can use this special discount code to receive 10% off and FREE SHIPPING: 1PLUSTEN

WIN IT…
www.PlayThisWay.com is offering a U-Play Mat Starter Set to one winner!

Mandatory Entry…
Visit www.PlayThisWay.com and tell me your favorite feature of the U-Play Mat/Cards after you browse around their site a bit.

After you do that, you can gain some extra entries by any of the following, remember to leave an extra comment for each item so they will count as entries...

1. If you follow @1plus1plus1 and @playthisway on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway, give yourself an extra entry. Feel free to copy and Tweet this: @1plus1plus1 is hosting a giveaway with @playthisway for a U-Play Mat Starter Set! Enter here: http://bit.ly/cEv8QI
2. If you Like 1+1+1=1 on Facebook, give yourself an extra entry.
3. If you Like Play This Way on Facebook, give yourself an extra entry.
4. If you subscribe to /follow 1+1+1=1, give yourself an extra entry.

This Giveaway is open for USA only!

I will select a winner using Random.org, so be sure you leave a separate comment for each entry, I will also be moderating comments to check that your entries are valid-please be honest!

Contest ENDS November 30, 2010 {11am}. Winner will be announced here and emailed (your email MUST be in each comment/or enabled in blogger). Winner must reply to my email within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen.

Guidecraft Animal Train Sort & Match ~ Review {w/link to giveaway}

Guidecraft has amazing learning toys. I am always blown away with their quality and unique ideas. I was very curious about the Animal Train Sort & Match even before I knew I would be getting it for review. I wasn’t sure what to expect and it surpassed my expectations! I didn’t read well to realize that the board the shapes go onto is magnetic-duh. I think I imagined them just laying and slipping around-NOT the case! This toy is awesome!

I was a tad bit surprised to find out which of my children loved it and which one didn’t really care for it too much. Any guesses?

Well, this cutie pie didn’t get the concept, but absolutely loves the toy! She plays with the pieces, we talk about the animals and colors and she loves the magnetic board!

The other kid of mine who loved it…

…the oldest one!!!! Yup, PacMan was certainly not too cool at the ripe old age of 8 for this toy!

So, in keeping my reviews honest and from the heart-I have to admit that Krash wasn’t very fond of this toy. I honestly thought he would like it, but it isn’t a super hero or a dragon, so what could I expect? I DO think he will like it eventually, as he does love puzzles and challenges. We did play with it one time, where I put the puzzle together and then had Krash close his eyes to guess which piece I removed. He DID like that-just didn’t want any part of building the puzzle himself!!!

As a mom and as an educator-I LOVE this learning toy. It has so many learning opportunities and is so well made. You can read more reviews form my Guidecraft Mom team members also-the toy seemed to be a hit with them all!

BUY IT!

You can purchase the Animal Train Sort and Match we reviewed here on the Guidecraft site, or here on Amazon.

WIN IT!

Carissa from My Life on a Taffy Pull is hosting the giveaway this month! Head on over to enter to win from Nov 10th til the 14th!

This product was given to me for review purposes, and I do not have to return the product to the vendor. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

ABC Twiggles ~ Giveaway {2 winners}

Congratulations...

#255 Eszter AND #112 The Bish Family You WON!

I will be emailing shortly!

I am excited to share ABC Twiggles with you! It is a great early childhood website filled with wonderful resources for your child! You can read all about the program, their beliefs and what they have to offer here on their site. ABC Twiggles contacted me to offer a free membership to my family and also to 2 of you! I have been reviewing the site for a couple of months now, you have probably noticed photos of us using the resources in my Preschool blog posts! Here are a few of our personal favorites on the site.

Our favorite {both mine and Krash} is definitely the cute online books. Krash has watched these over and OVER again! Definitely a great addition to our RRSP program-as I don’t create anything like that!

Here you can see his face as he was watching one of them! He is also holding the apple worksheet he had just completed, which you can see for FREE here in their sample letter A lesson!I never thought Krash would be my worksheet kid, but he is. He loves certain types of worksheets and there are a several on the ABC Twiggles site that he loves to do! His favorites are these that have the letter of the week mixed in and he has to color them all to make a path {this time for the squirrel to the nut} He also really enjoyed this one in particular, getting the zebras to the zookeeper…

ABC Twiggles is donating a membership to 2 different winners!!

BUY IT…
Can’t wait to see if you’ll win? You can join ABC Twiggles now for $21.99.

WIN IT…

Mandatory Entry…

Visit www.ABCTwiggles.com and tell me one activity you like after you browse around their site a bit! Remember you can download and print the entire A unit for FREE!!!

After you do that, you can gain some extra entries by any of the following, remember to leave an extra comment for each item so they will count as entries...

1. If you Like ABC Twiggles/Kids Soup on Facebook, give yourself an extra entry.
2. If you Follow/Subscribe to 1+1+1=1 give yourself an extra entry.
3. If you Follow @1plus1plus1 on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway, give yourself an extra entry {only one tweet please, not daily} Sample Tweet: @1plus1plus1 is hosting a giveaway for ABC Twiggles here... http://bit.ly/9zrgCl 2 Winners! #preschool #ece #education

This Giveaway is open for anyone.

I will select a winner using Random.org, so be sure you leave a separate comment for each entry, I will also be moderating comments to check that your entries are valid-please be honest!

Contest ENDS November 14, 2010. Winner will be announced here, and emailed (your email MUST be in each comment/or enabled in blogger). Winner must reply to my email within 48 hours or another winner will be chosen.