International Playthings has a whole series of these adorable bowls that are somehow motion sensored that when the “magic spoon” enters the bowl, the cow makes 4 different animal sounds. What better way to encourage your child to learn to feed themselves by reinforcing placing the “magic spoon” back in the bowl, rather than flinging it across your kitchen! Since I also work with a lot of picky eaters, I’m always on the lookout for a new fun way to motivate children to try a new food, increase their mealtime attention or to simply gain more independence.  If you think the cow is cute, you should definitely check out the International Playthings website because this bowl comes in a dog, airplane, and a car. There is a suction cup that sticks the bowl to the tray surface. The smaller green insert bowl is microwave and top rack dishwasher safe.  Gavin pretty much had applesauce everywhere with this snack, in terms of cleaning up the cow, I didn’t want to submerse it in water, and it didn’t state that it was safe to submerse it or wet it, so I used a Lysol wipe to easily clean up the rest of the applesauce.

International Playthings provided this Animal Snacker free for the purchase of a review. Gavin is positioned in a Svan High Chair for his mealtimes, which was provided free for the purpose of review by Scandinavian Child. All opinions expressed in this entry are purely the bloggers own.

As always, photo credits brought to you by the amazingly talented Derek Wilmot.

I’ve recently had the opportunity to review a few Tommee Tippee products.  Tommee Tippee was started in Great Britain and has within the past few months made a grand entrance to the U.S. market selling their feeding products at BabiesRUS.com, as well as all Babies R Us and Toys R Us stores nationwide.

I received 3 products from Tommee Tippee and the Mom Bloggers Club free for the courtesy of my review: the Non Slip Easy Mat, The Weaning Bowl with Spoon and the Spill Proof Water Bottle.

I have to say I was initially most excited about the Non Slip Easy Mat.  This mat is placed on a table or high chair and allows the Weaning Bowl or other standard plates/bowls to be attached to it.  By securing the bowl, it could prevent food from being dumped out of the bowl onto the floor and it also keeps the bowl in place when children learn to eat with utensils.  Though Gavin found a way to remove the bowl from the mat within a minute or so and his lovely dinner did end up on my floor, I do believe this mat could still be beneficial to older toddlers who are motivated to self-feed with a spoon or a fork, so I’m hopeful when he’s older we can give this another try!

I really like the weaning bowl and use it almost daily.  In the package I received there were two weaning bowls, one cover, and a spoon. In the cover there is a spot where the spoon can be inserted for on-the-go meals. What a great idea to first and foremost remind us all who are functioning on little sleep to make sure we actually put a spoon in the diaper bag!  I’ve sent Gavin with meals to my parents’ and friends’ houses using this bowl and we have not had any spilling in route (though I haven’t used it for liquid textures i.e. yogurt, cottage cheese).  I have put these bowls in the microwave and dishwasher without any difficulty; they are also BPA and Phthalate free. The bowl has a handle on it, making the bowl easy to hold when you are feeding the child.  This feature is also perfect for older toddlers when teaching them how to hold the bowl as they scoop with the other hand using a spoon. This bowl is also deep, which can allow for better success during these early self-feeding stages, making it easier to get textures like yogurt onto the spoon easier. The spoon was easy to hold, lightweight and great for being on-the-go. Though I have other spoons I prefer to use for more consistent infant feeding, this is a good alternative for travel.

Lastly, we tested out the Spill Proof Water Bottle. This water bottle has two pieces that fit inside the spout that make it spill proof.  It is not difficult to extract liquid when sucking from it, but if this is hard for your child initially, remove the two pieces that serve as the no-spill valve. You can put them back in the cup once your child has the idea of how the cup works. Try to encourage your child to also remove the liquid with their lips anddon’t let them bite on the spout with their teeth to stabilize when drinking.

I know how overwhelming the feeding aisles can be in local stores with row upon row of choices, but if you want to give Tommee Tippee a try:

Now through July 23:  Buy any Explora item (cups and toddler feeding), get the second 50% off at BabiesRUs.com.

Like Tommee Tippee on Facebook: www.facebook.com/tommeetippeenorthamerica

Follow Tommee Tippee on Twitter: @tommeetippee_na

Disclosure:  http://cmp.ly/2/c6zy7i

Though I received free products from Tommee Tippee and the Mom Bloggers Club to facilitate this review, the opinions expressed are purely the bloggers own.