P: Pen! First we filled the small pen like dispenser with colored beads. I found it helpful to take a pair of tweezers from the medicine cabinet to help fill the dispenser, as the beads were very small, and sometimes challenging for the kids to pick up.

I: Index Finger! I encouraged the kids to hold the dispenser, as they should their pencil or marker, with three fingers in a tripod position. We used our index fingers to push down the button to release the beads onto the template.

X: Xylophone! Okay, so we didn’t make a xylophone, but you could easily do this with the create your own template feature online at www.pixos.com!

O: ORGANIZE! Make sure you are organized prior! This is definitely an activity that you may want to do sitting nearby your child to assist them as they need it. PixOs has a key on the back of each product, identifying whether the kit is easy, medium, or hard, so be mindful of this with younger children. There was a sorter in the box for the kit I reviewed, that allows you to separate out the beads by color, but there was not a cover to this particular container. I would encourage you to put the entire container in a sandwich size ziploc bag when you are finished to prevent the beads from escaping all over the place. However, after looking more at other great PixOs Products online, some kits do come complete with sorters that have a cover.

S: Spray Success! I successfully used this in a small group with two children at the same time. They alternated taking turns between filling the dispenser and placing the beads onto the template. We created one design in about 1/2 hour, then needed another 1/2 hour or so for it to dry. It says to let it dry for 10 minutes, but the kids got a little excited about the water spraying, so it took a little longer. We also needed to spray some of the designs twice as some of the outer beads did not attach when they were sprayed.

Other thoughts:

- Considering their price points, these would make excellent birthday and holiday gifts!

- Don’t stop with just making your creation! After spraying the design with water and waiting for it to dry, we made a story together about our creations and wrote them down in a journal to promote the academic skills of learning letter formation, as well as the visual spatial skills of writing with good spacing, formation and size of the letters. Children working on social skills and social language can have their PixOs interact with a friend’s creation.

- Parents consider PixOs for a fun activity over the summer. Teachers and therapists always encourage children to continue with their writing to keep their skills current, why not take a fun activity like PIxOs and bring it to the next level by promoting your child’s fine motor coordination and keeping their academic skills fresh!

Spinmaster provided a free sample of PixOs to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed in this review are purely the blogger’s own.  If you are wondering about the safety of these beads, visit www.pixos.com for all information. PixOs meet and exceed all current international toy safety standards.

Ben from Spinmaster gives an overview of some of their great toys including ChixOs, Aquadoodle, Moon Sand and Glodoodle.

Ben describes that ChixOs is actually a part of a larger line PixOs. You can build all these different things with beads. Then you spray it with water and they stick together. ChixOs comes with a playhouse, girls, and the beads. It allows the child to design the characters any way they like. The kids can decorate items inside their house such as a chair, sofa and table using the actual Pixos. ChixOs gives kids a chance to be really creative.

Aquadoodle, is the ultimate no mess toy, and great for a first drawing toy for young children. There is a large mat. You fill a pen with water and multiple kids can draw at the same time and play together. After the water dries the mat is totally re-usable.

Moon Sand is the sand that never dries out! Kids can build all these different toys and take them apart.

Glodoodle was developed by an engineering graduate from Harvard where you can draw with light! You can use the stylus or your finger and can see through it to draw another person’s face which fosters creativity at a young age with no goal in mind.

Ben says, “as a kid you should never have a goal, you should just do.” Many of Spinmaster’s toys provide endless play opportunities.

One game I’ve had particular success with is that good old classic game of Memory. A quick search has found that our once cherished version of such a simple game, has also morphed to include the latest in childhood favorites with Disney Princesses, SpongeBob Squarepants, Dora, Go Diego Go, Spiderman, Little Einsteins, and the Backyardigans. Find the version that motivates your child the best, and here are some quick tips on how to modify this game:

1. I personally tend to find the character versions more challenging than the original version. For example, there are often several Spiderman cards with variations, causing even more attention to detail to be required, which can lead to some frustration.
To avoid this, have your child help you pre-sort the cards by matching them face up first before you set up the rows, look for matches that do not share as many similarities, and set those to the side for playing.

2. Start with a smaller amount of cards, such as 12 (6 pairs). Arrange those in the rows and play this smaller version first to teach the concept of the game and build their confidence with the skill. Simply add or remove pairs as needed.

3. I often tend to choose to keep even numbers of cards so that there can be a tie and there is not always a winner, in an effort to minimize the whole winner/loser concept. Pick your battles, our goal is to focus on the letter formation, and for that we need their excitement to participate.

4. Keep a small white board with a dry erase marker, chalkboard, Magnadoodle, Glodoodle, colored post-it notes with writing lines, or some good fashioned old lined paper nearby. Let your child choose which one they’d like to use.

5. When you make a match, you will then have to write the word for what is on your card. You will need to gauge your child’s skill level, but if you are simply wanting to work on reinforcing letter formation, write the word for them first and have them copy it (this method works well for those who have completed Kindergarten or are in first grade). When children copy from a model, they are more apt to focus on the letter formation and may not get as frustrated. For children in second grade and above you can suggest they sound out the word and write it independently, providing assistance as needed. Using the lined paper will add another component of reinforcing sizing, spacing and orientation to the line.