Mommy & Me Tech Segment on Better TV

Back in December I got a really fun opportunity to be part of a television segment on the Better TV show in New York City, which is hosted by Audra Lowe. The segment, sponsored by VTech Toys, discussed some concerns that moms like myself might have about introducing a young child to technology.  Brett Larson, a technology expert, was included in the segment to provide his view of what age is good to start exposing young children to technology toys.

The video itself is hosted on the Better TV site, so please view it by clicking this link:

Mommy & Me Tech with Keri Wilmot from ToyQueen.com

In case you might have older children, Tracie from Penny Pinchin Mom and Crystal from Simply Being Mommy were included in an additional segment on Better TV, that discussed how to include technology with multiple children at different age levels.

My travel expenses were paid for as part of this opportunity. I was not provided with any additional compensation. All opinions expressed in the video are my own.

About.com, has more than 900 sites supported by Guides who are independent subject matter experts in the topics they cover.

International Playthings provided this toy free for review. The opinions represented in this blog post are purely the bloggers own.

I work with many children that are working on their visual memory skills – simply – the ability to look at information, and remember its significance, even after several minutes or hours have passed. This is a great skill needed for more intricate note taking when children are in their older grades, as they look up at the board and copy their notes into their homework assignment books. So, I adapted Bingo Link to work on visual memory.

We played a few rounds of Bingo Link as the directions suggested, then I kept the markers in my gameboard and hid it from the student’s view. I asked the student to look at her gameboard for a few minutes at all the pictures that were currently under the green markers. Then, I removed the gameboard and asked the student to to write down all the pictures she could remember on lined paper.  Afterwards, I encouraged her to look at an empty gameboard to see if there were any that were forgotten, then write them down on the list. Finally, we used my finished board to cross reference the list with the gameboard. I have no idea how  many pictures or pieces of information children should be able to retrieve at different ages. However, what I do know, is that is is great to practice these types of skills with something that will keep their interest, so when they need to take notes in class or write down their homework from the board, they will have had some great practice!

Gamewright provided Can You See What I See? Bingo Link free to facilitate a review. The opinions are my own.

The Early Science Explorer Set, Ages 3 and up
This set includes a jumbo magnifier and flexible tweezers. The 4.5X magnifier has a flip-out stand and a large chunky handle that will be great to see all sorts of ants, insects, plants, materials, you name it, up close and personal.

Many kids simply do not like to get their hands messy or dirty. The tweezers are a great way for kids to use their fine motor coordination skills, and to practice the delicate control needed to carefully pick up small items!

Big View Bug Jars – Set of 6, Ages 3 and up

There are 6 Bug Jars, each with a different colored top, that unscrews from the clear container. The tops are all different colored lady bugs. Push the button on top of the jar, and the lady bug wings will expand open to magnify the contents of the jar! Not feeling the love of bringing in all sorts of insects in from the backyard? Why not encourage your child to go on a scavenger hunt throughout the house, using the magnifying lens and the tweezers to find items in the house they can sort by color into the proper jars! Need containers to sort extra arts and crafts supplies? These little jars are definitely multi-purpose!

ToyQueen.com is giving away a Set of 6 Big View Bug Jars and the Early Science Explorer’s Set from Learning Resources, Valued at $43.00!

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These cars are targeted for children ages 1-3, and there are 3 pieces in each box.  Their suggested retail prices is about $3.99. The bottom piece includes the four wheels, and the other two pieces fit together like a puzzle to create the car on top. If you have multiple cars, the pieces are interchangeable, so you could have the front of a police car and the back of a fire truck. They are a perfect size for little hands and even teach kids on a very simple scale, the process of trial and error to figure out simple puzzles. Developmentally, right at the age of one, Gavin loved putting them together and taking them apart, first with help to turn the pieces until he figured out how to do it on his own. They are plastic, but I’m not a huge fan of the diecast metal cars at this age anyway, because of the amount of mouthing play children do, making these also pretty easy to clean with a wipe.

There are many different types of these little cars, and there is even an entire town you can put together to zoom these little cars in, complete with trap doors and stunts! All the pieces fit inside the container and it’s easy to take with you to a playdate, on vacation, or to family events. Check Toys r’ Us for these cars in the United States.

Mega Bloks provided a few of the Tiny n’ Tuff vehicles and the Tiny n’ Tuff Buildable City free to facilitate a review. The opinions are my own.

Dear Mr. Mark Teague,

I recently had the pleasure of reading your latest book LaRue Across America: Postcards from the Vacation. Being a dog lover, I am really not very fond of cats, so I can totally sympathize with how the dog, Ike LaRue, really feels. His mother, Mrs. LaRue tries to be a “do gooder,” so when her neighbor faints and falls ill, instead of taking Ike on a Mexican cruise, she decides to drive across country taking the neighbors two devious furballs along with them. Believe me, throughout the entire roadtrip, I would have sent postcards from every remote location in the United States to the owner begging for their return, as well. I would say, Ike does have some pretty valid points. I mean, for crying out loud, those cats pretty much turned the gift shop upside down at Dino-Land in South Dakota! I really found Ike’s sarcastic humor very entertaining.  Even better, I love how he actually writes real letters and postcards. Kids these days don’t really know what an actual letter even looks like as they often communicate in short texts and emails. I think many children and their parents will enjoy looking at your beautiful illustrations together while they read about such a unique cross country adventure.

All the best,

Keri Wilmot

ToyQueen.com is giving away 2 copies of LaRue Across America. The winners will also receive a LaRue branded backpack!

Please click here to find out information on the giveaway!

Under this post, comment on where your family’s favorite place to visit here in the United States is that you get to by taking a driving roadtrip.

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Giveaway ends Monday May 2nd at 11:59 p.m. EST

A free copy of this book was provided to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.

This kitchen set is geared for children ages 3 and up.  The measurements are 23½”W x 12″D x 35½”H, which makes this set tall and narrow, so it is really more appropriate for older preschoolers. This kitchen does not take a up a lot of space in my home and does not make any noises and for that I am entirely greatful. There are two doors to open, a cabinet on the left and the see-thru oven door on the right.  When you open both of these doors, the cabinets are divided, but there is only a bottom shelf so the storage space inside the cabinets is tall. I wish that it had extra shelving in the cabinets, at least on one side, to accommodate more kitchen accessories. When trying to get some of his pots and pans out of the cabinet, Gavin did get a small finger pinched in the bottom, right where the cabinets are divided. The sink is removable and the knobs can all be twisted and turned. There is a shelf on the top of the kitchen where children can also store extra accessories.

This white, one-piece, kitchen and stove set arrived flat packed in one box and required adult assembly.  All the pieces were labelled well with numbers, and the directions were fairly easy to read. It took me about 2 1/2 hours to assemble the kitchen and I had to enlist the help of my handy dandy husband to finally get all the screws to allign perfectly together. I tried to use an electric drill at first.  In the first step, when trying to assemble the blue faucet knob, the drill pushed the screw so far into the knob it actually broke off.  I contacted customer service, received a response a day later. However, it has been two weeks and I have not yet received a replacement part. Definitely set aside a good amount of time, hand tighten the screws and make sure the handiest person in your home is nearby to help because there were definitely some instances when two heads and four hands were a necessity.

The set does not come with any accessories, so they will need to be purchased separately. I tried to go to Target and look for additional accessories to purchase, but you can read all about the pink toys I found on my trip here. I basically ended up scavenging my kitchen, and found extra spoons, containers, and bowls to place inside, which keep him pretty  happy for now.

ToyQueen.com is giving away a Stove/Kitchen Combo Set from Constructive Playthings.

Mandatory entry: Visit www.cptoy.com by clicking on the Constructive Playthings Button on the sidebar and take a look around.  Come back to this post and tell us what other item a child in your life would love to receive. Remember that by clicking this button when ordering, you receive a 15% discount off your entire order.

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Giveaway ends May 6th 11:59 p.m EST

Constructive Playthings provided this set free to facilitate the review. All opinions are my own.

Here are some of my thoughts on Color Blanks

Dyno Dog by Derek Wilmot

- The kit includes 3 markers, some white modeling clay and a set of stickers, so it’s great for birthday party entertainment or swag bag fun, for both boys and girls.  However, there are only 3 markers, so you may want to make sure that you have a larger set of markers available if you want more color choices

- Craft glue and other decorative items like sequins, buttons, popsicle sticks, felt, foam, etc. are NOT included and children might enjoy personalizing their Color Blank in this way, so you may need to purchase additional accessories

- I found it helpful to actually pull the head and arms off the body when coloring the figurine using the permanent markers, but it did release a lot of marker onto my fingers while trying to re-assembling it, so you may want to let it sit overnight.

- The clay stays on the Color Blank just by pressing it, but it would probably be helpful to attach it more permanently with craft glue.

- The permanent markers dry on the Color Blank dark and smooth, which is really nice. However, if you paint the clay, it does not color the same way as the marker on the Color Blank does, so there is some inconsistency with the marker coverage. The markers come off your fingers when washing them, but you may want to use a little scrub brush to remove the marker.

- Inside the package is a small outline of both the front and back of the Color Blank. You may want to photocopy the outlines and make them larger or print them from the internet. Then children can plan out the steps of what they would like their Color Blank to look like.

- Will your Color Blank become your family mascot? For some reason I feel like Color Blanks could be the item your family takes with you on family vacations, photographing he or she as part of your family all over the world! So make sure to have your children and family write the story of your family’s Color Blank!

Color Blanks were provided by Rose Art and Mega Brands free to facilitate a review. The opinions in this post are my own.

Follow Poppy the Little Pig, through New Pork City, as she embarks on an adventure of trying out some of her individual dreams, cheered on by her mother, grandparents and best friend Emma. Will Poppy become a singer, model, or ballet star? Despite her A+ efforts, Poppy gets some discouraging news at times by other people she encounters who don’t believe in her abilities. Poppy continues to persevere until she works really hard at finding a passion she is successful with. Something I learned about Kristi Yamaguchi in the writing of this post was that Kristi was born with club feet, which required that she wear plaster casts until she was 1 and corrective shoes until the age of 2. After expressing an interest in figure skating, Kristi has worked very hard in her career to overcome adversity. Can’t many of us, at all ages, take away a little nugget of hope and encouragement from Poppy to persist with our passions and abilities? This is an adorable, but very inspiring children’s book that delivers a great message to the entire family.

Illustrations are by Tim Bowers. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Kristi’s foundation, the Always Dream Foundation.

A copy of Dream Big Little Pig was provided free to facilitate a review. The opinions are my own.

Many of you know that I make my living daily as an occupational therapist working with children.  At all sorts of events I have had the pleasure of meeting so many great people and last year at Toy Fair 2010 I met a speech pathologist, Sherry Artemenko, who writes her blog called Play on Words, where she provides suggestions on how to promote children’s language.  Sherry asked me to collaborate on a guest post for her readers on a hot topic in the therapy world called Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD). Here is a little bit of the article, but please click on the link at the bottom to head over to Sherry’s blog to read the entire post!

What is Sensory Processing Disorder?

What makes us individuals in this world, as both children and adults, is that we all have unique preferences in terms of what smells we prefer, what types of tastes we enjoy, how different fabric feels between our fingertips, what type of musical beats and tunes engage us, to even the kind of movement experiences we prefer in life, ranging from bungee jumping to simply being a couch potato. This causes numerous possibilities of interests and preferences. However, in the end, despite these preferences, we are able to navigate the challenges of life with minimal difficulties. But –

- What if the smell of a certain odor was so noxious to you that you could not conceive of eating in a restaurant because you felt like you might get sick?

- What if fireworks or the unexpected sound of a train passing by was so loud and scary that it caused you to run in panic?

- What if the way a certain fabric felt against your body made it almost painful to wear certain clothing like undergarments or jeans?

Please click here to head over to Play on Words for the entire article….

These 70 plastic blocks arrived in a nice, big, blue storage container. For all extents and purposes, these look like ordinary stacking blocks (similar to a Mega Blok), except that they have unique imprints on the top of each block.  When I say technology, there are booster block packs that you can purchase that will bring the blocks to life through sound. The are 6 different booster packs that can be purchased and each pack comes with three blocks. There are Nursery Rhyme Blocks, ABC Shape & Counting Blocks, Music & Dancing Light Blocks, Math Blocks, and two packs (Purple, Pink, Orange & Red, Yellow, Green)  that encourage color recognition and manners through the use of rhyming.

Some of these special blocks in the booster packs have LED lights and special chips that allow for numerous possibilities when stacking them. You have to see the SMARCKS website to really appreciate the amount of technology that has gone into creating these blocks, honestly I was completely amazed and I will admit, slightly overwhelmed at first!  For all you tech savvy people and engineers, a lot of love and dedication has gone into the process and development of this product, there is no doubt they will intrigue parents too.

I am a huge fan of products that stand the test of time and I love that young children can initially use them as young as one like regular stacking blocks while their older siblings and parents will be baffled trying to figure out all the possible puzzles and combinations that will also make these blocks laugh, count, sing, rhyme, light up, add and subtract.

My son and some of the children that I work with, in true toddler fashion, have enjoyed the old classic songs included in the Nursery Rhyme Blocks like Pat-a-Cake, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Old MacDonald Had a Farm. Gavin can open the container himself and knows how to stack them on top of each other. When I give him the nursery rhyme block, he will even start to sing-a-long with some of the songs in his own way (usually Ya-Yo, Ya-Yo is his version of requesting EI-EI-O!). He loves it if I start singing along with the block, too! He does a few little sways and bounces to dance along with the songs! I would definitely suggest, choosing only a few of the special blocks to incorporate at a time with the younger kids. If you activate to many of them at the same time, you can’t differentiate the sounds and it doesn’t do the blocks justice, it just makes for a lot of noise.

If you have multiple children in your household these blocks have entertainment value for everyone. Definitely go online, download and print out the Puzzle Building Guides, older children can follow the step by step building instructions to unlock the secrets of these special blocks by placing the block in different locations in sequence to sing an entire song.

Ways to help your children use all the functions these blocks have to offer:

- If you are using the puzzle guide, depending on their age you may need to help them sort out only the blocks they will need for that specific puzzle and place the remaining blocks back in the storage container

- The puzzle building guides go in all sorts of paths like left to right, right to left and circular, which is great for attention, memory and the visual tracking skills that are helpful to develop when children learn to read

- After they have completed the puzzle  a few times using the guide, see if they can remember the sequence required to play the song themselves as this works on their visual memory

- These blocks are great for older children to work collaboratively together at home or at school to learn how to share, take turns and communicate with each other if you have more than one child following the puzzle guide together

Guess what! ToyQueen.com is giving away a set of the Learning Special Smarcks valued at $76.95! Here is what the giveaway includes: 

The original blue container, housing 70 Smarcks Smart Blocks, along with the talking blue block. Included in the Learning Special set are the Math and Counting Blocks which provide children a way to see, touch, and hear what they are counting and adding. The Learning Special also includes the Spelling, Shape, and all 7 Color Blocks.

Mandatory Entry:

Please visit the Smarcks Website to see what these amazing blocks can do firsthand. Comment under this post which booster set you think your child would like the best.

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Giveaway ends April 13th, 11:59 p.m. EST.

Smarcks Smart Blocks provided these blocks free to facilitate a review. The opinions expressed in this post are my own.

ALEX, was founded in 1986, and for several years has sold many unique arts and crafts products.  Today, they continue to sell a creative product line, but now their offerings have expanded into plush infant toys, outdoor play, pretend play, preschool maniuplatives and bathtub toys. They have always been a “go to” company in my line of work to help parents find exciting ways to help children expand on their fine motor skills, but also been a personal favorite of mine when looking for different, cost effective gifts. Once you see the ALEX product line, you will start to recognize their inviting, whimsical patterns everywhere.

So yesterday, ALEX launched a new FREE app for kids on both iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad formats called Moody Monster Manor. Here children ages 3-8 participate in 4 different games. There are four locked doors that I thought I would “unlock” after I obtained enough points. However, it states there will be more games coming soon, so I’m assuming this is a way for ALEX to expand the app at a later date. All of the games are short – 30 seconds long, and it’s clear and easy to navigate around the Manor.

- With Monster Maker, children personalize and save an individual monster. They can choose a name, body style, background pattern, eyes, nose and mouth.

- In Scared Sam, children simply tilt the device left or right to change the path of a moonbeam so they can “capture” the bad dreams.

- In Worried Wanda, children will use color recognition and matching skills, to help Wanda finish her homework. Children are given a choice of four answers and they are encouraged to tap the correct answer that either matches the color of a specific animal, or  they look at an icon to match the animal with the same facial expression including ecstatic, tired, and angry.

- In Confused Carl, help Carl flick the name tags to the corresponding Monster. There is a word on the name tag such as Happy or Embarassed, with a small emoticon that gives children a clue on which monster will match the name tag. The child flicks the name tag to match up Worried Wanda, Hungry Hank and Sad Sal. Some of the emoticons like Bored were kind of difficult to differentiate, but if your child picks the wrong one it will let them know by returning it to the bottom so they can choose again.

- In Hungry Hank, help Hank make a silly snack. There are 3 ingredients to Hank’s snack. With your finger drag the correct food in or out of the bowl. Once you have placed all three, shake the device to see if you are right. If you are wrong they will return to the shelf and be sure to  try again.

Make sure you Meet the  Monsters! 20 different Monsters, with their rhyming names like Mischievous Max, Yucky Yogi, and Love Lulu.  Cute children’s voices introduce the Monsters, along with their names, giving kids clues as to what different types of emotions mean. For example, “Yawn! This is Tired Tilly. Tilly is so sleepy. Maybe she should follow the monster bedtime rules. Then she won’t fall asleep while playing with all the other monsters!” I can just see all of us now, renaming our kids with monster names on any given day based on their moods.
“C’mon Tired Tilly get yourself out of bed, it’s time for school!” Kids need to learn the names of these emotions and practice them in order to really understand what the mean in the first place, before they can personally identify the mood with themselves. This is a great way to expose kids to these kinds of feelings in a positive and fun way, so eventually they can learn to communicate better about their current feelings when “in the moment.”

I’ve reviewed several free apps of all sorts of varieties and they vary in their usability and design. Most free apps provide you with one or two teasers before prompting you to upgrade to the full version. Many companies are also creating free apps where you will see banner ads for their products in them, but not with this app. Moody Monster Manor by ALEX provides an unbelivable amount of play value, with an interesting educational perspective.  I felt like I should have been a paying customer for this type of experience. This company has done a fabulous job creating a quality app with no extra strings attached.

Moody Monster Manor is free, available for download in iTunes.

In conjunction with ALEX, to celebrate the launch of this free app, we are coordinating a giveaway of Monster Bingo, valued at $16.95!

To enter, comment under this post about an ALEX Toy you think your child would enjoy playing with, then sign up for the ToyQueen.com RSS Feed.

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Giveaway ends April 4th, 2011, 11:59 EST.

I downloaded this ALEX app for free. Then after reviewing the Moody Monster Manor app I provided this review for free.  The opinions in this post are my own. In conjunction with this post, ALEX has agreed to provide the giveaway of Monster Bingo for free.  I have not reviewed Monster Bingo and have no opinion on the use of this particular game.

We are giving away Super Wikki Stix to a lucky winner!

Mandatory Entry:

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Please comment on all the different entries completed! Giveaway ends 4/18/11 at 11:59 EST. Winner will be notified by email and will have 48 hours to respond.

Wikki Stix has provided product free to facilitate a review. All opinions in this post are my own.

In our state of MA, this year our governor Deval Patrick is proposing a 27% cut to our budget, which would desecrate these services. So we rallied together in force to let our legislators see the children this would be impacting and to let our frustrations be heard. EI has always been on the budgetary chopping block, but this year is the worst funding cut proposed.

I have never stepped foot inside our state house before. I have never felt empowered enough to feel that my voice and my opinion would have the ability to change people’s minds in a political forum. But today, I felt heard, and it felt great. I had the ability to sit down with our local representatives on a one-on-one basis and really talk about the issues at hand. I begrudgingly vote, often annoyed that my little check marks won’t really make a difference. Today, it was so empowering to at least feel like the legislators are listening to our concerns. Thank you to those who supported our cause by re-tweeting my pleas on Twitter and even to those who sent a thought our way as we tried our best to educate our politicians about the importance of supporting these children and their families –so we can give all children the brightest future possible.

More importantly, I was proud of my individual efforts in lobbying for such a great cause. I think it’s important for all of us to show our children what it’s like to take a stand, work together for a greater initiative and fight hard for what we believe in.

If you have any concerns about your child’s development speak to your pediatrician or call your local early intervention program for an evaluation. EI is a federally mandated program in the United States.