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Get these games for your kids!

Posted by Jenny on November 25, 2011

Happy Black Friday! If you are crazy enough to go out shopping, I have a few gift suggestions for you. I have posted a few times about how much I love the I can do that! games by the Wonder Forge; they are truly awesome.  In general, they are: something new and different, easy to play, don’t take a lot of time to play, and age-appropriate for preschoolers to be able to be confident in their play.  They also have a lot of applications toward speech therapy purposes, at least for home (some might be a little too involved for a speech language pathologist to use in a 30-minute session.)  But anyways, these games are also great for your typically-developing child, and they are just fun to play.  They WON’T make you want to stab yourself in the eye just to stop the game (*cough*ChutesandLadders*cough*).

Recently because the Wonder Forge is awe-some, I’ve gotten to review some of their newest games!  And you should totally buy them all! Well, maybe not this first one if you have all boys…but here are my top picks for new games for Christmas presents, birthday presents, or JUST BECAUSE!

Angelina Ballerina Dance with Me game:

A great choice for your little girly girl. The Wonder Forge up and sent Sophie this for her birthday, total surprise!  And she loo-oo-ooves it!

This game is totally cute, and builds up to a dance sequence so your little one not only learns some dance vocabulary, but gets up and moves around!  And, it’s great for teaching memory and multi-step directions.  Even though I am NOT a ballerina and look a *little* silly playing it, I love playing this with Sophie!

Richard Scarry’s Busytown Busy, Busy Airport game:

I think this might be my favorite of the games I am reviewing today. I LOVE it, Big ol’ puffy heart it!  This game requires you to fly your plane and passengers to 4 different destinations (which you place in different locations around the room) to pick up souvenirs.  The game board is also the box and is super-cleverly designed.  Once again, this game gets you up and moving!  The game involves making choices, counting, and a chance for kids to learn an early form of strategy.  And it’s really fun, and moves fast. Love it! Both Joshua, Sophie and myself had a great time playing this together (at least 4 times the first day we got it!)

She had to play it first thing in the morning!

Last up, and also super-fun (the kids actually played this one the most times in one day, 6 I think!) is Chuggington Let’s Ride the Rails game:

This game is fun because each player gets to be all three characters, and you win by guessing that also involves a process of elimination skill. Colors, numbers, counting, animals – this game has it all!  And it stars your fave Chuggers Wilson, Koko, and Brewster.  This game goes pretty fast which is one reason you won’t mind playing it over & over again with your kiddos.

SO there ya go – three of the latest and greatest I can do that! games from the Wonder Forge.  Go buy them! OR tell Grandma to! You won’t regret it!

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The Wonder Forge sent me all these awesome games to review.  All opinions are my own, and I would like to make the point that I have purchased several of their games with my very own money because they are worth every penny!  The links in these posts are NOT affiliate links.

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Things I love: More great speech therapy apps

Posted by Jenny on November 17, 2011

My sweet husband got me an iPad for my birthday because he knew I wanted one to work on speech therapy with Sophie using apps.  I was to-tal-ly surprised and excited, and immediately went crazy looking for apps to use with her.

Language Builder

One of the first ones I found was Language Builder from the Mobile Education Store, and it was just what I was looking for.  It’s an app with beautiful, real-life pictures, and a record feature so that your child or student can record themselves saying a sentence about the picture, then play it back.  There are options for different levels of play so that you can make the activity easier or more challenging.  This was a great tool for Sophie and I to work on her descriptive language and sentence formation. It was very challenging for her at first, but she came to love it as she got better at it and could see the benefits of her hard work.

Since I liked Language Builder so much, I decided to purchase another app from Mobile Education Store – Story Builder.  Again, this app completely met the needs of what I was trying to accomplish with Sophie – working on storytelling, sequencing, and descriptive language.  Like LanguageBuilder, it has different levels of play so you can make it easier or harder, and hints you can turn on, off, or customize.  It shows a picture and asks a series of questions about the picture which your child or student then records his or her response to.  At the end, you play all the responses together and it makes a story. You can save the recordings and archive them if you want to listen to them later. This is SO fun and has resulted in some really cute stories from Sophie, and Joshua too. Joshua loves playing with it even though he has no speech delay whatsoever. It’s just really FUN!  Sophie has done so well with it and I love being able to play her stories back.

Story Builder

Since I was so pleased with those two apps, I contacted Mobile Education Store to see if I could review some of their other apps.  Next, I chose to try Speech Journal and QuestionBuilder.

Speech Journal

Speech Journal was a natural follow-up to StoryBuilder and is just so much fun. It allows the student to create their own story from pictures on the iPad. They can either take a new picture to add to their story sequence or use photos that are already on the iPad.  Then, they record a sentence or two about the picture, then add another picture  - as many as they want to make up their very own story.  I ADORE this app, and so do my kids.  Sophie has taken her storytelling to a whole new level, and Joshua is enhancing his own creativity.  I really encourage you to get this app even if you don’t have any speech therapy needs in your family. It is just a great way to play.

Question Builder

Lastly, I reviewed QuestionBuilder.  This app displays a picture, then asks a question about the picture, giving the child several answers from which to choose.  You can choose from Why, What, Where, and How questions or have the questions be asked at random.  There are three levels of play and optional hints.  This is great for helping a child learn to answer abstract questions.  Some of them have been really challenging for Sophie and she is learning so much from it!

These apps are SO GREAT.  Since I am just a mom, not a professional, I am so thankful for these tools that give me the materials I need to work with Sophie at home to help her reach her speech goals. We are having a great time together with these.  Mobile Education Store has lots more apps for both iPhone and iPad, so make sure and check them out to see if there is one that meets your child’s speech needs.

Thanks, Mobile Education Store!  Keep up the great work!!

I linked this post up to Things I love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries. Head on over there to see what others are lovin’ this week.

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Mobile Education Store provided me with Speech Journal and QuestionBuilder at no cost to help facilitate my review.

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Things I Love: Lands’ End School Uniforms

Posted by Jenny on August 4, 2011

Well, happy Thursday! This week for Things I love Thursday (hosted by the lovely Jill at the Diaper Diaries), I will share some of my back-to-school EXCITEMENT with you.  Because I am suuuuuuuuuuper excited that my kids are going back to school in a mere 19 days. Holla if you HEARD ME!!!  Joshua wears uniforms to his school, and so I am excited to bring you a Lands’ End school uniform review, because as you all know if you have read this blog EVER, WE.LOVE.LANDS’.END!!  And I have been clothing Joshua in their uniforms for three years now.  They are fantastic!  Here’s my cute little 2nd grader all decked out in Lands’ End and ready for school!

Uniform1

He’s wearing:

Short-sleeve Mesh Polo - this classic has recently been re-vamped and will now look like new for much longer!  The 100% cotton mesh resists shrinkage and fading and stains wash out easier than ever before. I love the monogram with Joshua’s school logo.  It looks awesome and it was easy for me to search online for Joshua’s school.  It is part of the Preferred School Program so when I purchase uniform items with the preferred school number, the school earns cash back!

Plain front Iron-Knees Stain & Wrinkle Resistant Chinos - Iron Knees!! I love it! This is a new product that I am really excited about.  Little boys are tough on the knees of their uniform pants, and these pants combat that with a hidden interior knee patch that is undetectable from the outside.  Pretty sweet if you ask me!  Can’t wait to see how these last when Joshua puts them through the paces!

fleece

Microfleece half-zip jacket: I love this because it looks super-sharp with the school logo, and it is just as warm as a sweater but more lightweight.  Perfect to layer over the uniform polos, or alone for “dress down day” that Joshua’s school has a couple Friday’s a year.

shoes

School Uniform Boys’ All-Weather Oxford Shoes – I LOVE these shoes!  My kids always wear Lands’ End shoes but before these there were no uniform shoes that Joshua and I both liked.  These Oxfords are perfect. They are the oxford version of the famous Lands’ End All-Weather Mocs.  They are tough and comfy but have that dressier look and laces.  I love the durability of Lands’ End shoes and I am sure these are going to last Joshua all year!

backpack

Boys’ Solid ClassMate StudyHaul Backpack - I LOVE how Lands’ End has so many different sizes of backpacks!  Joshua has used a Lands’ End backpack for the past two years but it was really too big for him (although it still looks like NEW) – I wanted to get him a smaller one for the next couple of years, and we’ll put the big one back in rotation when he needs to haul more than just his homework folders and lunch box.  The StudyHaul (which really is for a smaller kid, I would say kindergarten to third grade-ish) has two big compartments to organize stuff, plus a removable pouch for school supplies, and mesh pockets for water bottles, etc.  And I love the way it looks with Joshua’s name on it!  There are lots of other ways you can personalize, too!

Lands’ End has lots of adorable girls uniform options too!  Next week I’ll share those with you.  My niece Murrin, is going from homeschool to junior high so her first day of 8th grade will be her first day of SCHOOL, and she will be looking great in her Lands’ End uniform.  Come back next week and you’ll see why I also love Lands’ End girls uniforms.

Don’t forget to check out Things I Love Thursday at the Diaper Diaries!

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Lands’ End provided me with these uniform items to review.  All opinions are my own.

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