ASTRA & Neighborhood Toy Store Day and Zingo @TheWoohooFactor #Spon & My Kids

Last year I was an ambassador for ASTRA, The American Specialty Toy Retailing Association (ASTRA) and they have invited me back this year to help them with their Holiday promotions. First ASTRA is kicking off the “I Heart My Neighborhood Toy Store” campaign and giving you the chance to win some exciting prizes.

Current promotions?

Well for one this Saturday is Neighborhood Toy Store Day (November 9, 2013) . The 4th annual Neighborhood Toy Store Day will be held on Saturday, November 10, 2012 to help kick off the holiday shopping season. The local toy stores in my area are amazing, they are some really great toy stores that I love to visit. I love to look and see what’s new and different. Many times they have really fabulous educational toys.

Neighborhood Toy Store Day introduces families to the fun of shopping locally and celebrates each toy store’s commitment to the community. Participating stores will host local in-store events for families such as face painting, craft projects, live performances and special discounts. Last year’s programs included crafts, entertainers, scavenger hunts, and charitable donations. Local stores have knowledgeable staff, offer special services like gift-wrapping, help preserve a vital downtown, and reinvest their profits in your community. Through Neighborhood Toy Store Day, customers see that specialty toy retailers are more than just stores, they are a central part of a vital community.

AND THE OTHER PROMOTION. Act fast because the big ASTRA sweepstakes is still running through Friday (November 8, 2013) on www.yourneighborhoodtoystore.org with the grand prize vacation package in one sweeps and a list of wonderful featured prizes in the other.

Now a quick toy to check out called ZINGO.

My children are in the process of leaning how to read. They are both starting to recognize sight words and Zingo is bingo with sight words. It’s no wonder that ASTRA has Zingo as one of the toys on their top toy list this year. Since I was spending some time with the kids I thought it would be fun to check out the game.

You pull these  chips that you see Miles holding above and then you mark your card until you have a bingo. It’s fun and helps them learn at the same time. I LOVE IT!

Bingo-Style Game Gives Beginning Readers a Boost

Players choose one of the six double-sided Zingo! cards and begin filling the squares as the Zingo! Zinger dispenses word tiles. Each card has nine word squares, and the player who matches the word to their card gets the tile. The first player to fill his or her card is the winner.

Graphic Cues Help Identify Common Words

The game’s Zingo! cards use graphics to cue players to the meaning of the words before they are able to recognize and read them. An "x" marks the spot for "here," a downward arrow points "in," a speech bubble surrounds "said," and a little figure waves for "me." Other squares have colorful patterns of stripes, checks, and shapes to pair with the sight words, adding some pizzazz to these critical words for reading.