Preschool Archives

Join @MomStart For Toopy & Binoo Twitter Party 2/20 at 1PM EST #ToopyandBinoo

February 17, 2014 by Momstart 2 Comments

This is part of a compensated campaign with Child’s Play PR.

Don’t forget to join us on Thursday 2/20 at 1PM EST, That’s noon central and 10:00 AM PST. I’m PST and we’ll be all on the couch watching cartoons while I’m tweeting away. My kids are out of school, and as I’m sitting here writing to remind you all to join us for the twitter party Zoe is asking to watch Toopy and Binoo. I knew they liked it.

Reference Illustration copy

Toopy and Binoo Twitter Party Details:

When: Thursday, February 20^th from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET

Where: Follow Hashtag #ToopyandBinoo on Twitter

How: Tweet with the tag and follow @ResourcefulMom and me @MomStart as well as the sponsor @ToopyandBinooTV

Prizes

Four (4) winners will receive a Toopy and Binoo Plush and a $25 Amazon.com gift card

One (1) Grand Prize Winner will receive a Toopy and Binoo Plush and a $100 Amazon.com Gift Card

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents age 18 or older

Toopy and Binoo™ is an animated series that follows the adventures of Toopy, a tall, funny and friendly mouse, and his best friend Binoo, a tiny, clever and lovable white cat. Toopy and Binoo are a cute duo that love adventure. The series inspires preschoolers ages 2 to 6 to expand their creativity while reinforcing positive values such as friendship, good manners, creative thinking, and humor. They engage the children while teaching them these good morals and fun!

Toopy and Binoo aren’t widely available to US except through youtube. The Toopy and Binoo TV YouTube channel features more than 100 full, five-minute episodes, each with laughs and stories the whole family will enjoy. They are looking forward to successful engagement on YouTube and expect to see growth from there to National TV.

The offical RSVP is Here :http://resourcefulmommy.com/13577/toopy-and-binoo-twitter-party/

Tweet you Thursday!

Toopy and Binoo Cartoon for Preschool Children

January 30, 2014 by Momstart 2 Comments

I am a Toopy and Binoo Blog Ambassador. This post is part of a sponsored campaign. I received compensation for my participation, but my review and opinions are my own.

Letting kids use the internet is really a scary thing and in the past I wouldn’t let my kids use it, I still don’t really let them. We use to let them watch Sesame Street on You Tube but that was because my husband wrote some kind of app that would keep only You Tube videos on, it was like having a You Tube channel. It’s nice that there are channels now and I have one to share with you guys. It’s called Toopy and Binoo, the adorable animated series for preschoolers. It reminds me of Kipper and my kids loved Kipper. I’m really impressed with how companies are really using social media, like You Tube to get their name out there. And while we’re talking about social media, be sure to mark you calendar for February 20,2014 at 1:00PM EST. We are co-hosting the twitter party.

Toopy and Binoo is a popular animated series in Canada and they are launching virtually here in the use through this youtube channel. Toopy and Binoo follows the adventures of Toopy, a tall, funny and friendly mouse, and his best friend Binoo, a tiny, clever and lovable white cat who love to play. The show inspires preschoolers ages 2 to 5 to expand their imagination and creativity while reinforcing positive values such as friendship and good manners. These two live life to the fullest in a kind way.

It’s hard to find shows for children now that focus on good values, so I’m all about the good values. I’ve been watching a few of the videos and they are very simple as in innocent, spontaneous and colorful with magic all around. In one episode they Toopy and Binoo went on an adventure looking for Dinosaur John which happens to be a toy and Aunt Mimi happens to be a tiny aunt. But in the imagination world, the Dinosaur is tiny and Aunt Mimi turns out to be a gigantic aunt. It was pretty cute. They see the world as if everything in it holds the possibility of adventure and I remember and still see that curiosity in my children. The Toopy and Binoo TV YouTube channel features more than 100 full, five-minute episodes, each with laughs and stories the whole family will enjoy.

Toopy and Binoo is a program that I would allow my children to watch and I love how you can watch the videos on the channel so you don’t get any of the other shows in the line up. Honestly even though my kids are over five they would still watch it.

Water Babies and Build-A-Bear Collectibles – Great Gifts for Preschool and School Age Girls from PlaymatesToys

December 8, 2012 by Momstart 8 Comments

Water Babies and Build-A-Bear Collectibles – Great Gifts for Preschool and School Age Girls from PlaymatesToys

By: Ashley

Baby dolls and teddy bears are classic Christmas gifts for children. PlaymatesToys has taken those two classic gifts and given them a serious update. With Waterbabies and Build-A-Bear Collectibles, young children will be able to pretend, make-believe and play with creative toys.

What are Waterbabies? They’ve actually been around for a little while, but that doesn’t make them any less appealing to little girls in search of a cute baby doll that feels real. Yep, that’s right. Waterbabies don’t just feel like your typical plastic doll. Waterbabies are made with a special design that lets you pour warm water into the doll. When you touch the arms and legs of the doll, they feel real! That is something any little one will think is amazing. Add to that the wide variety of appearances and themes that Waterbabies come in (everything from fairies, to ballerinas, to soccer players, etc.), and you’ve got a great toy. (Recommended for ages 3 and up.)

Next on my list from PlaymatesToys are the Build-A-Bear Collectibles. We all know Build-A-Bear to be the place where you go and create your own teddy bear. PlaymatesToys has a line of collectible figures that allow anyone anywhere (not just near the Build-A-Bear stores) to have fun playing with small plastic versions of the well loved bears. The sets are more like action sets that come with a few props allowing children to imagine any situation they would like for their bears. (Recommended for ages 4 and up.)

PlaymatesToys.com has so much more than just Waterbabies and Build-A-Bears, though these are really cute! Check them out online and find their products in most major toy retailers and on Amazon.com.

About Ashley (Managing Editor at MomStart): Ashley is a mom, wife, sister, daughter, friend, and former teacher working to navigate through the mysterious world of Mommyia. Read more about her adventures at Momicles and follow her @Momicles2010

Disclosure – A product was provided to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.

How Do You Prepare Your Child For Preschool? KinderCare #PreschoolPrep

August 29, 2011 by Momstart

One down another one to go, that’s me of course. Zoe went to preschool last year and Miles will be going this year. Boys verses girls, first verses second, I’d say this year it’s going to be a breeze but my son is always able to surprise me at that last second with a total freak out of the third kind. But like I said, we did do this with one child already. My kids are in preschool as young as age 3 because they are little sponges. All little children are sponges that absorb everything you throw at them at this age. But anxiety can be hard for mom and child on their first day.

Zoe has always been quite attached to me and I was terrified of leaving her on her first day, but she was so excited to go she didn’t even want to give me a hug good by on her first day. BYE MOM! That’s all I got, maybe it’s because we spent all summer hyping her up.

So my first tip would be to get your child extremely excited about going to school. Pick out a stellar backpack, get a folder, a pencil, no they don’t need these things but it gets them really excited about going to school.

Make sure you go to the open house and meet the teacher. The more comfortable the kids feel in their classroom before you have to leave them there alone the better. I was really lucky last year because our neighbor was Zoe’s teacher so she was already in a familiar setting, but that didn’t mean that every day went smoothly.

Even if that first day goes well, be prepared for the DON’T LEAVE ME MOM meltdown on another day down the road. I actually had a few of those. On those days, I think Zoe was tired. Make sure your kids get a good night’s sleep on school nights. Sleep is so important to having a good day at school. So is a really good healthy breakfast.

Leaving Zoe on days where she was really clingy was hard. Sometimes I just left her crying, other times I gave her another hug and her teachers gave her a hug and then I snuck away. Other times, I tried to help her get into an activity like coloring. Then when she was busy I snuck away. They may be crying but once your gone they usually get over it quickly. Zoe was always fine within minutes after I left.

How have I prepared Miles?

He has an awesome backpack…. check

We’ve been hyping it up all summer….. check

We’re going to meet his teacher next week….check

My biggest concern is going to be when he realizes, Zoe isn’t in his class, and mommy isn’t staying. I’m a bit concerned but at the same time, I know he’s going to be fine. I think for him, if I don’t make a scene he won’t make a scene. If I just drop him off, give him a hug and a kiss, he’ll get right to play time. Of course, the worst part is going to be when I get home to an empty house. I’m not entirely sure how to deal with that.

I’m curious to know: What advice do you have for moms prepping for preschool? KinderCare will choose one lucky participant and make donation in their name to the Reach Out And Read chapter of their choice!

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of KinderCare. The opinions and text are all mine. Official Contest Rules.

Teach My, Award Winning All-In-One Learning Kits For Babies, Toddlers & Preschoolers

June 2, 2011 by Momstart 281 Comments

When Zoe was born and I only had one child, I was really good at teaching her stuff. She new her letters at a very young age. We sang songs together and it was just easy to have that one on one time. With Miles, it’s been quite a challenge for me to sit down with him. My goal for this summer is to make sure that Miles knows his ABC’s and I wasn’t quite sure how to do it, because Zoe is also going to be home from preschool and every since preschool, she’s needed more stimulation when she’s at home. She always wants to go somewhere, and well I’m not up for doing something outside of the house every day. What am I going to do to entertain them and teach them at the same time???

This was about where my thought mentality was when Teach My contacted me and asked me to review their product.

Teach My, is an award winning all-in-one learning kit available for Baby, Toddlers, and Preschoolers. Teach My was founded in 2007 by Mompreneur, Christy Cook. Realizing that parents are the most important teachers, Christy scoured educational supply stores to find learning activities to educate her 18-month old son, Finn. Not finding an all-in-one kit, Christy aimed to make it easier and less expensive for parents, so she created Teach My Toddler, the award winning first and only all-in-one learning kit for toddlers. After the toddler kit was such a success, the baby and preschooler kit followed. I decided to skip the baby and toddler kits and jump straight into preschool activities. The Teach My Preschooler kit comes with four sections, Ready to Read, Ready to Print, Ready for 1-100, and Ready for Math.

Zoe already has already experience one year of preschool, she knows how to write most of her letters and is about at the stage of learning to read and write words. She already writes words if we give her all the letters, making the Ready to Print portion of the kit a good starting place for her.

In addition to making sure Miles knows his numbers I thought it would be good to introduce him to numbers. He jumped right into matching them and wanted to start learning his numbers beyond the first ten. With the Ready for 1-100 he will be able to learn quite a few numbers.

Each section contains coordinated learning activities. The innovative and creative teaching tools encourage preschool learning and school readiness. The consistent nature of the tools and supervised one-on-one time provides plenty of opportunity for repetition and focused learning. Children I’ve noticed in mine at least, have short attention spans, in order to maximize their learning time it’s recommended that you limit the learning period to 20 minutes a day. You can see, he quickly lost his attention and reverted to playing with the rubber band.

Enter to Win:

The kit of your choice: Teach My Baby, Teach My Preschooler or Teach My Toddler

To Enter:

Visit Teach My and tell me which of the kits would best fit your needs

Extra Entries:

Become a fan of Teach My on Facebook
Follow Teach My on twitter

Tweet or RT:
RT @MomStart: @TeachMy Award Winning All-In-One Learning Kits For Babies, Toddlers Preschoolers #Giveaway http://bit.ly/ixgNGE

List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig, stumble, like or share on Facebook (or use any of the share options listed below)
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This giveaway ends June 20th. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

Interview with Dr. Sears Healthy Habits Start Young Family Essentials

March 5, 2011 by Momstart 49 Comments

This past week I had the opportunity to sit in on a conversation about children’s health with nutritional expert Dr. Jim Sears. Dr. Sears has really great advice on taking care of kids nutrition and activity levels that hit home with me and my own kids.

I don’t discuss this very often on my blog because I don’t want anything I say to be misconstrued, or for my children to read later on and have a low self esteem. But for this post I want to be completely honest in hopes that some other parents can benefit. 20 % of preschoolers are overweight and 11% are “over fat” which means that they have no muscle on their bones. My own children have BMI’s that are not in the healthy ranges, but we’re making progress (enough progress that our doctor is happy, which makes me happy). The key for us is that we need to increase our level of activity, because I’m like a hawk when it comes to my kids eating healthy. People automatically assume that I don’t feed them properly but I work very hard making sure that they snack on fruits and veggies. I need to focus my energy on exercise because food is only part of it. But before I get on my soapbox defending myself, let’s go into the detail on how to have healthy weight children.

Teach your children how to feel full! My own daughter has a terrible time knowing when she is full. So I’ve been telling her that she can have carrots if she is still hungry. Dr. Sears reminded me that it takes 20 minutes for your stomach to send your child the signal that they are done eating. So if you’re pretty sure you gave them a healthy serving, then distract them with a walk or a game of some kind. The best distraction would be some kind of active activity. Then if they are still hungry give them someone high in fiber and low in calories. My carrots as an all-purpose solution was not the best idea. My own doctor suggested that I offer her fruits and veggies that are high in water, like grapes and watermelon.

Teach your children how to make healthy food choices! I have never struggled with picky eaters, my kids eat everything. Most parents would love to have my problem, but it’s a slippery slope in either direction. Some parents wonder if their children are getting enough nutrients, while I’m constantly worried about how many calories they ARE getting. The solution, always provide healthy options. By giving them healthy options you are teaching them to make healthy options. Also, emulate healthy choices, your strongest influence over your children is your own behavior.

Of course Dr. Sears recommends his own Family Essentials as a healthy snack option, supplement or way to get good Omega 3 and other vitamins and all those things you might worry that your children are not getting into your kids.

From all of Dr. Sears’ years of experience he developed his own line of nutritious snacks and drinks for children, Dr. Sears Family Essentials. Dr. Sears Family Essentials offers a doctor-formulated, kid-approved line of 100 percent all-natural drinks, snacks and supplements that provide essential daily nutrients to help children grow healthy, strong and smart.

POPUMZ™ are 100 percent all-natural popped whole grain crisps that are packed with protein to help build strong muscles, fiber for healthy digestion and Omega-3 DHA – an essential component for the growth and development of young minds and bodies

Cool Fuel is a delicious, fortified and ready-to-drink shake that delivers the nutrition kids need to perform their best – in and out of the classroom. Made from 100 percent all-natural ingredients, the gluten- and lactose-free shakes contain no artificial flavors, colors or sweeteners and 60 percent less sugar than competitive brands

Dr. Sears Family Essentials Supplement Fruit Chews are 100 percent all-natural and fruit-based, and provide kids with optimal levels of Omega-3 DHA and essential daily nutrients to nourish their minds and bodies

For more information please visit www.drsearsfamilyessentials.com

But he also has great ideas just for meal time. One encourage eating more often and smaller amounts, this is a valuable piece of information that has been echoed by other health experts that I’ve talked too. Large meals make you feel lethargic and eating more often jumpstarts your metabolism so it just makes sense to eat less more often. Just remember to keep those snacks and meals balanced. If you have picky eaters, try sitting down at the table with your meal, and give your child an empty plate. When they are ready to eat they will ask for the same thing you are having. At my house we have the rule, you eat what we eat or you don’t eat. It works for us.

Increase the activity level. This has been a constant struggle in our house. It rains from September through July in WA and even I don’t like playing in the rain, but I try to endure for their sakes. I also have children that do not want to exercise or play, walk or run. It’s very hard for me to make exercise fun. So this is what I try. Turn the TV off, kids should have only 1 hour or less of TV a day, which actually means, 1 hour of sit down time. So my biggest mistake is we don’t’ move enough as a family. One thing I’ve started doing recently, is if I’m just standing around or making dinner, I’ll start kicking my legs or dancing and Zoe asked me, “what are you doing mom” I responded, “I’m exercising”. Now I find that out of the blue she’s started doing it too. Which slapped me in the face with another dose of, they do what they see me doing.

Enter to Win:

A Month’s Supply of samples of Dr. Sears Family Essentials drinks, snacks and supplements.

To Enter:

Leave me a comment, question or advice on how you handle your children’s nutrition or exercise/playtime?

Extra Entries:

Anyway you share this giveaway is an extra entry. Share it over e-mail, let me know how many people you e-mailed it to
Share it over twitter, once a day
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(anything you can count of counts)

This is a very important issue to me and many other families out there so I really want to help spread the word on the importance of taking care of your children at such a young and early age! I am receiving samples as well. This giveaway ends March 21st.

BOB Books Sight Words For Kindergarten and Preschool Giveaway

August 12, 2010 by Momstart 266 Comments

Scholastic recently sent us BOB Books Sight Words for Kindergarten and Preschool and Zoe and Miles have both been enjoying it. You know when you sit down and work with your child and they just stare at you with glossed over eyes or they play with the string on your sweatshirt as you’re trying to teach them. You just feel like busting your head over the counter thinking to yourself they are not getting, they are not ready to learn it’s just not going to happen. I had one of those moments with Miles today, we were looking at these books and then I got side tracked (i’m a great example for him can you tell) and I wanted to teach him his ABC’s. I thought that would be a good place to start, well he did everything but pay attention.

Then tonight while we were playing with chalk he starts singing his ABC’s and he got pretty far before he started back over at A. So what I’m trying to say is don’t give up, teaching tools like these books do work. Zoe and I were looking at the words and spelling them out. She already recognizes all of the uppercase letters, we just need more work on lower case letters.

More About the Books

From the #1 bestselling learn-to-read program come two brand-new sets focused on learning and practicing Sight Words.

Sight Words are words that are recognized by sight rather than sounded out, in order to achieve reading fluency. They are the most frequently used words in the English language, and are often unable to be read phonetically (“was”, “are”, and “out” are examples). Bob Books Sight Words feature the top Sight Words in two sets – one for kindergarten and one for first grade – in order to allow parents and children to read, learn, and practice easily and enjoyably.

Each Sight Words box includes 10 original books, 30 flashcards, and a parent guide. Soon your child will be saying “I read the whole book!”®

Enter to Win:

Two winners will receive:

A Bob Books lunchbox
Copy of Bob Books Sight Words: Kindergarten
Copy of Bob Books Sight Words: First Grade

To Enter:

Tell me your best tip on teaching a child to read, or how you learned how to read.

Extra Entries:

Tweet or RT this post and include the link to the post

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This is a product sponsored post and giveaway. This giveaway ends August 30th, All rules can be found under giveaway rules.