I'm a full-time mummy

I received an email from Charisse of ChildUp Team last month asking whether I'm interested in reviewing their products and I'm glad I replied with my interest to review their products. I have earlier posted on my review for their "iCount-to-10 ChildUp Early Learning App". Here goes my review on "The ChildUp Early Learning Game Cards" after trying the game cards on several occassions with Ben...

Pictures below taken of a super excited and curious Ben with the cards when I received it...

Picture of Ben while we went through the Learning Game Cards together...  

Ben immediately points to the farm animals' series when I asked him which cards he wants to play with first. I kept the rest and practised the farm animal series of cards with him as I wanted him to get familiar with the cards.

How I Tested the Cards?

I started with the first pack of the cards with Ben by getting him to be familiarised with the animals on the farm, followed by the number of animals (from 1 to 10) and I then asked him what are the animals for the cards I picked and the number of animals on the card picked.

As of end of August, he has yet to master the numbering part but he does answer quickly when it comes to naming the animals on the cards. Video below taken on the 2nd time we used the cards can be viewed at: http://youtu.be/oyDp8yNFEWI

I would definitely continue using this as I feel there is much more potential for this cards on Ben.

What's good?

*  I like that I can teach Ben on counting from 0 to 10.

*  I like that the cards come with both sides showing different designs (one showing the animals, the other side showing the animal with the number)

*  I also like that I can teach my child the different types of animals.

Room for improvement?

* I would prefer if the cards are thicker. It somehow felt thin and fragile and I was worried it gets crumpled easily.

* I would prefer if there is just a standard sheet of paper for the Parent’s Cards so that I can read it at once (it also reduce paper wastage).

Summary

You can purchase the:

* "Teach Your Child to Count to 10 - Math & Logic #1 " from the Amazon or ChildUp website.

* "Teach Your Child to Count to 10 - Math & Logic #2 " from the Amazon or ChildUp website.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the products by the sponsor in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.

At the end of August, I received an email from Sonia of Walnut Labs which recently launched a new website called Curious Fingers dedicated to the fun game apps and educational apps that they are currently developing for kids. Their latest iPhone/iPad app for kids is called "Buzzle". I replied with my interest to review their  latest app. Here goes my review after spending sometime on it with Ben...

* Title: Buzzle
* Price: $0.99
* Category: Games
* Updated: Aug 09, 2011
* Current Version: 1.1 (iOS 4.0 Tested)
* Size: 16.0 MB
* Language: English
* Seller: Anshu Dhanuka 
* Rated: 4+
* Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later

Description from the product page:

"Buzzle is a scientifically designed game that engages your child in a series of 10 shape matching puzzles that are based on captivating themes. The brilliant explosion of colors, vivid sounds, and striking images encourage kids to be curious about remarkable details in conventional surroundings.

Each puzzle encompasses a variety of learning features.
-the game-play will refine their motor skills and hand-eye coordination
-the audio cues will improve their sound association abilities
-the vivid puzzle scenes will broaden their imagination"

Other info:

* Ranked in Top 100 Kids Games in the US and many other countries!
* Featured by US Apple store in Kids Games - New
* Featured in New and Noteworthy in many countries!

This game app is an easy to use app which helps develops shape recognition and pattern matching skills.

There are 10 shape matching puzzles with different theme but being a boy, Ben immediately goes for the public transportation series. Picture below taken when Ben tried the app for the first time.

You can also view the Youtube videos at the following links:

What's good?

*  I like that the app is easy to use, I don't even have to show Ben what to do!

*  I also like that each matching shapes appear one after another as you solved them, instead of everything coming out at once and clog up the screen.

*  I also like that the corresponding sound appeared as you solved and matched the shapes.

* Room for improvement?

* I would prefer it if the matching shapes are more realistic though it is kinda difficult to achieve as there are some shapes which is small and as you matched them, it suddenly appears big in size (I saw Ben's confused look as the object changes its size).

You can purchase the app from the iTunes App Store.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with the promo code by the sponsor to redeem the application for free from iTunes Store in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous iPad Apps reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My iPad App Reviews"

(*** Article first published as Book Review: Who Feels Scared? by Sue Graves on Blogcritics.)

Title: Who Feels Scared? (Our Emotions and Behavior)
Author: Sue Graves
Illustrated by: Desideria Guicciardini
Publisher:  Free Spirit Publishing (June 1, 2011)
ISBN-13/-10: 978-1575423746 / 157542374X
Board book, full-color: 32 pages
Dimension: 7¾" x 9½" 

Description from the product page:
" From pets to grown-ups, everybody sometimes feels fear. And children, grown-ups, and animals aren’t all afraid of the same things. Jack and his friends Ravi and Kevin discover this when they have a sleepover—one that unexpectedly includes a few scares!

Part of the new series of Our Emotions and Behavior books from Free Spirit, this cheerful and reassuring story shows that positive coping skills can help kids deal with fear, and children can be brave even when things seem scary.

At the end of the book, a special section for adults suggests ideas for gently guiding kids to talk about feeling frightened and how to deal with that emotion. In addition, a series of pictures invites kids to tell a story in their own words about being afraid. Ideal for home and K–3 classroom settings."

I love the cute illustrations and I'm so glad to be able to review this book!

This book is about Jack who is having Kevin and Ravi, 2 of his friends staying over his house for the night. In the beginning, the boys were excited but Kevin and Ravi were soon getting scared by the weird and mysterious sounds in Jack's room. All sorts of scary thoughts came to their mind. Jack who was not afraid with the weird sounds his friends heard, decided to calm his friends down by explaining to them the source of the mysterious sounds and they soon realised they got scared over nothing!

However all 3 boys got frightened when they heard a really scary noise coming from Jack's closet. They got so scared that their yells got Jack's sister, Ellie rushing in to check on them. They soon realised the noise was actually coming from Jack's toy robot!

Ellie then shared her experience on what she feared most and what she did to overcome her fear. Later on, Jack's dad came into their room and said it was time for bed. He read everyone a scary story which got everyone scared! But all of them soon remembered it was just a story and Jack's dad calmed them down by telling them that everyone gets scared sometimes!

 From this story, I get to teach my boy to not be afraid. Ben might be a bit young for this but I feel that it's never too early to start teaching him that not everything with weird or scary noises are to be feared of.

I appreciate the additional 2 pages of picture story about the a little boy named Tom who is spending his first night away from home at his grandmas house. Tom looks worried when his parents left him but were soon happy again as he gets to spend time playing with his grandma. Before he goes to bed, grandma also told him a story and ensure he had his teddy bear to cuddle with in bed.  

I think this mini story is a good example for us to emulate as I believe assurance from adults to children are very important in ensuring they do not get frightened easily or gave in to scary thoughts over silly things.

In my opinion, "Our Emotions and Behavior" series are a good choice for parents to use with their children because of the positive message they bring!

You can get this book from Free Spirit Publishing, Amazon and many more.

I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a softcopy of the book by Free Spirit Publishing in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine. And if you'd like to read my previous book reviews, you can do so by reading this post of mine called "My Book Reviews"