Pea of Sweetness

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Celebrating Spring with Lakeshore Learning

May 9, 2016 by Emilee Evans

Who else is excited that it’s Spring? I know we are! We’re ready for some fun Spring Learning, and we’re so excited about the Spring inspired educational products from Lakeshore Learning.
Disclosure: We received a complimentary product to facilitate our review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family.
Lakeshore LearningLakeshore Learning offers a variety of quality educational products that make spring learning fun! Their unique and exclusive products are designed by teachers to make education part of children’s daily lives. As a homeschool mom, I know how great it is to have educational products that are also fun for the kids. I love when they love learning!
For our Spring learning review we received the Real Bugs Discovery Kit.
Spring Learning Real Bugs Discovery Kit
Our kids absolutely love exploring and discovering, and our younger two children (ages 6 and 8) particularly love learning about bugs. When I saw this kit, I knew they would love it. With the Real Bugs Discovery Kit, they get to look at 12 real bugs that are encased in indestructible acrylic. All of the bugs are held in a cute bug storage case with a magnifying glass.
Of course, I love that it also includes a Bug Identification Guide. I have to admit, I’ve used it occasionally myself to be sure I’m putting the bugs back in their correct compartment. The Guide includes great information about each bug.
Spring Learning Fun Bug Discovery Kit
I love that the acrylic allows the kids to see the bugs from all sides. Plus they really are durable. We recently celebrated the boys’ birthdays by having friends and families over, and there were a few younger children. I was excited to see the younger kids looking at them as well, though they dropped them quite a few times as younger children often do. They didn’t break or even chip. The recommended ages are 3 years – 8 years.

Spring Learning Fun

Overall, we have definitely been loving the Real Bugs Discovery Kit. I love that it has a fun, spring theme and is both educational and fun. It’s unique and interesting for the kids, and it is durable and high-quality!

Get Connected with Lakeshore Learning

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Encourage Critical Thinking with Learning Resources

July 14, 2015 by Emilee Evans

As a homeschooling mom, I love activities that are both educational and fun! More than that, though, I love when the kids are having fun while developing important skills like critical thinking. What better way to do so than with critical thinking games?
Learning Resources Logo
Disclosure: I received a complimentary products to facilitate my Learning Resources review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family.
Learning Resources offers a variety of hands-on educational products for young children. Finding the right products for your children is easy because they offer a simple way to find everything: by Age, Grade, Category, Brand, Teacher Resources, and more. Plus as a mom of special needs children I can really appreciate their detailed Special Needs section!
For our review, we received Tumble Trax™ Magnetic Marble Run and Create-a-Maze™. Both games help develop critical thinking skills and are recommended for ages 5+. We have been using them with all three of our children – ages 9, 7, and 5.
Learning Resources Critical Thinking Games
What I love about encouraging critical thinking is that it goes beyond just academic basics to a much needed life skill. In fact, I believe academics improve when critical thinking improves! I find when we challenge our kids’ minds they start to excel in our homeschool subjects as well. Needless to say, I was excited to check out these critical thinking games!

Tumble Trax™ Magnetic Marble Run

Critical Thinking Games from Learning Resources - Tumble Trax
Tumble Trax encourages critical thinking with a fun and unique marble run. The marble run pieces are magnetic, so you can use them on the refrigerator like we have been or also on a magnetic white board for a wider track – or whatever magnetic object works for your family! There is so much flexibility with it!
Once the track is set up, you drop the marble at the highest point and watch it travel down the track. It should eventually reach the piece that holds the marble. What we’ve discovered, though, is that even if your design looks just like the one on the provided cards, it doesn’t always work as it should.
Tumble Trax
This is where critical thinking and problem solving come in – how can they adjust the track to make sure it does end up in the end piece? Was it going too fast or too slow? Do the pieces need to be closer together? They get to think of why it didn’t work and adjust the track as they see necessary to get it just right.
I have loved watching them problem solve and even work together as a team to continue to build not only the tracks on the provided cards but use their own ideas as well! Tumble Trax includes 14 magnetic foam pieces, 4 marbles and 10 activity cards.

Create-a-Maze™

Create-a-Maze from Learning Resources
Create-a-Maze is another critical thinking game that includes cards for suggested mazes or, of course, they are free to design their own. Our kids have been sticking with the suggested designs. In Create-a-Maze you place the colorful pieces along the board according to the design. When finished you guide the ball around by tilting the board in different directions.
What I love about Create-a-Maze is not only are they using critical thinking, but they’re using eye-hand coordination as well. This is something that can be challenging for our kids due to their special needs, so Create-a-Maze has been a great way to help them practice more eye-hand coordination as well.
Encourage Critical Thinking with Learning Resources
Again, they must use critical thinking to guide the ball to the goal. How do you get around the obstacles. They often work together on Create-a-Maze as well and even challenge each other. Create-a-Maze includes the maze board and base, 17 Maze pieces, 4 Balls (2 blue, 2 red), and 10 activity cards.
Overall, we have been loving the critical thinking games from Learning Resources. Our kids love to be challenged and have so much fun as well. I have loved watching them develop the skills needed to complete the designs on both games as well as watching them work together and challenging each other.

For More Information:

Visit the Learning Resources Website
Connect with Learning Resources on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
 

Educational Games by SimplyFun

June 27, 2015 by Emilee Evans

Kids learn best when they’re having fun, and they also learn through play. Finding fun, educational games the kids enjoy is a big plus. Educational games can enhance our homeschool and our family fun time!
SimplyFun Educational Games
Disclosure: I received complimentary products to facilitate my review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family.
SimplyFun offers a wide variety of award-winning educational games for a variety of ages. In April I shared SimplyFun’s Autism Initiative. I was so excited to learn how they support Autism Awareness, but what’s more is they include ways their games can be adapted for those with special needs as well as including specific notes on how each particular game may capitalize on the strengths of those on the Autism spectrum. With each game online you can click on the Special Needs tab and/or Autism tab and goes in depth on Strengths & Interests as well Characteristics of your child to see if the game is a good fit!
For our review we received Perspectives and Front Runner.
Front Runner:
Educational Games - Front Runner by SimplyFun
Front Runner is a Math game. Your roll the dice to plug in the missing numbers of an equation and solve it. Cross the finish line as the Front Runner to win by a factor. It is recommended for ages 8+. Children have a choice of difficulty level. This is a great game for kids who like math – particularly factors.
Our kids both like math, though they are younger (ages 5, 7, and 9). Our 7 and 9 year old played it together, but we found it was just a little too advanced. We were able to modify it, though, in a way that worked for both of them! They both love math, so they enjoyed the layout of Front Runner.
Perspectives:
Educational Games - Perspectives by SimplyFun
Perspectives is a really unique game and is one of our favorites now! In Perspectives you match the Pattern Cards to patterns on the Game Board to earn points. Move Game Tiles to create new patterns and opportunities for more points. Score the most points from matched patterns to win Perspectives! It is also recommended for ages 8+, though we found both our 7 year old and 9 year old are able to and enjoy playing it. Our 5 year old also likes to play but requires my husband’s or my help. I love that we can include the whole family!
Perspectives requires tactical planning as well as quick pattern recognition. We enjoy playing it together as a family! It has very straightforward rules, which is perfect for children on the Autism spectrum. Either the pattern matches or it doesn’t. Spatial problem solving is key, and this is something both of our older children love.
I, personally, love that Perspectives doesn’t revolve around a specific academic subject. I think the kids really learn a lot through critical thinking, so I love that Perspectives is adding this aspect to our children’s education. This is a game we enjoy playing over and over!
Enjoying Educational Games with SimplyFun
Once again, SimplyFun delivered! We had a chance to review Kilter in the past and still play it frequently, and now we can add Perspectives to the list of games we play frequently. I think over the next year we will be able to add Front Runner to the list as well. We really enjoy the games from SimplyFun. I love that they offer educational opportunities in a variety of areas and are fun for the whole family!

For More Information:

Visit the SimplyFun Website
Connect with SimplyFun on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and YouTube
 

Space Scouts – A Fun, Educational Subscription Club

November 5, 2014 by Emilee Evans

Our kids love learning about space! They love all of it – astronauts, stars, planets, etc. Of course, I always love when they’re learning new things and having fun at the same time!
Space Scouts Educational Subscription Club
Disclosure: I received complimentary products to facilitate my review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family. This post contains affiliate links.
Space Scouts offers a fun, educational subscription club (that is also affordable) that encourages kids to learn in exciting, hands-on ways through fun activities and exciting challenges. Each month children get to explore a new place in space! Space Scouts introduces children to space exploration, space science, and astronomy!
For our review we received two months of the Space Scouts Subscription club packages. The Introductory package includes:

  • Introduction to the Space Scouts Program
  • Space Scouts Lunchbox
  • Space Scouts Solar System Poster
  • Space Scouts Activity Sheet
  • Space Scouts Sticker Scramble
  • Space Scouts Souvenir Toy
  • Space Scouts Constellation Card Startup Kit (cover & ring)
  • Introduction to Space Scouts Constellation Cards

Additional Months Include:

  • Space Scouts Exploration Plan
  • Space Scouts Magnet
  • Space Scouts Sticker
  • Space Scouts Activity Sheet
  • Space Scouts Sticker Scramble
  • Space Scouts Souvenir Toy
  • Space Scouts Constellation Card
  • Space Scouts Constellation Activity Sheet

Space Scouts Review Educational Subscription Club
We were so excited to get it all out and explore! I love that the Introductory Package includes the Space Scouts Lunchbox to keep all of our activities as well as the Constellation Card Startup Kit with cover and ring. It really helps to bring it all together. We added our card from the 2nd month onto the ring, and it’s a great reference!
Space Scouts is recommended for ages 6+, and our 6 year old daughter and 8 year old son have really been getting a lot out of it. Our 4 year old, though, particularly loves learning about space and astronauts and would not be left out! Although many of the activities are definitely not in his age range, there is still a lot he could do and that his older siblings could help him with as well! In fact, we enjoyed it as a whole family!
Space Scouts Review
The older two kids did more of the activities that were harder for the little guy, and they had FUN doing them! More than just having fun, though, they are also learning. We were discussing planets, stars, space ships, astronauts, and more! There is an amazing advantage to hands-on learning. Kids cannot play with something or create something without learning more about it!
Space Scouts Educational Subscription Club Review
We are thrilled with the Space Scouts Educational Subscription Club. The kids are having fun, we’re having fun, and we’re all learning new things! What I appreciate is that Space Scouts not only offers this great service, but they also know the importance of engaging parents in STEM discussions with their children. Through their social media outlets and electronic communication, they offer parents great tips and topics to engage in kid-friendly discussions about space exploration and astronomy with themes like “Get your family talking about the night sky!” and “You can be an astronaut too!”

For More Information:

Visit the Space Scouts Website
Connect with Space Scouts on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest

*Giveaway!!!*

Would you like to win two months of the Space Scouts educational subscription club? This giveaway will run through 11/20/14 at 10pm Central Time and is open to US residents ages 18+. Enter the Giveaway Now!
 

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