Pea of Sweetness

Celebrating Spring with Lakeshore Learning

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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!

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Beating Winter Boredom with Lakeshore Learning

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Winter finally came, and now beating winter boredom is on our mind. What better way to beat winter boredom than with learning toys? I love watching our kids learn as they’re playing. It’s so much fun to see them learn from each other. Learning toys that encourage not only learning and play but cooperation as well are definitely beneficial!
Disclosure: We received a complimentary product to facilitate our review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family.
Lakeshore LearningIf you’re looking for learning toys for beating winter boredom, Lakeshore Learning has you covered! They offer a variety of great products for Infants – 11 years old. Plus they offer educational products for parents that encourages learning in all areas! We are subject to winter boredom, too, after all!
For our review we received the Real-Working Cash Register.
Beating Winter Boredom Lakeshore Learning
The Real-Working Cash Register is recommended for kids ages 3 – 9 (Pre-K – 4th Grade). It has a real-working calculator with digital display. Kids can add, subtract, multiply and divide. It has realistic looking play money as well as a credit card with an area to swipe the card. The register opens and closes with a fun “ding” sound. They can easily take money and make change!
Beating Winter Boredom with a Real-Working Cash Register
Our kids were so excited to start using it! I sat down with them to help separate the money and show them how to work it. After that, they kind of shooed me out of the way so they could “play store.” Although I’ll admit I kind of wanted to play with them, I was excited to watch them working and playing together. In fact, I couldn’t stop smiling as our daughter (age 8) was explaining to our youngest son (age 5) how money works and talking about cost and explaining how much to pay and why he got back that amount of change. Those are the moments that really just warm my heart.
Together the kids choose random toys to “buy.” One child will operate the register while the other two are the customers. They even play it by themselves sometimes. It’s a great way to get extra practice!
Beat Winter Boredom with Lakeshore Learning Register
I also love that it offers both cash and credit. It gave me the opportunity to explain how credit cards work and answer questions they had about them. Of course, practicing counting money as well as hands-on Math practice is always a big advantage. The kids have really been having so much fun with the Real-Working Cash Register! They love “playing store,” and I love that they are working on their Math skills, cooperation and beating winter boredom at the same time!

*Winter Special!!*

Lakeshore Learning offers such a wide variety of great educational products to beat winter boredom both in stores and online! You can receive 20% off any single nonsale item with this special coupon! This coupon is valid through 3/31/16 at 11:59pm PST, so be sure to take advantage of this great 20% off coupon to get something your kids will love!

For More Information

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

Computer Virus Dolls {Review}

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Computer Virus Dolls

Not too long ago, I had the chance to review a cancer cell plush from GIANTmicrobes. I loved not only that the GIANTmicrobes are unique, but that they are educational as well! If you have somebody on your Christmas list that is a harder to shop for and would love something unique and fun, they would make a great gift!
What you may not know is the maker of GIANTmicrobes also offers something else that is also unique and would make an awesome gift – Computer Virus Dolls! Just in time for Christmas they have released 4 new designs for the Computer Virus Dolls. The new computer virus dolls, Bug, Bot, Macro, and Zombie, have joined previously released Trojan, Malware, Worm, and Virus. The Computer Virus Dolls are based on the electronic “creatures” that can torment our PCs, MACs, laptops, and even mobile devices.
For our review we received Bot. Just like a popup may come up on your computer if you have a virus, a little “popup” comes up on the computer tag letting you know which virus you have. The computer tag also has more information about the virus including the 1’s and 0’s of Binary Code. I may have totally lost some of you with the Binary Code, but trust me, if you have a computer geek in your life, they will LOVE this! 🙂 Each Computer Virus Doll actually has a long tag with a string of the 1’s and 0’s for the Binary Code.
Computer Virus Dolls Review
I was really impressed by how much information is included on the little computer. I know I obviously spend time on the computer as this is my “job,” and I know a little bit of “techie” stuff, but I didn’t know most of the information that was shared about Bots. I am definitely into learning this kind of information, though, so I thought it was really neat. Once again, I also turned this into a learning experience with the kids as well. They may be young, but we know this is a technological age, and kids are learning how to use computers as at a young age, so it’s never too young to also teach them about things that can harm our computers as well!
The colors of the Computer Virus Dolls are a shiny silver and matte black, which represent charged and uncharged bits inside a computer chip. The overall look sure was a big hit with the kids as well! I was lucky I was even able to snap a picture before they took off with “Bot.” They were intrigued to learn more as well, so I was able to read them the information on the little computer and explain the numbers on the tag as well. I love when there is something about a product that actually encourages them to ask questions!
Computer Virus Dolls would be a great gift for a long list of people! Anybody who uses a computer can appreciate the knowledge provided as well as the humor that goes along with it! I love how unique and creative they are as well! If you know someone who would love to have one on the go, they also have Computer Virus Digits Keychains!

For More Information:

Visit the Computer Virus Dolls Website
Connect with Computer Virus Dolls on Facebook and Twitter

*Giveaway!*

Would you like the chance to win one of the Computer Virus Dolls? You’re in luck! Check out the giveaway running from 12/19 at 7pm Central Time through 1/2 at 11pm Central Time! ENTER NOW!
 
 

Educational Toys Planet Review

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Educational Toys Planet
Being a mom I’m always looking for toys that have educational value. I look for this even more so because our kids have social/emotional special needs. All 3 of them learn well through play! I can think of many times I’ve been concerned they weren’t learning something and I see them playing/interacting with a toy, and I realize the thing I was worried about they DO know it! I think it’s SO important to provide those tools for learning in the form of play! It’s also a great way to complement our homeschooling as well! Because of this I am so excited to announce I’ll be doing a review and giveaway for Education Toys Planet! If you have never had a chance to check them out I recommend it! They have such a huge variety of educational toys for all ages! Stay tuned and check back for my upcoming review and giveaway! 🙂