kids reviews Archives - Page 2 of 15

Fun, Personalized Videos for Kids

April 19, 2016 by Emilee Evans

I love personalized products particularly for kids. I love that it makes them feel so special! When I was introduced to TeenyTinyStar I was so excited! They offer great personalized videos for kids so every teeny tiny child can be a star of their own video!

Disclosure: I received complimentary products to facilitate my review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family.
The TeenyTinyStar nursery rhyme videos are based on twelve nursery rhyme favorites like the ABC song, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and more. In each of the videos for the songs the child gets to be the star! Videos are available in both a DVD format as well as digital.
For our review, we received a personalized DVD for our youngest son as well as a Music CD.

This DVD is so much fun! All three of our kids were eager to watch it together. They all love that Chaz is featured as various fun characters. Of course, they are all songs they recognize and love, so it is really special that the songs are not only brought to life with great characters but with Chaz as the star as well!
I think it’s really unique that the TeenyTinyStar video features a number of songs where Chaz is featured as a different special character in each one. So he gets to be a farmer, the sun, a teapot, a cuckoo clock character, and more! So fun, right?

I really think the animation is great. The colors are bright, the characters look fun, and I am really blown away by the quality. Not only are the characters fun, but Chaz’s face integrated with the characters really looks fantastic!

Personalized Videos for Kids

Take a look at the Old MacDonald video:

These personalized videos for kids from TeenyTiny Star are so well done. They are fun and entertaining, have fantastic animation, have songs kids recognize and love and they get to be featured as a star in each song! It’s great for young kids and something they’re sure to enjoy!
Get Connected with TeenyTinyStar
Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Google+

Giveaway!!!

Would you like to win a personalized DVD or download? One US winner will receive a Nursery Rhymes Personalized DVD for 1 child + Music CD and one Canadian winner will receive a Nursery Rhymes Personalized Videos Digital Download for 1 child. Stay tuned! ENTER THE GIVEAWAY NOW!

Dabbling Doezee { Children's Book Review }

March 25, 2016 by Emilee Evans

I always appreciate a children’s book that has a fun, engaging story while also sharing interesting facts. Kids learn a lot through reading, so what they read (and what we read to them) is so important!

Disclosure: I received the book complimentary to facilitate my review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family. This post contains affiliate links.
Dabbling Doezee is a children’s book with fun, exciting illustrations that is perfect for early readers (ages 3-8). In the story there are two duck friends named Doezee and Rudy that discover their differences and their own unique abilities. As their adventure unfolds, their friendship helps them survive in the face of danger.

Dabbling Doezee Children’s Book

For our review we received the Dabbling Doezee hardcover book as well as the iBook.
Dabbling Doezee is a great book for our younger two children (ages 5 and 8). Our daughter (the 8 year old) is able to read most of the book herself, and her younger brother loves to listen to the story. The illustrations are so colorful and eye-catching. The story itself has a lot of excitement, and the illustrations really make it come to life!

Dabbling Doezee is an encouraging story about friendship. Doezee dabbles and Rudy dives. They have different food preferences that go along with their unique abilities. Not only are they still good friends, but after Doezee starts to try to be something she’s not (a diving duck) to avoid danger, they learn she has her own unique skills that compliment Rudy’s skills. They help each other stay safe, and they do it by being who they are. I really love the the message of the story of both the friendship and accepting and acknowledging your unique abilities.
As a homeschool mom, I also love that there is an educational aspect in learning the difference between diving ducks and dabbling ducks. At the end, even more detail is included in the Author’s Note about the ducks including their types, skills, and even the name for a female duck (duck) and male (drake). It’s really informative.
Dabbling Doezee has really been a great addition to our children’s books!

About the Author (Kimberly Kennedy)

Kim is an award-winning educator, writer, and entrepreneur. She has a doctorate from the University of Missouri. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
As an Assistant Professor, Kim’s scholarship emphasized ways that storytelling deepens relationships, develops identity and a sense of family history, teaches, and heals us when facing loss. She believes that stories are essential in helping children develop literacy skills, content knowledge and cognitive abilities.
“My mother taught young children throughout her career. She emphasized education and reading in our home. She was an amazing role model, including when she took a stand to save our local library. Her influence explains a great deal about why I believe that storytelling is vital to a child’s development and to family well being.”

About the Illustrator (Tracy Herrmann)

Tracy brings her signature gentle styling to Dabbling Doezee. She was an active member of The Guild of Natural Science Illustrators (GNSI) and won awards for her art at various state and local juried competitions, including an Award of Excellence from the California State Fair. Tracy’s specialized studies in Zoology and Natural History lent her art and graphic talents to supporting wilderness and conservation for national parks with screen print and embroidered soft goods, keepsakes, hard goods, gifts and collectibles.
“I enjoy exploring, spending whole afternoons observing and sketching animals for new concepts, and just watching the families and kids. Kids love to watch an artist sketch and paint. They are natural artists and keen observers. Sharing the richness of our natural world through my art brings me great joy and satisfaction. Connecting with others who share that joy just makes my whole year!”

Dabbling Doezee can be purchased as hardcopy or Kindle Version on Amazon. You can also look for Dabbling Doezee in iBooks.

Get Connected with Dabbling Doezee

Website | Facebook | Email: fabulapub@gmail.com

Amazingly Fun Style with Roobrics

March 16, 2016 by Emilee Evans

Our youngest son is a bit picky about what he wears. Finding something amazing and just his style is necessary, so when I saw the awesome Giraffe Body Shirt I knew this was a shirt he would LOVE!

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product to facilitate my Roobrics review. Regardless, all opinions are my own and those of my family.
Roobrics offers a variety of great t-shirts for both kids and adults, and what is really neat is all t-shirts are individually hand-screen printed artist originals and each shirt is one-of-a-kind and unique! All Roobrics designs are printed on 100% cotton tees and are machine washable. They also have other fun products like buttons, Giraffe family stickers and feature a lot of great art!
For our Roobrics review, we received a yellow Kids Giraffe Body Tee as well as the fun Giraffe Family Sticker.

Roobrics Review

Chaz loves his new shirt. He couldn’t stop talking about how he is the “giraffe head.” Just by the style alone it has become his favorite shirt. I had to convince him to take it off so I could wash it. He just wants to wear it again and again. Plus, he always gets compliments when he wears it, which is fun for him!
I’m really not surprised! It really is such a fun style. I love that they have created not only the fun animal body shirts that allow kids (and adults!) to “become” their favorite animal, but the fact that they’re handsketched is just so neat. It’s a fun shirt that you’re not going to find everywhere!
Because he has Sensory Processing Disorder, material is important, too. The cotton for this Giraffe t-shirt is so soft. It does have a few tags, but tags can always be removed. It’s noted to be sure to wash the shirt as instructed, so we’ve been careful to do so, and it has held up great!
Overall, the Giraffe Body Tee has been a big hit! It’s fun, it’s comfortable, and it is definitely a conversation starter! I love that they have fun designs for both kids and adults!

For More Information:

Visit the Roobrics Website
Connect with Roobrics on Facebook and Instagram

Building with the Bible {Zonderkidz Review}

March 2, 2016 by Emilee Evans

Our kids love to build. They love to build creations from their imagination as well as guided creations. How fun would it be to interact with the Bible by building the stories with their LEGO® bricks? That’s what we’ve been doing with the Faith Builders Bible, a Bible for kids, from Zonderkidz.

The Faith Builders Bible takes a unique approach of providing the complete Bible with occasional full-color pages depicting brick creations based on stories in the Bible. It uses the NIrV version of the Bible, which is like the NIV for kids. It includes information on the NIrV and what makes it different such as how it is different than the NIV and how it is easy to read and understand. It explains additional helps offered by the NIrV.

Our oldest son was in need of a new Bible, and he was extremely excited to not only get a new Bible, but to get a Bible the included bright, colorful pages with brick building ideas! As a delayed reader, he is unable to read it on his own (though it is noted to be ideal for 3rd Grade+), but it is still the perfect Bible for kids to take with him to church as he learns to read. Plus, I love reading it to him (and our other children) because it definitely is a version that is easier for them to understand.
The Faith Builders Bible includes the Table of Contents both in the order of the books of the Bible as well as an Alphabetical Order of the Books of the Bible. What I find even more unique is at the end it includes a Dictionary as well as a list of great Bible stories for easy reference.
There are a total of 24 full-color pages of Bible stories which includes detailed text about the story as well as a verse at the bottom of the page.

I was definitely excited to receive the Faith Builders Bible as well because I am always looking for great resources to include in our homeschool Bible time. I wasn’t sure 100% what to expect, so I had set an expectation that it would include instructions for building the stories, but it does not. In short, I would describe the Faith Builders Bible as a Bible for children with some colorful pictures with inspiration for building scenes from the Bible.
It doesn’t include instructions or lesson ideas or anything of the sort, so although it has been a great resource to add to our Bible time, if I want to do more than read a verse such as a lesson or even encouraging building something from the story, I have to create the lesson (and building project) myself. The 24 included are a great start, but again, they don’t include instructions and may still need quite a bit of instruction based on your child(ren)’s experience and creativity.
Although our oldest son has claimed the Faith Builders Bible as his Bible, our daughter has been enjoying building the scenes. She is definitely the most creative and can build something specifically from a picture or even come up with her own idea based on a story. Our boys, on the other hand, just kind of “do their own thing,” though they still enjoy it!

Our boys aren’t keen on doing anything specific without exact instructions, so they have yet to actually build something from the Bible, but they have built many random things during our building time! Our daughter jumped right in to building one of the recommended projects and has done quite a few. One of her favorites was a monkey that was inspired by Noah’s Ark.

Overall, I do think the Faith Builders Bible is a great Bible for kids. I love that it encourages hands-on interaction with the stories from the Bible, and although I, personally, would have loved to see specific instructions for the projects, I think it’s a great way for kids to use their creativity and imagination.
For more be sure to connect with Zonderkidz on Facebook and Twitter!
Many members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew had the chance to review the Faith Builders Bible with their families. See what they thought by clicking on the banner below!