Thomas Talking Railway Giveaway

We are HUGE Thomas the Train fans in our house and so I was excited to hear that Learning Curve had added a fun new feature to their classic Thomas Train Set. Thomas Wooden Railway, the Talking Railway Series features Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology and brings the world of Thomas & Friends to life like never before. Basically NO BATTERIES!  How cool is that!  Compatible with the existing Thomas Wooden Railway system, the Talking Railway Series is made with the same quality wood craftsmanship and timeless appeal found in every Thomas Wooden Railway set. The new line features RFID sensors that are built into the engines and destinations. Depending on who passes by and whether or not Sir Topham Hatt is watching, different phrases and greetings will be played.

Kids driving an RFID enabled Thomas over the sensor on the track for instance, will hear Sir Tohpam Hatt say “Hello, Thomas you’re right on time!” Engines with the RFID chips will have their names printing in gold on the bottom of the chassis and they’ll also feature golden magnet connectors on the front and rear. For example, when Talking Railway Series Thomas passes through the Stop & Greet Station, Sir Topham Hatt identifies the engine and greets Thomas by name, saying, “Thomas, you are right on time!”

Currently you can buy and add Morgans Mine, Cranky the Crane, Discovery Set and the Stop and Greet Station to your railroad tracks. Nine engines are compatible with them. You can watch a demo and learn more about the Talking Railways Series at Learning Curves Website. Did you know they also have a page of ideas on how to design your tracks? I highly recommend their wooden track, we have had ours for three years now and it is built to last.

CONTEST

Learning Curve is generously giving one of Bookroom Reviews Readers a prize package of Cranky the Crane Destination (pictured above) and one of the Talking Engines to go with it! A value of $90.00! AWESOME!

TO ENTER: Visit Learning Curve and check out their other fabulous products and comment here what else you would want to buy for your little ones.

FOR ADDITIONAL ENTRIES: FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER AND TWEET THIS GIVEAWAY, SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG, OR STUMBLE THIS CONTEST.

Contest will end MAY 8TH U.S. And Canada only please. Good Luck! Winners,Please respond within 48 hours to my e-mail.

SHOP.COM ONLINE SHOPPING

I don’t like to shop unless I know exactly what I want. I really don’t like to go out shopping during the Holiday season. For the past few years we do most of our shopping online. Online shopping can also save money. Best of all I don’t have to bother with all the crowds! This year I found out about SHOP.COM from Mom Central. They have over 2,000 merchants, so you’ll be able to find a wide assortment of products at the great prices. I want to buy some Ugg boots this year and so I did a search and found tons of retailers and prices to choose from. Each store also had reviews and ratings on service. I found the boots I wanted at a great price. The store I selected even offered free shipping. SHOP.COM has all of your favorite stores to choose from including Target and Barnes and Noble and tons brand name products on sale.

You can search for an item and find a huge variety of retailers to determine who has the best price. If you would like to order multiple items from more than one store, you can use the SHOP.COM universal shopping cart. Make sure you check out the sale page, where they have Hot deals every week and you’ll also find current coupons for many of the stores. Their Christmas shop is also fantastic, with great recommendations and sales for everyone in the family. They also have buying guides to help you choose the right product. While shopping this holiday season, make sure to stop by SHOP.COM.

Toddler Tote Review

Educational toys that are fun are my favorite buys for Christmas. The Toddler Tote is one of those toys. It encourages children to work on their eye and hand coordination, learn colors and shapes, and increasing fine motor development. The Toddler Tote includes large and small geometric shape puzzles with a 9″ square carrying case. The carrying case is an added bonus so you can take the toys anywhere to keep the kids busy. This product says it is geared toward ages 2-5 years old and that would be my only critique, I think the activities are geared for more for 2 or 3 year olds. NMC Toys have a great selection of toys that are American and European made. They also are committed to making toys with the highest quality and standard. The Toddler Tote retails for $16.99, and can be found on the NMC Toys Website.  They currently have a coupon code for an 8% savings. Use the code SAVE8. Thanks to Parent Reviewers for sending this great toy.

Free Children’s Book Downloads!

Mom Select sent me some information about a great website to share with you called MobiStories.com. They are a digital book website where you can download books to read with your children.  They are bright and colorful stories and even better, there are several on the site that are free!  The age ranges are from 0-10.  We all know the importance of reading and this is a great resource for parents. MobiStories are written about subjects that your children are interested in like buses and bikes. They are written by well know authors and are recommended by teachers and librarians.  MobiStories can be downloaded to your iPod, iPhone, DVD player or computer. Here is what they say about their books from the website:

Why MobiStories…

Past generations told of legends and folklore through the ritual of “story time,” often at the fireside.  These stories were passed to others by word of mouth as our ancestors roamed the planet.  When Thomas Edison unleashed the telegraph and Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, the world of communication, mass media and storytelling began to change with a magnitude that these two individuals couldn’t have imagined.  With today’s rich technology the essence of a great story can be delivered when and where you want it.

So, what does this mean?

Teachers, doctors and parents all recognize the value of reading.  Experts stress the importance of reading to children from birth through reading age, and not just at bedtime, but also throughout the day.  In our fast-paced society, who has time for that?

Enter MobiStories.  The founders of Still Motion Media left their jobs to fill two needs.  The first was to spend more time with their young families.  The second was to develop a product that could supplement the story time experience that their children only received at bedtime.  While nothing should replace a parent hugging a child and reading a book together, MobiStories are there whenever that can’t happen.

Buddy picked out two books, Ella the Elephant and Lumpy Bumpy Pumpkin.  They were both darling books and they were easy to download and view.  You might need headphones though.

Lumpy Bumpy Pumpkin is an original tale of a pumpkin that worries about being different but in the end finds acceptance. Lumpy Bumpy was the funniest-looking pumpkin in Farmer Joe’s pumpkin patch.  By the end of the story Lumpy Bumpy Pumpkin becomes the scariest Jack O’Lantern of them all! (the pictures are from here with some fantastic projects to go along with the book!)

Mom Select and MobiStories want to offer all of you $10.00 worth of free downloads!  The code for the downloads is BSM184A. Just select the books you want and when it comes time to pay, they will ask for a code and type this code into the box and then you will receive an e-mail about how to download your books!  Enjoy and keep reading!

Bella Sara Online Website

Team Mom sent me some adorable trading cards of baby horses.  They are not only trading cards though, they are cards that can come to life online.  The new line of cards, called Baby Bella debuted on October 7th.  Each pack of seven cards includes a unique code that you can activate the baby horses.  This will offer children the ability to nurture their virtual horses in their online stables, read stories and play games.  The website is www.bellasara.com. Parents need to know that Internet safety is of little concern here, since there’s no way for members to chat or contact each other.         The site also serves as a good launching pad into discussing the concept of money and spending. Families can also talk about horses and what it takes to care for one. What kinds of things do you do in order to care for your online horses and keep them happy? How do you think caring for a real horse would be different?

Each horse comes with a positive-reinforcement message that’s displayed each time you go to its stable to feed and care for it. With each horse added, you get horseshoes, the Bella Sara currency that allows you to “buy” furnishings, decorations, and more for your cottage. The site also has a horse encyclopedia; fanciful, kid-friendly games and online jigsaw puzzles; horse images to color (online or printed out); plus quizzes, wallpaper, and other fun stuff. Kids can even email a question to Sara, the young daughter of the Bella Sara founder, who owns and trains two horses. The only downside is that if a kid is unable to buy a lot of cards and add horses fairly often, he or she may eventually run out of things to do.  But I would agree it is a fun family activity for little cost.

Water Toys Review

Team Mom sent us two great water-related products from Spin Master to try out this month.  The little man was absolutely thrilled when we opened the box.  You may have heard of
The Aquadoodle Draw ‘N Doodle Mat before, and I’m telling you, I love it!  It’s a plastic mat that your child can draw on and it is a mom’s dream because the “marker” uses water to write and there is NO mess!  We just unrolled it, filled the “marker” up with water and he went to town.  As soon as the water dries, the words and drawings will disappear, so make sure you teach your children this beforehand so they don’t get upset.  Another great thing about it is it rolls up for storage. I  would highly recommend this for Christmas for children ages 2 and up.   And the cost is pretty good.  You can buy it on Amazon for 24.99 and they sell extra markers for $6.99 in case you lose one.

The second toy Team Mom sent us from Spin Master was pretty cool too,  The Bath Blizzard.   The Bath Blizzard is a bath time toy that fills the tub with a waterfall of bubbles. It takes a few C batteries and that first night we were scouring all the electronic toys in the house to get enough batteries for bath time!   So, I would recommend remembering to buy the batteries ahead of time for this product.  Little Man tried this product out with the hubby and they both loved it.  Actually I was surprised because normally little man doesn’t like bubbles but he had fun with this machine.  It does make a whirring noise, that may bother some kids, but we didn’t mind it in our house.  It comes with a strap if needed, but our tub was wide enough to set it on the side.  The bubbles come out into the water like a waterfall of bubbles.  The best thing is the bubbles are made from the Kid Kleen Line who makes sure their products are hypo-allergenic, non-toxic and wheat and tears free so the little ones can have fun with the bubbles too.  It passed the Bookroom Test in our house.  You can buy the Bath Blizzard for $19.99

Spot Shot Mom Review

Elmo’s World K’NEX Set

My four year old was so happy!   Thanks to Team Mom & K’NEX we received one of the new Sesame Street Building Sets by K’NEX.   And right away he dumped it out on the floor and began his work.  We received the Elmo and his piano set which was perfect,  because he LOVES Elmo’s World!

Welcome to Elmo’s World™! Build Elmo with his piano or his goldfish Dorothy! This creative building set includes three educational “Play & Learn” activity cards filled with collaborative fun for parents and children. One side of the card features alternate building ideas; the other side includes fun facts and activity suggestions. When playtime is over, store the parts in the handy, portable storage container. Includes 47 pieces to build Elmo, his piano, Dorothy plus anything else your child can imagine! For ages 2 to 5

You can purchase these fun sets at your local Walmart or Target. These are a must have Christmas item for the younger kids!

Children’s Book Review: William is Going Green

William is Going Green, written by James Martin II and James Martin III, is the story of a garbage truck that loses his job, because he polluting. In search of a new job, William travels from town to town until he finds a green, clean city. He is told he could be hired as a recycling truck, if only he had a hybrid engine. Unfortunately, out-of-work William does not have the money for a new, cleaner engine, until he rescues a cat from a sewer. The cat Gage belongs to a mechanic, and William is given a hybrid engine and coat of green paint in reward for the rescue. The author explains, “My son James III and I created the William the Garbage Truck & Crew series to share what we learned about global warming and the benefits of conservation.”

My son loves trucks so he was really excited to read it.  I think it was a bit over his head at age four, but would be ideal for older children to learn about conservation and the environment.  He gives three very practical tips for children.  The illustrations by Don Berry were colorful and engaging.

This book is made with 100% wind power and is FSC certified. I truly appreciate the publisher’s efforts to use green practices when publishing a book designed to educate children on environmental issues. This is the first William book in the series, and we’ll have to wait for the next book to see what happens now that William has gone green.  You can go to William and Crew for more information on this book and the others in the series.  Thanks to Parent Reviewers for this book!

Mommy Review: Greenworks Natural Products

MOMMY REVIEW

I was so excited to get my bottle of Clorox Dish Soap in the mail.  You may be asking why would I be so happy about dish soap?  Well, the great thing about this dish soap is Clorox has made a line of cleaning products that are environmentally friendly and affordable.  They just came out with Green Works Natural Dishwashing Liquid.   As with the rest of the line, the dish soap retains Clorox’s well-known ability to cut through grease and baked-on food, while using all natural, plant-based ingredients like coconuts and lemon oil, making the soap sustainable and biodegradable. And it smells fantastic!  I love the fact that they not only care about the environment but also that we are able to run out to Walmart or Target to pick up a bottle.  It is another small way to protect the future for our children.  Thanks to Mom Central for the information and product.

Green Works has joined with the Sierra Club in support of their efforts to conserve clean air, water, and wildlife, and all of their products carry the Sierra Club logo. Additionally, the EPA has recognized the dish soap for using environmentally preferred chemistry, with their logo also proudly displayed on the bottle. As it arrives nationwide this August, Green Works Dishwashing Liquid comes in five scents: Original, Water Lily, Tangerine, Free & Clear, and Simply Lemon.  For more information on their products just click