Alphabotz ~ Superphonic Decoder Cards: A Review and Giveaway

This giveaway is closed!

 As many of you know, I used to be an early childhood teacher. I taught Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First Grade. When teaching I used a literature-based approach and incorporated whole language, as well as phonics. I have to admit that phonics was not my favorite thing to teach. My school used the Open Court program to teach phonics, and I found it a bit boring.  I would have loved to have had the Alphabotz Superphonic Decoder Cards. 

The Alphabotz Cards are oversized flash cards featuring colorful robot characters.  Each card displays a robot who wears a letter on its chest and an icon on its head.  These serve as visual references to the particular sound that the character represents.  To make the robot letters come alive to the children, each card also contains stats about the character's life and personality.  This helps make the sounds memorable.

 For some Alphabotz fun, visit their website.  There you will find lots of free printables:  A Superphonic Funzine, a Decoder Club Chart, Alpha-Tastic Song Sheets, Bookmark, and a Coloring Sheet for each of the robot characters. 

At only $19.95srp, the Alphabotz Superphonic Decoder Alphabet Cards are a great value.  They include 46 character cards, 2 game and activity cards, 2 bonus cards, and 1 sturdy matchbox-style box with sliding drawer.  For even more info, check out this "Take a Peek" packet.

Now for the best part ~ Alphabotz is offering one lucky reader a set of their Superphonic Decoder Cards.

To enter:  Visit this page on their site and read about the other Alphabotz products that are "In the Works".  Then come back here and leave me a comment about the product that most interests you.

For additional entries:

• Follow Alphabotz on Twitter.
• Become a fan of Alphabotz on Facebook.
• Subscribe to Raising Itty-Bitty Bookworms

*Make sure and leave a comment after this post for each entry, so I can give you all the credit you deserve (and don't forget your email address too)! The winner will be announced Wednesday, April 14, and contacted by email. She has three days to contact me at contact@ittybittybookworm.com. After three days another winner will be drawn.*

**Ideopolis provided the Alphobotz Cards  for us to review.  However, as always, I blog with integrity and these are my honest opinions.

 

A Week with Wes

A day at the Please Touch Museum

Playing with these Beehives from Plan Toys

Perfect for developing fine motor skills.

Use the forceps to match the bee to the correct colored hive.

Building race tracks for our hermit crabs

 Painting bird houses

*Plan Toys generously sent us the Beehives as part a product testing opportunity.  The beehives are just one of the educational toys in their new product line.  In addition to quality, well-made  developmental toys and baby toys, Plan Toys products are also made of chemical-free wood, non-toxic paints, and safety conscious ergonomic shapes. 

Friday's Gracious Giveaways: Thumballs

New to FGG? Go here.

The winner of last week's FGG winner is Early Motherhood.

Thanks to all who entered!

Good Luck this week!

This week's review and giveaway is sponsored by Thumball. What is "Thumball you ask? I can't wait to tell and show you!

Thumballs are balls that are specifically designed to stimulate conversation and energize education. To play, you simply throw the ball to someone and then he responds to the prompt on the panel under his thumb. If it lands on the Title or Shnoogie panel the catcher gets to choose a panel. Watch this short video for a demonstration.

Watch TDmonthly Video

Isn't that fun? And here's the great part ~ Thumballs come in a wide variety of designs with categories for every age and skill level. For example, Categories, ABC's, Animals, Virtues and Values, Meet and Greet, and Move Your Body. Check out the complete list and descriptions here.

For this review, I was sent the 6" Animals thumball to use with Wes. He absolutely loved it. We used it several different ways. First, I had him identify the animals. Then, I had him make the sound of the animal on the panel. I also had him identify the color of the panel. Wes had fun playing with it like a regular ball, as well. Thumballs are really soft and squishy, so they are totally safe to play with in the house.

Thumballs are so versatile. They can be used by parents with their children, siblings, school classrooms, preschools, child care centers, and homeschool groups. Anyone ~ anywhere, really! They are also very easy to clean, so you can play with them outside and inside.

For this giveaway, I have three 4" thumballs for one lucky winner. Here are the designs I have: Move Your Body, Parts of a Story, and Tell the Tale .

First Entry Requirement ~ Visit this page of Thumball's website to read about some ways that you can use these balls. Then come back and tell me about how you would use one of them.

Additional Entries:

1. Follow my blog (Google or Networked Blogs). (1 entry)

2. Subscribe to my blog. (1 entry)

3. Become a Facebook Fan (1 entry).

4. Follow MaryThumball on Twitter (1 entry).

5. Become Thumball's fan on Facebook. (1 entry)

*Make sure and leave a comment after this post for each entry so I can give you all the credit you deserve (and don't forget your email address too)! Winner will be announced Friday, October 23, and contacted by email. Winner has three days to contact me at contact@ittybittybookworm.com. After three days another winner will be drawn.*

~ If you have a giveaway on your blog that you'd like to share (or know of one you're posting about), link it up with "Mr. Linky" below. *Please read FGG rules for participating, here, before linking up so I can leave your link!* ~

Free Fun, Family Music

I was recently sent Kenny Loggin's new album, All Join In, to review. My kids and I have really enjoyed it. It has some fun, original songs and some "oldie, but goodies". After listening to it for a few days in the car, my kids now know the words to many of the songs and ask me to play them. It is so nice to find a CD to which we can all sing along!

Walt Disney Records is now offering some of the songs as free downloads. Here is how it works:

1. Follow this link to a site that has a music player with 4 songs from the album.
2. Preview the songs.
3. After listening, you will be asked to answer a couple quick questions about your thoughts on the music.
4. You will be sent an email with a link to download 4 FREE digital songs (MP3s) from "All Join In".
   

Super Easy! Go get your free music and let me know what you and your kiddos think!

A New Favorite Toy and a Giveaway

This giveaway is closed.
Mommyto3cuties is one of the winners.
Spell Out Loud is the other winner.
Congrats!

Thanks to all who entered!

About a week ago, my children found a huge box on our front porch. I was not expecting anything, so I could not imagine what was inside. We proceeded to take the box inside and open it up. As we lifted the flaps of the box, my girls immediately started to jump up and down and scream. "Zhu Zhu Pets!", they both screamed. I started to ask, "What in the world are Zuu Zuu Pets?". Then I remembered ~ a while back I had applied to review these toys with my children. I had completely forgotten. I explained to my children that the company had sent us these toys because they want to know what kids think about them. Needless to say, they were thrilled!


If you are like me, and have not seen or heard of Zhu Zhu Pets, here is the company description:

Zhu Zhu Pets are the world’s first innovative, realistic, interactive, plush, and artificially intelligent hamsters that talk and move around in their own playsets. Zhu Zhu Pets include two play modes: nurturing mode where the hamsters coo and purr, and adventure mode where the hamsters explore their habitat with intelligent audio and mechanical responses to various habitat stimuli. Over a dozen add-ons can be purchased to build an ever-evolving hamsterworld for your hamsters to play in and explore. Zhu Zhu Pets are the newest craze among kids and expected to be the most popular toy of the year!

You can also see the commercial here.

As the girls unpacked the box, they could not stop giggling. They were so excited and could not wait to play with everything. My lovely husband put everything together, and my children got busy testing. Here is what they thought about each item they received:

• Hamster Fun House - This is like the main house for the hamsters.
  
• Hamster Wheel and Tunnel - The hamsters really run on the wheel, and they go fast!
  
• Surfboard and Sleep Dome - It is so funny to see the hamsters ride the surfboard. When our hamsters are tired they go to sleep in the sleep dome.
• Hamster Car and Garage - The hamster car is fun and easy to do.
  
• Spiral Slide and Ramp - The spiral slide is like the one at our school, so it is funny to see a hamster go down one.
  
• Go Go Adventure Ball - Sometimes the ball did not work good, but when it did it looked like a real hamster was inside.
• Zhu Zhu Pet Hamsters - They are so cute. They make little noises and zoom all around. When they run into something, they turn around and go the other way.
  
• 
  

As you can see and read, these toys were a hit. I appreciated the fact that all three of my children (girls - 8, 6, and boy - 3) were equally engaged. It is really hard to find toys or games that are fun for all of them, but Zhu Zhu Pets kept them entertained. It was great to see all of my children playing together cooperatively and having such a good time.


I also liked that the pieces are easy to assemble and use. The only thing that was remotely tricky was the Go Go Adventure Ball. There is a little plastic piece that comes with the ball. This plastic piece has to be put on the bottom of the hamster before you put him into the ball. Without this piece the hamster cannot run correctly inside the ball. My three year old had a bit of trouble putting the piece on. However, my girls were able to do it perfectly and helped him.

As much as we liked these hamsters, I do have one bit of advice. Before your children begin playing with the hamsters, please explain to them that they should NOT place them on their heads (or anyone else's) while the hamster is "going". Otherwise, your child may end up like this:


Yes, the hamster got stuck in my daughter's hair. My son thought he was being funny and placed the hamster on her head while the wheels were turning and her hair got wrapped all around the wheels. This was a nightmare to get out. Consider yourself warned!

For this giveaway, two lucky people will win two Zhu Zhu Pets each. To enter: Leave us a comment about which Zhu Zhu Pet toy you think your child would like best.




For extra entries:

• Subscribe to my blog.
• Tweet about this giveaway.
• Blog about this giveaway.
• Follow me on Twitter.

Please leave a separate comment for each extra entry. The winner will be randomly chosen on Monday, September 28 and contacted by email. Prizes will only be shipped to US addresses.

Good Luck!

Reviews and Giveaways