Infants and Children

Celebrate the Christmas Season with New DVDs from NCircle Entertainment

December 19, 2012 by Kathryn

Christmas is just days away and my boys are bouncing off the walls with excitement! We have been celebrating the season with lights, carols and, thanks to NCircle Entertainment, lots of new holiday DVDs! Here’s a few of the festive titles NCircle has available this Christmas:

The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About Christmas (NEW) – premiering this fall on PBS, this new DVD was specially produced to ring in the 2012 holiday season, and features the voice of Martin Short as the Cat.

Dino Dan ‘Twas a Dinosaur (NEW) – follow the adventures of palaeontologist-in-training Dan Henderson as he learns what might have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs, tracks down a Euplocephalus, and gives the poem “The Night Before Christmas” a new spin! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Holiday Gift Guide, Infants and Children, Reviews, Reviews and Giveaways Tagged With: cat in the hat, christmas, christmas dvds, dino dan, dvds, entertainment, holiday, holiday dvds, kids dvds, ncircle, ncircle entertainment, puppy party, wiggles, wordworld

Entertain Your Kids with the Where’s Waldo: Santa Spectacular Activity Book-Giveaway

December 19, 2012 by Kathryn

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When winter break boredom strikes, it can be hard to find entertaining activities for my boys that don’t involve a screen. But neither one of my boys can say no to a good book and both of them love fun activities. So I was thrilled when I got the chance to review Where’s Waldo: Santa Spectacular, a fun activity book featuring everyone’s favourite hard-to-find friend, Waldo.

This book is not your typical Where’s Waldo book. Packed full of fun activities ranging from puzzles to word searches, there’s a lot more than seek and find adventure inside! I loved the fact that the book also contained hundreds of stickers so that kids could create their own Where’s Waldo scenes.

Zackary is a big fan of Where’s Waldo books so I knew he would love this book, that combined some of his favourite activities with one of his favourite book characters. At six-years-old, he was just the right age for this fun-filled book and like almost all kids, he always loves a book that includes stickers! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Holiday Gift Guide, Infants and Children, Reviews, Reviews and Giveaways Tagged With: activity, activity book, book, books, christmas, kids book, kids books, present, santa, santa spectacular, spectacular, waldo, waldo book, where's waldo, wheres

Protect Your Baby’s Skin with the Live Clean Baby Skincare Essentials Gift Set-Giveaway

December 17, 2012 by Kathryn

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Over the last few months I have fallen in love with the eco-friendly bath, body and hair products from Live Clean. From the adorable EnviroKidz line that my boys love at bath time to the luxurious Spa Therapy products I received just as winter arrived in Saskatchewan, there are amazing choices for everyone in my family.

But with Christmas coming up so quickly, it’s time to think of others and that’s why I was so excited to see the Live Clean Baby Skincare Essentials Gift Set that has been released just in time for Christmas gift giving! I recently learned that two of my sisters are expecting and that means that there will be plenty of shopping for babies in my future!

Holiday DVDs from Paramount Provide Hours of Family Fun-Giveaway

December 15, 2012 by Kathryn

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Looking for kid-friendly entertainment over the holidays? Paramount has a great collection of DVDs featuring beloved characters ranging from Shrek to SpongeBob! If you’re looking for a new DVD for your kids this Christmas, check out one of these great titles:

Kung Fu Panda: Holiday – In this hilarious action adventure, Master Shifu calls on Po to host the year’s biggest event – the Winter Feast, a special time of the year to celebrate family, tradition and the awesomeness of Kung Fu! Po and the Furious Five must team up to throw the best celebration the Valley of Peace has ever seen. Can Po pull off the perfect party, impress his heroes, and discover the true meaning of the Winter Feast? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Holiday Gift Guide, Infants and Children, Reviews, Reviews and Giveaways Tagged With: christmas, DVD, DVD reviews, dvds, family, holiday, holiday dvd, holiday dvds, kids dvds, kung fu panda, madagascar, nickelodeon, Paramount, paramount dvd, shrek, spongebob

Turn Learning into a Game with the LeapFrog LeapPad2 Explorer

December 14, 2012 by Kathryn

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My family has always loved the interactive and educational products from LeapFrog. From the time my oldest son was just a toddler right up until today, our toy collection has always featured the hottest new LeapFrog products and our Leapster Explorer is the boys’ favourite gaming system years after receiving it. So I was delighted when I received the new LeapPad2 to review this year.

We don’t own the LeapPad, but I did a little reading up on it and I noticed a lot of upgrades that kids and parents will both love. The big difference is the camera. Pictures are utilized in many of the games and apps on this device and the previous LeapPad had a fairly basic 0.3 megapixel camera. The LeapPad2 features 2.0 megapixel cameras on both the front and back of the device. That means that not only are pictures bright and beautiful, but kids also now have the ability to take pictures of themselves!

The memory also increased quite a bit compared to the first LeapPad, from 2GB to 4GB. I loved that the LeapPad 2 worked with my boys’ Leapster Explorer games and, as always, my boys both adored the many apps that we could download to use on the device. The LeapPad2 comes preloaded with two apps and features one free app available from the App Centre, but there are hundreds of other great apps, games and videos that can be downloaded for the device as well. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Holiday Gift Guide, Infants and Children, Reviews, Reviews and Giveaways Tagged With: christmas, education, educational, explorer, game system, gaming, gifts, leapfrog, leapfrog explorer, leapfrog game, leappad, leappad2, leappad2 explorer, leapster explorer, learning, present

Find Great Gifts for the Whole Family at Overstock.com

December 13, 2012 by Kathryn

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I used to enjoy Christmas shopping in malls and department stores when I was younger, but with two boys to bring and the challenge of trying to hide whatever I’m buying from their inquisitive eyes, I’ve started to do as much of my shopping as possible online. It took me a little while to really embrace the online craze, but now that I have, I’m hooked. Having everything I need for Christmas come right to my front door is so much easier than braving crowds!

That’s why I immediately fell in love with O.co, also known as Overstock.com. This online superstore has all kinds of top brand name products for kids and adults at amazing prices. And best of all, shipping is free on your first order! I recently got the chance to pick out one of the products from Overstock.com to see for myself the variety and quality of the products the store offers and I couldn’t wait. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Holiday Gift Guide, Infants and Children, Reviews, Reviews and Giveaways, Tweens and Teens Tagged With: alarm, alarm clock, boy, christmas, clock, gift guide, gifts, kai, kai alarm clock, kids, lego, ninjago, o.co, overstock, overstock.com, overstock.com gift guide, overstock.com gifts, presents

Start Your Child’s Collection of Trashies with the Trash Pack Garbage Truck

December 11, 2012 by Kathryn

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They’re dirty. They’re gross. And they’re one of the hottest toys of the holiday season! If your child has been begging you for Trash Pack toys, you’re not alone! These adorably grimy figurines and play sets have become a hit with children of all ages!

Recently I received the Trash Pack Garbage Truck to check out and I was so excited about it. Zackary, like so many other kids, has become fascinated by the cute collectibles with icky names like Mucky Maggot and Putrid Pizza. The Trash Pack Garbage Truck is a great way to start off the Trash Pack collection since it features an interactive game and a couple of Trashies characters to start a child’s collection.

My favourite feature of this particular set was that it incorporates a fun stack and topple activity. The truck opens up so that a child can stack the little Trash Pack garbage cans inside. Then the Trashies can be loaded into the special large wheelie bin and launched through the air to knock down the garbage cans. Zackary couldn’t get enough of it! [Read more...]

Filed Under: Holiday Gift Guide, Infants and Children, Reviews, Reviews and Giveaways Tagged With: boy, boys, christmas, christmas present, garbage, garbage truck, kids, pack, trash, trash pack, trash pack garbage truck, trashies, truck

Let Your Children Build Some Fun Christmas Morning with Meccano

December 11, 2012 by Kathryn

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If you have a child that loves to build, let them create something amazing with the construction toy that’s been a favourite of children since 1901, Meccano! Over the years, Meccano has changed a lot and this year the company has some great choices for the holiday season. I recently received a few of them to check out for myself and I couldn’t wait to see what the updated Meccano building sets were like.

When I saw the Meccano Sonic the Hedgehog sets, I knew at once that my oldest son would love them. Not only has he recently developed a passion for construction, he also adores Sonic the Hedgehog! I liked that the sets were available in different styles for various fun experiences.

I received both a 15 and a 35-piece set. The 15-piece Sonic & Speed Star set contained Sonic in his Speed Star racer featuring pull-back action and the Sonic & Green Hill Ramp 35-piece set contained a fun stunt track in addition to another Sonic car so that both of my boys could have a car to race down the stunt track! With a suggested age of five years and up, it was the perfect skill level for my boys. [Read more...]