ETA: Apparently the one item we were so excited to open with is out of stock! Dang! Will update when someone tells us it’s back. Grrrr…

Two years ago, I reviewed a magnetic calendar for preschoolers & school aged kids my family is still using to this day and just love. For that reason, I’ve made it the first item for sale in our new OpenSky Shop!

Now, with two preschool aged children, the magnetic weekly calendar from 2fishkids is even more a part of our day. It’s such a great visual organizer for little people, and a sanity saver for this mama. It’s well organized, colourful and personalized to my children and their incredibly busy weeks. It teaches about the days of the week, seasons, weather and more.

The fully magnetic calendar measures 13 1/8” x 8 1/8” and comes with 58 activity, season and weather magnets, a dry erase marker and a storage bag. Because of the smallish magnets, it’s recommended for ages 3+. This indispensable preschool tool retails for just $20 and you can now buy it right from us without leaving our site!

Our OpenSky shop is small – one item only at this time – because of our promise to test out each and every item we sell and only sell things that we love. From each sale, we will make a small amount (~$1-$3) but you pay no more than you would if you had to do all of the shopping around on your own and purchased the same item from their own or any other third-party site. We do all of the work for you, and hope you love shopping with your trusted friends at T.O.P!

Children who have never experienced missing one or both of their parents are few & far between these days. Parents work, travel for fun without their children, get deployed, get sick…there are so many things that take parents from their children, and Cuddletunes aims to make those times a little easier on everyone. Cuddletunes began when five year old Olivia missed her daddy. Olivia’s parents, Cuddletunes cofounders David and Cherie, were tucking their daughter in for bed the day before David left on a business trip to New York.

“I’m going to miss you so much honey. You know how much I love you right?” David kissed his daughter on the forehead and she nodded.

“I wish you could tell me that when you’re gone and I’m going to sleep at night. I wish I had a daddy doll so I could hear your voice when I miss you.” This gave Cherie and David the idea that eventually led to Cuddletunes. They talked to their friends Denise and Mike, also parents, who came on board as cofounders. Four years later, in 2007, Olivia’s idea has been transformed and they’re selling bears, but their focus is the same: helping families stay close.

When it comes to comforting a child, there is nothing quite like a good old-fashioned teddy bear. The Cuddletunes Social Networking Bear is a hybrid: she is just as cuddly and sweet as the teddy bear you loved as a child, but is also equipped with a built-in MP3 player. Parents, grandparents, and loved ones can record a story, song, or message from anywhere and upload it to the Cuddletunes site and it is in turn downloaded onto the MP3 player inside the bear via a USB connection. She’s called a social networking bear because in conjunction with their website she’s helping families stay connected more than ever before. Each bear also includes five lullabies sung by professional singers and customized with the child’s name.

My daughter received a Cuddletunes bear and it’s utterly awesome. You can’t feel the mp3 player at all – the bear really is as soft as any other good quality teddy bear – and the quality of the recordings are fabulous. Setting it up online for her was ridiculously easy – her name was available in the professionally pre-recorded songs so I simply had to type in her name, and then I recorded myself reading her a personalized story using the built in mic on my camera (fully guided by Cuddletunes – I’m not that creative!) The Cuddle Tunes Bear with pre-loaded player retails for $59.95.

Win it! Enter to win your own Cuddletunes bear with a comment (or up to five comments!) on this post before noon mst on August 14, 2010.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED (Congrats Betty!)

A few little girls were granted the chance to review the beautiful new hardcover book from Prima Princessa, Prima Princessa’s Ballet for Beginners: Featuring the School of American Ballet [Hardcover]. Here’s what they had to say:

Kamryn (7) says: “I really like this book. It is easy to understand because there are really nice pictures, and I can read lots of the words too. I like to copy the pictures in front of the mirror in my bedroom. I like the hard cover too, so my sister probably won’t wreck it.”

Emelia (3) says, with the help of her mom: “I love my ballet class and I love everything pink. This book is great for any girl who loves ballet, from toddlers right on up to pre-teens. It’s an easy read for mom, too, so I can help her learn more which makes her class easier for her.”

Ashley (10) says: “Even though I’m kind of over pink, I still love ballet and this book is a great review for anyone who’s taken a few years of classes already. It has some definitions in it that I didn’t know before so that was neat. I think every beginning dancer should get a book like this before they start ballet!

Maren (4) says: “I love love love my new ballet book! I have both of the Prima Princessa DVD’s and have loved them forever, so I was really excited to get this book. The pictures are really nice and easy to copy, even if you can’t read the text without help.”

Buy it for under $11 at Amazon.

Win it! Comment on this post before noon mst on August 4, 2010 to win a copy of your own.

Three dimensional movies are way cool, but the glasses that the theatres hand out are, um, questionable. RealD, a leading global licensor of stereoscopic (three-dimensional), or 3D, technologies, sent my children some ReadD kid-size 3D glasses of their very own with which to watch Toy Story 3.

They’re designed to fit kids 8 & under, and all theatres showing the 3D version of Toy Story 3 have received shipments of these little guys so be sure to ask for them. Bonus: they’re new so you don’t have to worry about the questionable cleaning methods of the recycled ones! (Tip: keep them and clean them yourself for re-use.) They’re made to the same high quality standards as the adult RealD 3D glasses for a bright & immersive 3D experience.

Win it! Want your kids to have their own sanitary, child-sized pair of realD 3D glasses? FIVE randomly selected commenters will each win TWO pairs! Comment on this post before noon mst on August 4 to be entered.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNERS EMAILED

There are many joys, big and small, for a mama with a little girl. One of the small joys that I adore is choosing new hair bows & clips to match every outfit. I have no time for crafts, so luckily there are a ton of shops online selling fabulous products at reasonable prices, like fromalicebows.com

The variety is great – check out their signature collection – and the prices range from a very reasonable & demure $4 to a gorgeous, layered & fancy $15.

Win it! We’re giving away a selection of 5 “pretties” valued at $40. Visit From, Alice and comment on this post with one of your faves before noon mst on July 31, 2010 to be entered to win!

Got a preschooler in the house?

Check out the Skip Hop zoo pack which is twenty bucks well spent. They are just the cutest things. They’re BPA, pthalate and PVC free, natch, and have the cutest little whimsical details. The monkey backpack, the newest addition to the line, has bananas for zipper pulls. These packs are just the perfect size for the 2-6 year old set, hold a Laptop Lunch container and some extra goodies perfectly, and each one has a front pocket the perfect size for a few toys or a small book.

A great preschool backpack is hard to find. Or, at least it used to be.

Built-in camera

Color Collector (or Colour Collector for my fellow Canucks) is a really neat concept for a game that appeals to a wide range of ages.

This is another game offered by the fine folks at Tickle Tap Apps, is available from the iTunes App Store for a budget-conscious $1.99.  It’s rated 4+, (and now I’m starting to understand that “4+” actually translates to “everyone” — most people don’t trust their phone with a 3-year-old though!)

The basic premise for this game is to send your children on a scavenger hunt collecting each of the six colours represented in the colour wheel.  You do this by finding objects of the appropriate colour and snapping a picture of them (by tapping the screen).

Snapping a picture

It’s ridiculously easy to use, and pretty darn accurate.  Occasionally, it will get the colour wrong (my testing showed most problems with Orange and Purple — it doesn’t do well identifying dark versions of those colours), but I’d say that it gets it right at least 85% of the time.

When you tap the screen, it will instantly identify the colour for you, and play a short animation.  A star will then appear in the upper-left corner representing each of the colours you’ve collected.  Every 2 pictures, a short animation will play (nice touch, but gets a little pointless and repetitive after the first couple of times).

My only real gripe is that once you’ve collected all 6 colours, the game just resets.  There’s no “final animation” or some indicator to show that you’ve collected them all.  That’s one of my complaints though, my kids have never commented on it. -by Jon

The amazing Jonathan Lane is the founder of Industry Interactive and Discover Gulf Islands. He blogs at Flying Troll and tweets here. He has worked with my brilliant & incredibly hot husband and according to him, Jon is one of the nicest and smartest guys you’d ever care to meet. My husband is a damn good judge of character, so there you go.

Win it! Tickle Tap Apps is giving away a $20 iTunes gift card to one randomly selected T.O.P. reader who’d like to try Tickle Tap Apps. Just comment below to be entered. Due to technical issues, we’ve extended this contest to close at noon mst on FEB 24, 2010.

Counting by 2s

This game taught me a very important lesson: my 5-year-old son is more patient than I am.  But first, the details!

Count Caddy from Tickle Tap Apps is a great interactive game that teaches you counting skills.  You start off counting by 1s, then move on to counting by 2s & 3s.  Count Caddy will set you back $1.99 and is available from (where else?) the iTunes App Store.  It’s rated 4+, which in my experience is right on; my 3-year-old lost interest pretty quickly, but my 5-year-old (who has Good Will Hunting-like math abilities), got a kick out of it.  He really put the game through it’s paces, and ended up showing me that it progresses in difficulty (I got bored after counting by 2s).

Inter-level animation

The game progresses through a series of levels; on level one you count by 1s three times, on level 2, you count by 2s and so on.  As you pass each level, you’re treated to a short animation.

Count Caddy has proven to be highly re-playable; in fact my son is constantly asking me if he can play it whenever we’re out.  It’s simple, bright and lots of fun.  Everything that a children’s game should be. -by Jon




The amazing Jonathan Lane is the founder of Industry Interactive and Discover Gulf Islands. He blogs at Flying Troll and tweets here. He has worked with my brilliant & incredibly hot husband and according to him, Jon is one of the nicest and smartest guys you’d ever care to meet. My husband is a damn good judge of character, so there you go.

Another Tickle Tap App will be reviewed tomorrow, and we’ll be including an iTunes gift card giveaway so y’all come back now!

Illustration from The Queen Bee

In my last review I looked at an app by PicPocket Books: Sea Creatures.  This review is for a similar app; Storychimes – another sort of “enhanced storybook”.  The Queen Bee is a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.  It’s available from the iTunes app store, and will set you back $0.99.  It’s officially rated 4+ in the App Store, but truthfully, my 3 year old and his friends enjoyed the story way more than my restless 5 year old.
I’ve got a confession to make: I love this genre of app.  I live on an island and have to catch a ferry to go to “the big city”.  As a result, I frequently end up with time to kill with the kids in tow.  I’m your typical dad, so I’m never actually prepared with books or toys or games to keep the boys entertained, but I seem to always have my phone (go figure).  Short, simple apps that can grab the attention of the kids for a few minutes are lifesavers.

Simpleton searches for pearls

The Queen Bee is similar in a lot of ways to a regular storybook: there are great illustrations, and you swipe your finger across the screen to turn pages.  They provide a number of handy options like turning the background music on and off, and either showing the text of the story or hiding it and displaying illustrations full-screen.  There’s an option to Autoplay the book, so you don’t have to flip the pages.

I love that the audio is synched up with the story, so if you get interrupted you can just flip back to where you left off, and the story will start from that point (a bookmarking feature would be even better, but it’s not like we’re talking a 300 page book here!)

My 5-year-old has learned that I have games on my phone, so it’s hard to get him to sit through a story now, but my 3-year-old and one of his friends were completely entranced throughout the entire story, and then had great fun flipping the pages back and forth.

The production quality is great, and the story is a good one.  In my opinion, well worth the dollar. -by Jon
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The amazing Jonathan Lane is the founder of Industry Interactive and Discover Gulf Islands. He blogs at Flying Troll and tweets here. He has worked with my brilliant & incredibly hot husband and according to him, Jon is one of the nicest and smartest guys you’d ever care to meet. My husband is a damn good judge of character, so there you go.

Win it! We’ve got TEN Storychimes codes to give away. To enter, visit the Storychimes site and comment with which book(s) you think the little people in your life would enjoy or make a suggestion for a Storychime you’d like to see added. Due to technical issues, we’ve extended this contest to close at noon mst on FEB 22, 2010.

At times in the Canadian prairies it’s tough to find those great natural & open ended toys that many of us believe in (toys that allow children to play…and learn…without getting overstimulated or ingesting nasty chemicals) without paying insane shipping charges and customs fees. We recently discovered a northern Albertan company, Play and Learn Toys, that solves that problem for parents all over Canada. Owner Narissa Singh, a UNB Business graduate, has lived in northern Alberta for nearly ten years and struggled to find Canadian sources for quality toys for her own children. She has chosen to offer a super array of products from some great manufacturers known for their quality & safety, and runs her business out of her home since her tiny town doesn’t have retail space for a store.

Play & Learn Toys carries many products that I’ve seen on European sites and been curious about, so I was thrilled to see that they’re available in Canada now – and being from a mom-run business makes it even better!

My children are absolutely loving their new Stepped Pyramid ($54.99) from Grimms. It consists of a square wooden base filled with blocks in a variety of colours, sizes and versatile shapes. With an open ended toy like this, the possibilities for learning are endless. We now use them daily for imaginative building play and they’ve been castles, rocketships, dragons, post offices, houses and so much more. That’s the thing with great toys – they don’t do the imagining or noisemaking for you, so they can be anything at any time. Grimms’ products are made in Germany of wood and non-toxic colourings.

Another super product the Play & Learn Toys carries is Contina by Bamboo ($29.99). This is not just another sets of blocks. Contina includes a rainbow of colors, black and natural finishes on 100 bamboo sticks which are small and lightweight for children 3 years and up. Combine colors, create a rainbow, stack lengthwise like dominos or pile them high for tons of creative fun. The possibilities are endless with Contina. It’s no wonder that Contina won the Best Toy award from Child’s Magazine.

Join Play & Learn Toys on Facebook.

Save 10% on your order with the code TOP10.

Win it! You can win a set of Contina by Bamboo from Play and Learn Toys. To enter, visit the Play & Learn Toys shop and comment here with another yet un-mentioned toy or item from the shop that you kinda dig. Contest closes at noon mst on February 9, 2010.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Joe Rothstein, a speech-language pathologist trained in early childhood education, has recently released his groundbreaking CD Power Tunes. Normally we’re excited to tell you about CD’s that are perfect for the whole family, but this CD is definitely just for the kids. Power Tunes meets children’s most simple language needs with ten upbeat, original tracks.

Tracks include School Song, Train Song, Food Song and Red Light, Green Light pick kids up and get their bodies and brainwaves moving together while empowering them with important language tools. They’re educational and address many language learning skills but are so fun that kids will never realize they’re learning. That’s my goal as an early childhood educator – to make learning so fun and engaging that kids don’t realize what’s happening. I have several students with speech issues in my room this year and was thrilled with the results of playing this CD for my class. Whether your children have speech concerns or not, it’s a great CD for all children and is particularly great for toddlers who are in the early stages of developing language.

I give it a ten out of ten – even if I wouldn’t listen to it without my kids around.

Not THE common cold. Not the one that involves lots of snot and ears that feel like they’ve been stuffed with cotton.

The Nuddle cures cold – like the thermometer dipping kind of cold. The Canadian kind of cold, even.

The Nuddle Blanket (nap + cuddle = nuddle) is a truly luxurious blanket. Whether you have the adult version ($68), the kids version ($48) or the baby version ($38), you’ll be amazed when you feel the fabric. Just pure ultra-plush heaven. It has holes for your arms, a foot pocket and an outer hand pouch like a muff. The arm openings are just the perfect size – not large enough to let a bunch of cold air in but large enough to fit pretty much anyone’s arm.

The Nuddle Kids blanket (which my two fight over constantly – “It’s MINE!” “No, it’s MINE!”- comes in three delicious colours: cherry, fudge, & blueberry, and is the perfect size for children from about 2-12 after which they’d likely be ready for an adult Nuddle. (Though it says 4 and above, my daughter who will be 2 in a week or so would fight you on that and she’d win. She always does. I have no idea where she gets that from. Heh.)

The Nuddle Baby (available in neutral oatmeal, bubblegum pink & cloud blue) is the newest Nuddle product and it’s intended for use in the stroller. It measures 24″ x 32″ and has the classic Nuddle foot pocket and holes for the five-point safety harness on your stroller. While I no longer have a baby who rides in a stroller (sniff) I asked a local new mama to test the Nuddle Baby for us and her words follow: “Wow, this is an amazing stroller blanket! It’s impossible to get it to fall off, even in our crazy winds, and it’s SO soft! The foot pocket is fantastic and keeps my little guy snuggly no matter how long our walks are. What a great product!”

Sure, they’re not as cheap as a Snuggie, but have you felt a Snuggie? They’re only worth the $10-$20 you’ll pay for them and not a penny more. It’s like comparing a Lamborghini to a Kia, so don’t bother. (If you’re desperate for sleeves, which you needn’t be, then shun the Snuggie and get a Slanket. Trust me.) < /ramble > If you want a quality blanket that washes well over and over again, that keeps you & your babies warm & cozy and may prevent you from leaving the house because you’re just to darn cozy, then you need a Nuddle.

Win it! We’ve got a Nuddle Kids in fudge and a Nuddle Baby in oatmeal to give away to one very lucky T.O.P. reader. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on January 15, 2010.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED!

My daughter, until two weeks ago, had never had her nails painted. There just wasn’t a safe enough option for those porous little nails. Sure, there’s toluene & formaldehyde free polishes everywhere now, but the other ingredients are enough to send you screaming & running in the other direction.

We recently discovered Piggy Paint and are now thrilled to be able to paint her nails any time she’s feeling the need for a little extra pink.

It’s got no harsh, nasty chemicals in it – it’s free of formaldehyde, toluene, phthalates, Bisphenol A, ethyl acetate and acetone. Check out the difference between Piggy Paint and other children’s nail polish on a styrofoam plate. It’s rather astounding. Piggy Paint is non-toxic, low odour, water based, hypoallergenic, and the fun colours all dry to a hard & durable finish. My daughter absolutely loves having pink nails to match her pink clothing, pink boots, pink coat, pink toys…you get my drift.

We also have some Piggy Paint remover but actually haven’t used it yet because the Piggy Paint wore off fairly quickly. It looked great for about 3-4 days and then came off over the next day or three. Perfect for a little girl who would hate for me to use remover on her. We didn’t cure it with a blow dryer as they recommend, and just put on two coats. I honestly wouldn’t want polish on my child that lasted for much longer, so she and I absolutely loved it. It’s going to make it much easier to change colours regularly as well. When we do need to use the remover, I’ll use it without reservation because it also is made from natural ingredients, is low odour, acetone-free, hypoallergenic & biodegradable.

Piggy Paint was founded by mom of two Melanie Hurley and is made in the USA. Natural & safe products for kids that are still sparkly & fun? Piggy Paint is just the kind of product and company that Opinionated Parents love to recommend and support with our own hard-earned cash.

Save 15% on your Piggy Paint (including sale items) with the code OPINIONATED15L until January 31, 2010.

Win it! Comment below before noon mst on December 24/09 with your favourite Piggy Paint shade to win a $15 gift certificate!

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

This weekend I’m planning to brave the mall so my kids can see Santa. Actually, the only reason I’m considering it is because I got some adorable frames for the annual Santa pics last year and I have a mental block to leaving the old pictures in them. Poor kids. A nicer mother would keep them as far away from the mall as possible and just go straight to SantaSpeaking.com.

Founded by Anne Gaskell (aka Elf Annie), a mom of three, Santa Speaking is absolutely top notch. There are a lot of sites out there that we’re asked to check out & recommend to you, and the one we’re consistently impressed by and the only one we’ve tried that we think is good enough to recommend at this point is Santa Speaking. Elf Annie is well aware that the mall Santa may not quite meet your expectations, so she developed this service to “offer personalized Santa Claus experiences that are modeled after the ideal Santa Claus figure.” The calls range from 3-5 minutes (single call) to 8-10 minutes (extended call). I highly recommend the extended call if you have more than one child or one that either really likes to talk, like mine, or one that may take a few minutes to warm up. My children are 3 1/2 and nearly two and their call from Santa Speaking was the absolute highlight of their year. This year, just like the last two, it was nothing short of amazing to watch them light up and tell Santa their Christmas wishes. They could hardly wait to call Grandma to tell her all about the phone call from the big guy, and were just bouncing off the walls with excitement all day! Whether your child talks for 10 minutes non-stop or just sits & listens, the well trained (and fully background checked) Santa will fill the empty space with questions and comments about your child’s life that only Santa could know. Even the skeptics will have their hearts opened by a call from Santa Speaking. You can get an MP3 of your child’s call via email and/or a mini-CD ornament to both listen to and hang on your tree year after year. We just listened to last year’s call and were amazed by the change in the sound of their little voices. Precious.

The set up of the call is as simple as can be, and they’ve thought of everything in terms of ensuring that Santa knows a ton of information about your child. He knew the names of my children’s best friends, their activities and hobbies and so much more – all of which I was able to effortlessly enter prior to the call.

SantaSpeaking.com is tracking Santa’s progress this Christmas Eve so be sure to check in. You can even have him call you five times throughout the day to update you on his progress. Santa also has a blog! At SantaSpeaking.com, you can read the North Pole Gossiper, dance to Santa’s Groovy Hits, get the recipe to make Santa’s fave hot chocolate and so much more. Whether you’re purchasing a call or not, it’s a great site to visit. However, once you experience a call from Santa Speaking you’ll likely be ordering a call every year. From $20 – $50, there’s one that’s affordable for most families.

Win it! We’ve got a $60 SantaSpeaking.com gift code for one lucky T.O.P. reader! That will cover the whole she-bang – an extended call and a mini CD ornament/MP3. We’ve only got a couple of weeks until Christmas eve, so leave your comment by noon MST on Monday 12/14/09, and the winner will be notified that afternoon./blockquote>

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

My children both love crafts. It’s all crafts, all the time around here. From simple colouring & playdough smushing to glueing random things on to other random things, they love it all. With going back to work, the craft projects I plan & do with my children aren’t as intricate or as often as they used to be, so I was thrilled to find the awesome kits from Creativity for Kids.

My son and I delved into the new festive felt stocking kit ($21.99) last week, and at just 3 1/2 years old he was able to do everything independently. It looks just like a 3 1/2 year old made it, and it’s pure perfection simply because he loves it. It’s marked ages 5-95 but was absolutely no trouble for him at all. I don’t know that I’d want to spend twenty bucks on a kit for a 3 year old, but for an older child it would make a valuable keepsake. (For us, it made a bunch of random stickers and glitter glue smudges on a stocking. While we got some great pictures of the process and the product, I don’t know that we’ll keep the actual product forever.) That’s actually a large part of the charm of these kits. The activities are open ended so no two children will create the same product and everyone can be proud of their creative process.

The kits come equipped with everything your child needs to personalize a whimsical light blue felt stocking – peel and stick felt stickers in a variety of shapes and colours, jewel stickers and a tube of silver glitter glue. It comes with a teensy mini stocking, too, that just fits a little bone for Fido. The large stocking measures 10 1/2″ x 13″ and both stockings include a ribbon hanging loop.

Win it! One reader will win the kit of their choice from Creativity for Kids. To enter, comment on this post with your selection before noon mst on Monday, December 14, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Sadly, I don’t have an iPhone. I know. So sad.

We get a lot of pitches from people wanting us to review apps for kids & parents, and we’ve always felt a little bad about ignoring them but there wasn’t much we could do about it. In light of that, I’d like to welcome T.O.P.’s newest team member & techie extraordinaire, Jon, with his first review. Welcome Jon, and thanks for helping out!

Just as the name suggests, this application is a short book about Sea Creatures, available from the Apple iTunes App Store.  It’ll run you $0.99, and is rated 4+ (so pretty much anyone will be fine viewing the contents) PicPocket lists the age range as 2 to 6, and I’d agree with that.  The easiest way to explain this app is to call it an illustrated audio book.  I clocked the total play time at 90 seconds.

Sometimes it’s hard for a parent to really get a feel for whether something will be interesting for their kids, or not.  I loaded up PicPocket Books: Sea Creatures onto my iPhone and thought to myself “I just don’t see this holding their attention”.  Maybe I am more mature than a 5-year-old afterall.

The first test was my three year old.  We live on the west coast, and are pretty familiar with ocean life, so Sea Creatures was actually neat for him and something he could relate to.  The illustrations in the book are really vibrant and the words are read back at a good pace.  He sat through the entire reading and then asked me to put it on again (always a good sign).  The second time through, he started tapping on the screen which brings up a set of on-screen controls for pausing and skipping ahead in the book.  It interrupted the flow, and sort of confused him, but I was able to help him out and get back on track.

Next up was my five year old.  Like his brother, he sat through an entire reading and asked me a number of questions.  He wanted to know why we see jellyfish where we live, but not all of the other animals illustrated in the book.  A great question that led us to talk about differences in water temperature and habitats, and I reminded him that we saw a number of similar fish at the Vancouver Aquarium on our last visit.

Overall, this proved to be a great app for killing a short amount of time.  There really isn’t any interactivity to speak of, and personally I get bored of the same 90 second story over and over again: but I’m really not the target audience on this one.

PicPocket Books offer a number of other stories in the App Store if your kids aren’t into the ocean.  In fact, I’d buy “Big Rigs” right now, but then I would probably have trouble getting my phone back from the boys.
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The amazing Jonathan Lane is the founder of Industry Interactive and Discover Gulf Islands, . He blogs at Flying Troll and tweets here. He has worked with my brilliant & incredibly hot husband and according to him, Jon is one of the nicest and smartest guys you’d ever care to meet. My husband is a damn good judge of character, so there you go.

Win it! PicPocket Books is giving one T.O.P. reader their choice of book. To enter, choose your fave and comment here before noon mst on December 11, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Since we got our Wii & Wii Fit, we haven’t played them nearly as much as we thought we would. In fact, it just might have an embarrassing layer of dust on it. I blame it on having small children who aren’t allowed to touch expensive electronics. However, we recently received a few cool items to go along with our Wii that have brought it back in to our repertoire.

The NERF Sports Pack ($19.99) includes add-ons for Baseball, Golf, and Tennis that are coated in that great & well loved NERF material that protects both your head and your big screen tv. I love that these games actually came with our Wii so we could play with them right away without buying anything else. All of these games are way more fun when you have the right equipment instead of just a Wii-mote. Who knew? The NERF Racing Wheel (only $9.99) makes driving super fun and much safer. It actually inspired me to let the three year old drive, which means we no longer have to wait until after bedtime to break out the games! I would never have played or bought Mario Kart if I didn’t have to try out this wheel, and now it’s my fave!

Energizer Power & Play Wii 4X Charger ($39.99) offers Wii users the ability to charge up to 4 Wii-motes with or without the wrist-strap via conduction technology. If you have more than two remotes, you MUST get one of these! It’s pretty awesome to know you’ll all be able to play together with fully charged remotes any time. It comes with 4 rechargeable battery packs, 4 battery covers and a power cord. If you’ve only got two remotes, check out the very cool Energizer Power & Play Wii Induction Charger ($49.99). It charges 2 Wii-motes at once without removing the silicone jacket or your Wii Motion Plus attachment and comes with 2 rechargeable battery packs, 2 battery covers and a power cord.

Performance Designed Products (PDP) is an industry leader in designing and manufacturing products for all major video game platforms including the Sony PS2, PS3, PSP, Nintendo Wii, GameCube, Nintendo DS, Microsoft XBOX and XBOX 360. The company has been supplying video game accessories to the U.S. market for more than a decade. PDP sells products under a variety of brands, with sales in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and throughout Europe. For more information on PDP and its products, visit www.pdp.com.

Win it! We’re giving away all FOUR of these great products for the Wii to one T.O.P. reader! To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on August (holy crap! August?) 19, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Not that the people we love aren’t worth several hours of folding, drawing and colouring, but sometimes that’s why they get an impersonal dollar store card instead of a handmade one – it either takes too long or the kid can’t draw much more than a stick figure independently. With the ingenious KidCards, any child can quickly & easily create a card for any occasion that’s perfect for their own skill level.

Volume 1 is perfect for my kids who are 1 and 3. There are 20 cards with envelopes for a variety of occasions (birthday, thank you, get well, congrats & friendship) and they’re ready to colour & decorate. Even if you have a kid who just does a little scribble, the recipient is sure to appreciate the gesture, and the child learns the concept of card giving and kindness from a young age. Volume two also contains 20 cards with envelopes in the same variety, but only features a themed frame on the front, leaving much more room for creativity for the older child. Also available are a special edition Christmas set and three sets just for teachers (Mother’s Day, Father’s Day & thank you) with a card & envelope for each child in the class. I just happen to be an early childhood educator in “real life” and these cards are just perfect for a class of K-2ish kids to quickly create an occasion card that doesn’t tie up an entire double art period. If you have an extra large class, the cards are easily double-side copied (they’re just black line masters, really). They remind me a lot of the cards we teachers create all the time in MS Publisher, but now we no longer have to spend the time doing that. They even come pre-scored for easy & straight folding – a huge bonus if you want the card from your three year old to fit in the envelope.

At just $15/book, they beat even the dollar store prices and mean a heck of a lot more to the person receiving them.

Win it! Your choice of volume 1 or volume 2 is up for grabs. To enter, let us know which one you’d like via comment before noon mst on June 17, 2009. Canada & US only please.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Generations of children have frustrated their parents by playing with the box more than the costly toy that came inside it. Color Me House, founded by April McCray, offers a genius solution that makes kids happy, saves parents money, and encourages unlimited creativity.

The Color Me line of products is made of strong, sturdy, 100% recyclable 2 ply cardboard that’s safe for kids of all ages with no staples or sharp corners. (Provided they won’t eat it – it won’t necessarily hurt them but it’s not vitamin-packed either.)

There are currently two products available – The house sells for $40 and the rocket will set you back a mere $50. A small price to pay for hours and hours of creative entertainment. If you grew up making forts from cardboard boxes, you’ll love sharing Color Me House with your kids. Simply open & assemble (a few minutes, tops) and set the kids free with their choice of creative paraphernalia – crayons, paints, markers, glitter glue, wallpaper, stickers or anything else that makes a mark.

We’ve had a bit of a strange spring here in the great white north, and we’ve been loving the Color Me House & Color Me Rocket for those snowy (wth?) May days. We leave them inside on the sunny days (though they can be taken outside if you have a dry location) so they’re a great novelty for the times when we trade in the swimsuits for the snowboots. The next one I order will be an awesome addition to our mid-January forced-to-stay-inside birthday party.

Order yours from Color Me House or find a location near you.

Win it! We’re giving away a Color Me House or Color Me Rocket – your choice – to one lucky USA-based (sorry ’bout that!) reader. To enter, leave a comment letting us know which one you want and your state on this post before noon mst on June 3, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

The Adventures of Scuba Jack is a new, interactive DVD series for preschool aged children that combines education and entertainment through the use of animation, puppets and live actors. The concept was created by Beth Costanzo, the owner of two preschools, and the DVD’s actually simulate a day at pre-school. They engage young children through stories & activities, and in addition to their main topic of instruction (Tide Pools, in the first episode) also improves their letter and word recognition, basic arithmetic, classification, fine motor and gross motor skills.

The cast of characters, including Ms. Beth – the Pre-School Teacher, Scuba Jack – the knowledgeable underwater adventurer who visits the classroom to take the students on ocean adventures, Paco the Pelican – a talking pelican who teaches the children a new Spanish word each day and many more quirky folks, are not professional actors or professionally filmed by any stretch of the imagination. While that got on my nerves ever so slightly, my kids and their preschool aged friends who spend their days here have asked to watch Scuba Jack at least twice a day, every day, since the DVD showed up a week ago. They’ve learned some very interesting ocean facts and it’s even brought out some more realistic imaginative play with their sea creature toys. While shopping recently, my son blurted out something or other about tide pools and told me that he likes “all sorts of adventures” and “gathering on the rocks.” This stuff sticks.

The DVD ($20 in the Scuba Jack shop, along with a ton of other cool stuff) comes with “Under the A-B-Seas,” an awesome colouring book (& crayons!) that features an ocean creature for each letter of the alphabet. They’re line-drawn (read: easy to copy for the kids to use more than once) and each is accompanied by an interlined label for the creature in a dotted font for the child to trace. It’s an awesome colouring book and would be a great addition to an ocean theme in a preschool/kindergarten classroom or homeschooling home.

So, while I don’t really want to watch this show every day anymore, I’m thrilled to use it and especially the colouring book in my classroom and in my home.

Parents and caregivers can download episode specific learning activities from the Scuba Jack website that create a unique, interactive pre-school experience for their youngster.

Win it! We’ve got a DVD/colouring book pack to give away. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on May 20, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Over the last few years, I’ve invested in a cupboard full of glass containers for freezing & storing food and ditched 90% of the plastic that we used to use. It’s costly, but totally worth it for the health of my family. I consider it an investment. They’re endlessly reusable which means I save money, the earth, and the bodies of the people I love most.

My husband and I often take leftovers for lunch in glass, but I’m not about to send glass with my three year old. Even if he didn’t smash it on purpose, he’d surely do it accidentally by the end of the first week. Since he mostly eats dry snackies, fresh produce & cheese all day long, I was thrilled to discover LunchBots. Made from the highest quality 18/8 stainless steel, LunchBots won’t leach chemicals into foods like plastic does.

The LunchBots uno (blue lid) is perfect for sandwiches or a larger quantity of the same snack. My kids love it for trail mix or cookies. The LunchBots duo (orange lid) is the same container but with a divider welded in to hold two portions of snacks. The divider is not water tight so LunchBots are not intended for wet foods, but if you pack fresh like we do then you’ll be very happy with these. For extras like dips & yogurts, you’ll need to supplement with another type of container. We love the duo for cheese & crackers, raisins & cucumbers, fresh fruit salad & veggies sticks and so much more. Both measure 6.5″x4.5″ and fit easily in lunch bags, diaper bags & most purses. I recommend buying both because no matter which one you choose, you’ll wish you had the other one as soon as you start packing lunches! They’re both great, and used daily in our home.

US readers can purchase directly from LunchBots ($14.99). Canadian readers can purchase from Parenting by Nature ($22.98).

Win it! We’ve got a LunchBots uno AND a LunchBots duo to give away to one lucky reader. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on May 12, 2009. Feel free to share your great “dry lunch” ideas!

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

My children love music. In all my years of childcare and teaching, I don’t think I’ve ever met a child that doesn’t love music, actually. When we received the DVD Trebellina from The Cristofori Baby Company I was thrilled to have another to add to our collection, though I had no real idea what we were about to watch. I assumed it would teach the kids a little about music and I had no doubt they’d enjoy it since it’s musical, but that’s about it.

Trebellina, the cute little treble clef character shown at left, teaches preschool children to read music (yes, actually read music. I know. I was shocked too!) and helps develop their pitch. Trebellina’s patented method of teaching note reading and pitch is entertaining and engaging for children – an important quality if they’re to sit through it – and it’s quite effective. The Trebellina DVD also introduces instrument names and their sounds, and demonstrates how different instruments sound individually and collectively in a piece of music. Whether you’re just looking for an educational electro-babysitter or you actually want to jump start the musical education you intend to pursue once your child is older, at just $20 the Trebellina DVD is a worthwhile purchase. The learning of a new language (and music IS its own language) does wonderful things for the developing brain so anything that facilitates that is a great purchase in my opinion. Particularly when it costs a fraction of what a music class does each semester.

Win it! We’ve got a Trebellina DVD to give away to one randomly selected reader. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on April 23, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

We frequently feature fab shoes around these parts, but they’re almost always for very little people. Most of the companies we’ve featured cater to the newbie through three years set, and it’s about time we dig up some more great finds for the older kids. They deserve comfortable shoes with great style too, and shouldn’t have to wear the stiff soles that we adults are often stuck in.

Two very famous people (or at least people we think should be famous) felt the same way we do, bringing a very happy ending to the sad story of the school aged child in Walmart shoes. Nancy Coronado of Picaflor Kids and Cause Haun of T.O.P. fave See Kai Run met and forged a friendship that led to the creation of Eleven Collection. With the same tradition of superior flexibility, perfect function and fashionable good looks as S.K.R., but for kids aged 3-8, Eleven shoes are the perfect extension to the baby & toddler shoes we all love.

The all-white summer sandal, Maya, (top) is perfect for every big girl and matches every outfit, dressy or casual. If you’re into pink, there’s never a shortage of options but the Laura (second from bottom) is irresistibly adorable!

It’s not too often we can say that the choices for boys are just as awesome as those for girls, but with Eleven (& SKR) that’s truly the case. My son looks super stylin’ in his Aubin’s (pictured second from the top), which are the boys’ version of the ‘matches everything’ shoe. For something with a bit more of a European look, I love the Carlo (bottom).

No matter your style preference, you’re sure to find something for your bigger kids from Eleven Collection that rivals the great stuff available for the smaller ones. Jumping one size shouldn’t mean losing access to comfortable, fashionable footwear. (Also see Eleven Collection at the SKR site.)

Win it! We’re giving one reader their choice of any pair of Eleven Collection shoes. Whoo hoo! To enter, leave a comment before noon mst on Friday, April 10, 2009 letting us know the style and size of your choice. (Please remember to follow the rules. We may not take the time to delete your comment but if your number is drawn and you didn’t do what we asked you to do, we’ll draw someone else.)

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

There’s no doubt that we’re in the midst of a recession, and even if you’re one of the lucky ones who hasn’t lost any money or jobs you’re sure to be feeling the urge to be a little bit more careful with your spare cash. However, that doesn’t mean you’ve lost your desire to splurge for yourself and your babes on high quality and functional merchandise.

Medicine Hat, Alberta based ChicPeek, offers a great variety of incredibly high quality products at great prices. Owner & designer Echo Wells is a mom of three who has been creating beautiful items for over 15 years. Her experience is evident as soon as you see her products in person. They’re of a highly professional quality but sell for a handmade price.

The ChicPeek nursing covers (a steal at $24.99 without your discount – see below) is truly one of a kind. (Pictured in the two centre images at right.) Made of a gorgeous cashmere & silk pashmina (black or brown), it’s the required amount of discreet and modest, but unusually fashionable for a nursing cover. There are enough “Hey, guess what? I’m breastfeeding!” (a.k.a. ugly) nursing covers out there; it’s about time someone made one like this. Essentially just a long & wide scarf that’s strategically sewn with a head & arm hole, it covers all the way around, making it fully tug-proof. There’s an open side so one hand is always free to multi-task, and it’s the perfect weight to not swelter you or baby while you cuddle. If someone notices that you’re nursing, it’s likely either someone who has seen one of Echo’s great covers before or who spotted the gorgeous little toes peeking out from underneath. Even better is that when you’re done nursing or in between children, your nursing cover is a beautiful scarf that you can wear several ways without anyone having any idea that it once hid your boobs from strangers.

ChicPeek offers a large selection of Miklips hair bows & clips for newbies and right up to moms. From the most adorable corkers to gorgeous big bows, the Chic Peek clips are of top quality, stay in your hair and are absolutely gorgeous.

Most of all, though, I was thrilled to discover the ChicPeek buggie hugs shopping cart cover ($49.99 – two bottom images at right). I have looked everywhere – brick and morter as well as online – and ChicPeek is the first place I’ve found stylish looking covers with holes and belts for two children to share the front seat of a cart. (The standards is two holes and one belt, but just ask and Echo will put another belt in for you.) The design of her buggy hugs are brilliant. Aside from the extra wide leg holes to accommodate one leg or two, these are also the only covers I’ve seen come equipped with an attached caribiner to secure the cover to the cart. My kids ride in the different shades of red pattern, which is gorgeous and commented on everywhere we go – particularly Costco when both kids are germ free & buckled in the front seat of the cart. If you’re going to have a second child before your first turns four, I highly recommend you pick up a Chic Peek buggy hug and get a second belt put in. The longer you can contain them safely, the happier you’ll be. Trust me on that.

Mention T.O.P. when you order and Echo will refund 10% of your order (because her cart won’t currently accept discount codes.)

This is just one of many great exclusive online shopping discounts that you’ll find in our TOP Shops.

You’ll notice that ChicPeek was the first to purchase one of our brand new image based TOP Shop spots, right at the top of the page. Check out her adorable ad!

Win it! Thanks to ChicPeek, we’re giving one very lucky randomly selected T.O.P. reader a gorgeous nursing cover, a selection of MiKlips AND a shopping cart cover! To enter, visit Chic Peek and come back to comment with your favourite items, patterns & styles, being sure to mention something that you didn’t read in this review in order to qualify. Open it in a new tab – you’ll want to go back and spend some more time browsing! Contest closes at noon mst on April 7, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Who knew there were so many different brands making soft leather baby shoes. T.O.P.’s newest discovery, Bobux Original Soft Soled leather shoes, are hand made in New Zealand of 100% ‘eco-leather,’ which is safe for your baby and our environment. Even the packaging is entirely recyclable – something opinionated parents can get behind.

Bobux soft soled leather shoes, one of three lines currently available, are easy to put on and they really stay on. They’re slip-resistant, as is evident by my daughter running through our house and not taking a header, and the soles are made of flexible & naturally breathable leather. Unlike other leather shoes we’ve tried, the Bobux character designs face the baby instead of their viewing audience. It doesn’t matter much for a toddler or preschooler but that’s a pretty cool feature for a little baby with relatively little to look at.

Save 15% on your Bobux shoes with the code BLG0815.
Bobux also offers FREE shipping to the US and Canada for any order over $55.00.

Be sure to check out some of the equally cute shoes on clearance starting at just $13!

My daughter wears the milk butterfly style as her indoor slippers and absolutely loves them. Her Dad and I love everything I’ve told you about above. She just thinks they’re comfortable and cute.

Win it! Enter to win your choice of original soft soled Bobux shoes by leaving a comment on this post with your choice of style and size before noon mst on April 2, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

I live in a drought ridden area of Canada, but have a lot of family & friends on the coasts where the rain is so prevalent and so heavy that it’s not only depressing but also keeps people inside when they should be out playing. We love to visit, but it’s always so nice to get away from the rain when we leave.

Some people can’t just fly home to dry off, though. For those, thank goodness for Raindrops Baby Gear, a company based in the small & rainy community of Pitt Meadows, BC. Owner and designer Corri Seers has created some awesome designer style baby & toddler rain hats without the accompanying designer prices. Both of my children wore a Raindrops hat in our last (relatively rare so always exciting) rain and not only did they love being able to play out in the rain without a cumbersome hood restraining their movements and restricting their vision, but I loved that they looked far cuter than really should be legal. The wide brims actually kept water off the children’s faces, unlike their hoods, and the velcro straps kept the hats on while they puddle jumped with an insane amount of energy. If you’re looking for a fashionable way to get your kids out in the rain, you’ll find it at Raindrops for under $30.

Corri uses 100% designer cottons that have been coated with polyurethane to make them waterproof. The hats are lined with either soft bamboo cotton or bamboo fleece. All of her products are both designed and manufactured in Canada, and Raindrops Baby Gear uses sustainable products wherever possible. Sizes XS – XL are available, covering newbies to school aged kids.

Win it! Raindrops Baby Gear is giving away a hat to one randomly selected T.O.P. reader. To enter, visit the Raindrops site to choose your style and size and then leave a comment letting us know your choice before noon mst on March 31, 2009.

(Thanks for the emails about the link issue. It’s now fixed, and fyi you can click on the image in any post to be taken directly to the reviewed site.)

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

In the dead of the cold Canadian winter, nobody in their right mind takes their kids to the park. Sure, we’re tough up here. We can get bundled up in balaclavas and down skidoo suits, with nothing showing but two squinting eyeballs, but once we get outside we can barely walk for the bundling and the kids sure couldn’t get up on any playground we were crazy enough to take them to. (And if they did, how long do you think it would take before someone’s tongue was stuck to the slide?)

Enter Toronto based DreamGYM Inc., the first company in Canada to produce indoor jungle gyms for home use. Company founder Marina Mironov has created an ingenious product which allows children to stay physically active all year round, regardless of the weather. DreamGYM Indoor Jungle Gyms and wide variety of accessories can be installed in almost any space of the home: a kids’ room, basement, or a spare bedroom. Children have a blast climbing ladders, scaling monkey bars, swinging on a trapeze bar, or doing flips on gym rings right inside their homes.

We tried out a few of the DreamGYM accessories with a local preschool group. The gym rings, trapeze/ring combo and disc swing all mounted very easily & safely in a room with exposed rafters and were a huge hit with all of the children. They’re obviously well made and feel very solid – almost industrial. The accessories are very affordable, especially for such high quality equipment. They range from just $15 for the trapeze bar to just under $200 for the four sided rope ladder. The basic model of the jungle gym sells for $950 (pine) or $1270 (maple), and all prices are in Canadian dollars so Americans get even better prices than that! Obesity prevention and health benefits aside, we all know that an exercised child is a happier child, which equals a calmer and quieter child. You’re welcome.

All DreamGYM Inc. products are available from their online store.

Win it! DreamGYM is giving away an accessory pack (gym rings, trapeze/ring combo and disc swing, an $80 value) to one randomly selected winner. To enter, pay a visit to the DreamGYM Inc. site and come back here to comment with what other items not mentioned in this review that you would love to have in your home. Contest closes at noon mst on March 25, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Please visit our sponsor:

It would come from this awesome new T.O.P. discovery.

There is certainly no shortage of pitches from people who make hair bows & clips in our inbox every week. We’re choosy about those we choose to check out, and even choosier about who we recommend once we give the product the opinionated-mom-test.

I am THRILLED to introduce you to Sarah’s Bowtique, a Chilliwack, British Columbia based business that features an absolutely huge variety of hair bows, clippies and tiny little snappies. There are small bows, medium bows, korkers in several styles, amazingly cute holiday styles and some of the most gorgeous and functional bow holder boards I’ve seen to date. You know, one with more than two usable ribbons? Count them – twenty! Twenty ribbons with room to clip 50 or more bows, depending on the styles you like. The photos on the site don’t do the holders or the bows justice – they’re truly awesome. Owner, designer & mom Kendra Christie covers all of the bases for your little one’s hair, from newborn peach fuzz to long school aged locks.

As if great style weren’t enough, the no-slip grip used is free of latex and toxins, and the ribbon is heat sealed to stop fraying without toxic glues. Now that’s what I’m talking about.

Want to help your friends save money on these fab bows and earn a store credit for doing it? Have an e-party! One of the best ideas I’ve heard in a while!

Another way to save – check out the bow of the month which is always buy one, get one free!

Yeah, I know I’m perhaps a little too excited about bows. I mean, they’re just bows, right? But these? Worth it.

Win it! We’re giving away a bow holder and a selection of super duper cute bows (including at least four of those pictured above, package valued at over $50) from Sarah’s Bowtique. To enter, visit the site and take a look around. Come back and comment with a few things that you hope are coming your way if you’re the randomly selected winner!

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

On their website, the creators of Little Stars Bedtime Cards share a quote from Barbara Coloroso’s A Pocket Guide to Kids are Worth It. “Bedtime is a special time, a time of transition. It is an opportunity for closure to one day and a preparation for the next. It is a small turning point in the natural rhythm that gives structure and meaning to life. With care and patience and awareness of our children’s needs, each bedtime can be its own celebration of love and life.”

As parents, we all wish for bedtime to be a positive time, but all too often it’s filled with whining, demands & less than stellar patience levels on the part of both parent and child. Canadian moms Shannon McQuillan & Linda Komori created Little Stars Bedtime Cards to help parents make bedtime the affirming and positive experience that it has the potential to be. They’re not designed to teach new concepts, but to ‘affirm positive qualities that already exist in your child.’

The Little Stars, Sparky, Blaxe & Shiner help parents ask “big questions for little people.” There are some great reasons for using questions as opposed to statements. According to the site, “when we have a specific lesson or message that we need to communicate, teaching or telling our child is very effective. However, when the goal is to connect and deepen our understanding of our child, questions about thoughts and feelings can be incredibly effective for the following kinds of reasons:

~It becomes a two way conversation
~It feels good when someone takes and interest you (even if you don’t have a lot to say)! The very nature of asking questions is an expression of the desire to learn about the other person
~There are no right or wrong answers when you are talking about thoughts and feelings
~Your child will feel loved knowing that you care enough to ask the question and to listen to their response (again even if they don’t have a lot to say)
~You see the world through your child’s lens and may end up talking about things you wouldn’t otherwise (you may be surprised to learn just how opinionated and observant your three year old really is!)
~It keeps your attention focused on your child and children love to have a parents undivided attention even for just a short while
~Children are naturally curious and while they love to answer questions, they may start to ask questions themselves which is lots of fun too.”

Any one of those reasons would have been enough for me to try these cards. I’ve seen them in action with my own little guy and I think they’re every but as awesome as they sound. The cards sell for $15 and ship for just $3. They’d make a great gift for your child who is transitioning to a big kid bed, don’t you think?

Win it! We’ve got a set of Bedtime Cards to give away to a randomly selected reader. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on February 27, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Readeez is a new concept in children’s entertainment that combines the written word with the spoken word to give kids the best of both words worlds. A “Readee” is a mini-video, typically about a minute long. Many feature the animated duo of Julian and Isabel Waters, an upbeat inventor-dad and his sweet, articulate daughter. Some other Readeez include a live-action character named Michael — a friendly musician a la Steve from Blue’s Clues. The illustrations are reminiscent of the style of Peanuts or Calvin & Hobbes, both loved by generations.

In a Readee, each time a word or lyric is heard the word also appears in written form, in syllable-perfect sync, in large, clear type, onscreen. With Readeez, words are the stars. They’re not subtitles, or sing-along lyrics, consigned to the bottom of the screen. Readeez provides children with the unique experience of being read to while reading for themselves. It’s pretty cool!

The songs are super catchy and stick in both my head and my childrens’…we find ourselves singing “How ‘Bout That Cow” on our walks all the time.

The other great thing about Readeez? When the common words seen on screen are encountered in other contexts, they’re already familiar. “The beauty of Readeez is that kids don’t suspect they’re learning from them,” says Atlanta-based creator Michael Rachap. Michael was moved to create Readeez as a way to improve the media environment for young children who, he says, are overexposed to loud, fast-moving cartoons and the strident ads that often accompany them. “I think of this DVD as less like candy and more like fresh fruit,” he explains.

It’s certainly working for us!

Win it! We’re giving away a copy of Readeez Volume 1 (valued at $16.98) to one randomly selected reader. To enter, leave a comment on this post by noon mst on February 16, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

I’ve always wanted a tutu. < / embarrassing confession >

The tutus from Janie Dale’s Baby Cha Cha Boutique fit the bill perfectly if you’re looking for a sassy tutu for your little girl. (Or for you – she can custom make anything so I’m sure a 30″ waist wouldn’t be a problem.) They’re all elasticized to grow with your little girl and made with a metric tonne of soft-ish tulle so they’re super fluffy & full as a tutu should be.

The standard sizes run from newborn to seven years. The newborn (0-12 months) sample we received was too small for my daughter at 10 months (which, quite literally, broke her heart because it’s so darn cute) so I recommend buying a size up if you have a child with any sort of belly going on. (Mine is very long & lean but has a nice solid Buddha thing going on which makes the elastic too tight. It would have fit her as a newborn, though. Just something to keep in mind when you’re ordering.)

You’ll also find some longer halter style tutu gowns in the Baby Cha Cha Boutique that I know would be a huge hit with any little girl. She also makes adorable hats, headbands, bows, onesies, flip flops and some wall decor for baby’s room – all of which are equally adorable and sassy.

Win it! We’ve got a white crochet headband with a red rosette attached to give away to one randomly selected reader. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post before noon mst on February 11, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

We love to eat out and I am totally one of “those moms” who brings a high chair liner and cleans everything in sight with Cleanwell before my kids touch it. Because, ew. Did you know that the numbers of bacteria on tabletops are 214 times greater than numbers of bacteria on placemats? And the number of pathogenic bacterial colonies is 100 times greater on tabletops than placemats. When I see people putting their kids’ food on tables in restaurants without cleaning them, it makes me want to puke. Or hand them a bottle of Cleanwell.

Elizabeth Kavanaugh, C.E.O of www.BebeChacha.com is the same way and when her daughter took up the sport of dinner plate Frisbee at a restaurant she invented a placemat that would keep her meal space clean and couldn’t be tossed to the floor. It’s got a full adhesive backing that holds it securely to the table, but peels off easily when the meal is over. A pack of twelve is only nine bucks so now if I don’t want to give up my Cleanwell I’ll just toss the mama a placemat.

Win it! We’ve gota twelve pack of Bebe Cha Cha Sticker Placemats to give away. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on January 28, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

My children love books. We read all the time. My daughter likes books that include cats and creatures form the sea, whereas my son likes trucks, diggers and animals to be part of the story.

What if our children could be part of the story?

Little Bunny Press does just that – They publish customized children’s books starring your child! I was fortunate enough to be provided the opportunity to go through the process to share with you.

You start off by heading to the Little Bunny Press website where you set up an account in minutes then get to work customizing your book. I have to admit I got a little frustrated preparing the pictures. For an extra $10, Little Bunny Press will prepare the photos for you, and if you do not have experience with a program like Photoshop, I would really recommend paying the extra. However once I got the pictures just right, the process was really smooth.

The book arrived very quickly, and during the holiday season no less, and it is truly gorgeous. It looks and feels like any children’s book you would find in a bookstore. The best thing about this book is what happens as you read the story. When your kids see themselves starring as the characters, you get squeals of delight! My preschooler exclaimed me when she went on that adventure, “I didn’t know that I have rode a submarine before, Mommy!” The kids totally enjoy the book and being the main characters. We ordered the Underwater Adventure! book, as it included two main characters.

Oh! Did I mention the book is published on 100% recycled paper, using non-polluting renewable resources to manufacture it? YEAH! All that and they sell for just $17.95. A green Mom’s dream for books. This book will definitely be a favourite on our bookshelf for years to come. – by Chelle

Win it! We’re giving away a Little Bunny Press book of your choice. To enter, leave a comment on this post after visiting
Little Bunny Press to choose which book you’d order should your comment be randomly selected. Contest closes at noon mst on January 13, 2009.

Most kids, at some point or another, have issues at the table. Whether it be manners, the picky disease, an inability to sit or a diet of one or two items for weeks on end. When you need a little extra something to make meal time appealing, check out the Trebimbi Puppet Club Table Set available from Goores for ~$45. (More product selection available from Amazon – lucky Americans!)

Each Puppet Club Table Set includes a child-sized spoon, fork and knife, eggcup, bowl and mug that are incredible visually appealing to little eaters. Made in Italy, each cutlery piece has a stainless steel body and a colored polypropylene handle. Each piece has a cute smiling face and the pieces can be locked together like a string of paper dolls for easy storage or mealtime fun! All items are dishwasher safe & recommended for kids aged two to six.

The Party Set sells for the same price at Goores and includes a funky plate, cup, knife, fork and spoon. In this set all items are also dishwasher safe & recommended for kids aged two to six.

Save 10% on any Trebimbi order from Goores with the code top10tre.

Win it! We’ve got a Trebimbi Puppet Club Table Set valued at $44.99 in orange with blue to give away. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on January 15, 2009.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

“Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

PLEASE NOTE – This giveaway was never received by the winner and the owner of this company chose not to respond to our many attempts to contact her. WE DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT YOU SHOP HERE.

Having a portable record of your child’s growth over their young years is priceless. I am amazed when I look at the growth chart on my son’s bedroom wall, and he’s only two and a half. As we continue to mark it over the years, we’re creating memories. Memories that don’t include taking a piece of door moulding with us when we move.

I’ve been looking for one for my daughter but unfortunately the awesome one we have for my son has been discontinued. I left it alone for nearly a year because I just couldn’t find what I was looking for. Now she’s the proud owner of a growth chart from Sugarplum Dreams and it’s a great addition to the decor of her room…and to our memory making.

We’ve got the “My Japanese Garden” one, pictured at right, and it’s gorgeous. It sells for $54, but you’re going to want to splurge the extra $10 to get it personalized unless you’re sure you can make a beautiful match on your own. My daughter’s name is printed in a beautiful blue matching the blue flower on the chart and it looks perfect.

The charts feel like a laminated canvas – heavy enough to be sturdy but light enough to hang on just one nail. There are holes in all four corners so you can choose to hang it from a ribbon (as pictured, but the ribbon is not included), on nails or tacks, or with any other hanging device you can dream up.

Let me share this bit of wisdom with you if you’re on your first child: No matter how much you think you will, you will NOT remember how small they were. Get a growth chart like this and you’ll have a tangible memory when your own fades.

Save 15% on any purchase over $50 with the code TOP15.

Win it! We’ve got a growth chart of your choice inscribed with the name of your choice to give away! To enter, let us know the style & name for inscription. Contest closes at noon mst on December 30, 2008

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

One of the trends I’ve noticed in children over the years – in my classroom and elsewhere, and it’s not a good one, is that many of them are less than empathetic (insert your own pet peeve here – respectful of adults is another one I’ve noticed). I don’t know the reason. More parents working long hours? Parents trying to be friends instead of parents?

Whatever the reason, the things that are suffering are all character traits that we, as a human race, should be concerned about.

Life’s Building Blocks is a company founded by Vikash and Juli Sanyal, two SoCal parents. Their goal was to develop character building products that would be fun for kids and easy for parents to use and they’ve succeeded with their award-winning lineup of age appropriate products.

In addition to creating Zaki, my child’s favourite lovable, talking, plush “character chameleon,” they placed Zaki in the midst of the Spruce Street Six — a group of best friends in the third grade. In the stories, the friends who make up The Spruce Street Six encounter many of the common ethical challenges that confront children everywhere. The stories highlight both the strengths, weaknesses and virtues of each of the children making them seem very real to the children reading. Because of that, the ethical decisions made in the book are easily transferred to the decisions they are faced with in their daily lives.

Zaki himself is geared toward children aged 3-6. My three year old is just at the youngest appropriate age and he loves it, but I can see how he will grow into using it more often. Actually I can see us pulling out Zaki as a teaching tool when we need to readdress some of the basic character issues. He sings “Zaki’s song” and has six short stories and rhymes starring the Spruce Street Six programmed into his innards. The best part of “Storytelling Zaki”, in my opinion, are the fins on his back which change colors when the kids are in situations where they should stop (red), slow down and think (yellow), or go for it (green)! It was the first thing to get the attention of my son and definitely the part that kept it. It gave us the opportunity to chat about the situations in the stories and ensure that he actually understood the thought processes going on in the characters. Zaki sells for $30.

The Spruce Street Six Chapter Books, for ages 6-9, feature characters Honest Jake, Jessica the Brave, Calm Carlos, Lauren Never Quits, Jarrett the Just and Kind Shawnie who, with Zaki’s help and their own consciences, take readers on fun adventures that use real dilemmas & ethical problem solving skills teach character building while they enjoy a good book. They sell for $6 a piece.

The related Spruce Street Six Activity Books help reinforce the moral lessons learned in the books via puzzles, short stories, word searches and crack coded messages. They also sell for $6 each

I’m glad to see more products that do more than sing songs and blink, and character building is one of the most valuable goals for a toy that I’ve seen yet.

Save 20% off a purchase of $15 or more with the code top20 through 12/31.

Win it! Thanks to Life’s Building Block’s we’re giving away one of each of these awesome character building products to one lucky winner. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on December 29, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED – Congrats to Beth!

Kutoka Interactive has some awesome options for kids of all ages (we reviewed one of the games in their Mia series here)

We’ve now been playing a game from the grade based learning series, Didi & Ditto, with my three year old for a few weeks now and it’s something he asks for every day. The subtitle of the preschool game is Mother Nature’s Visit, and it’s targeted at children ages two to four years old. Didi & Ditto is also available for kindergarten and grade one.

It caught my 3 year old’s attention instantly (while still in the box, even) and kept it for a long time. There are sixteen engaging activity options related to pre-reading, pre-math, science, music and art.

Didi and Ditto are brother & sister twins who are preparing to welcome Mother Nature’s visit to their hometown. Smart Valley is a crazy place where spiral trees and goofy folks are everywhere you look. “Zolt, a sneaky purple wolf, is trying to ruin the party by breaking all of the musical instruments and hiding all of the food. He then plans to step in and be the hero when Mother Nature arrives. Didi and Ditto notice that Zolt is acting strange and decide to keep an eye on him. It is up to the player to decide which beaver will watch Zolt very carefully while the other one helps Hootdini get ready for the festivities. In the game, children will work on recognizing letters and numbers, counting, classifying, identifying shapes and sounds, as well as developing observation abilities, understanding oral instructions, and more. These skills are seamlessly incorporated into the game play as the player helps Didi and Ditto.” Children can choose to play the game as either Didi or Ditto which, though a simple choice, is a very big thing for a three year old.

The suggested retail price is $20 U.S. and $30 CDN. I would never have thought to buy my three year old a computer game, but now that we’ve played this one we’ll definitely be buying the subsequent ones when the time comes and wouldn’t hesitate to buy another Kutoka game at any time. -by Betty

Win it! We’ve got a game of Didi & Ditto Preschool to give to one T.O.P. reader. To enter, simply leave a comment on this post before noon mst on December 24, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

We all know that babies need to be pampered – both in skin and in spirit. We mamas, though, are often a little neglected in the self-care arena and there’s no time we need it more than when we’re raising young children.

However, with the heightened concern about chemicals in body care products it can be tough to find pampering items that are sure to be safe. It’s hard to relax when you could be giving your child cancer or changing the structure of your own ovarian cells.

(I happen to know there are still a lot of people out there who think that products such as those that rhyme with Dohnson and Gahveeno are safe. No, my friends. Throw them away.)

The Belli Baby collection is the only brand in the world that teratology screens every product, ensuring that none of their products contain ingredients linked to birth defects. Even organic brands contain ingredients like aloe vera, which is a teratogen and should be avoided during pregnancy. Belli is the only baby collection free of ALL xenoestrogens (ingredients that mimic estrogen and can cause problems with reproductive development) and not just the highly publicized phthalates. The Belli Motherhood collection is LACTMED screened to ensure safety for nursing moms and their babies. Due to their unprecedented safety standards, they are the #1 OB/Gyn recommended brand in the US and Australia.

Now that I’ve found some strong reassurance in Belli Skin Care, I’m happy to report that both my children and myself are getting some much needed safe pampering. My baby girl is tickled pink with her massages using her Nourish Me enriched body lotion ($19). It’s lightly chamomile scented and, after the initial ticklish giggling subsides, is wonderfully relaxing.

Every new mom needs to check out the Belli eye brightening cream ($37). Even if it’s psychological (which I’m fairly confident it’s not) I love the way my eyes look when I remember to use this on a regular basis. The dark circle, while still puffy with lack of rest, are noticeably lighter and I’d swear the fine lines are less visible.

During & after pregnancy, we could all use the Stretch Mark Minimizing Cream ($52). This healing skin repair treatment is specifically formulated to decrease the appearance of existing stretchmarks. Applied to stretchmarks morning and night for 4 weeks postpartum and then once daily until desired results are achieved, it has been clinically shown to reduce stretchmark length and irregular surface area by up to 52% and stretchmark depth by up to 72%.

No matter what you’re looking for, the large selection of products for both mamas & babes in the Belli Skin Care line has likely got you all covered. And covered safely, which is really the most important thing.

Win it! We’re giving away full size bottles of each of the three above products with a total value of $108. To enter, you need to go browse the Belli Skin Care Line and comment here with at least one additional product the piques your interest before noon mst on December 24, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

We spent an afternoon a couple of weeks ago at the mall with friends doing some shopping and visiting Santa. My two and a half year old son enjoyed it well enough (for the first time ever) but my daughter – not so much. To her it was akin to torture. Whether your children enjoy the mall Santa or not, we’re bringing back our favourite way – hands down – for your child to contact Santa during this awesome season.

SantaSpeaking.com was founded by Anne Gaskell (aka Elf Annie), a mom of three. She knows that the mall Santa may not be all you were hoping for so she developed this service to “offer personalized Santa Claus experiences that are modeled after the ideal Santa Claus figure.” The calls range from 3-5 minutes (single call) to 8-10 minutes (extended call) and I highly recommend the extended call if you have more than one child or one that either really likes to talk or make take a few minutes to warm up. My not-usually-shy little guy happened to receive his call at what should have been his nap time on a day when he wasn’t feeling well so it took him that long to get across what he wanted to say. If you have an older child, they’ll may talk the entire time or they may just listen wide-eyed, but no matter what happens, the well trained (and background checked) Santa will fill the empty space with questions and comments about your child’s life that only Santa could know. Even the skeptics will have their hearts opened by a call from Santa Speaking. You can get an SantaSpeaking.com will send you a MP3 of your child’s call and/or a mini-CD ornament to both listen to and hang on your tree year after year.

The set up of the call is as simple as can be, and they’ve thought of everything in terms of ensuring that Santa knows a ton of information about your child. He knew the names of my son’s best friends, about his classes and hobbies and so much more – all of which I was able to effortlessly enter prior to the call.

SantaSpeaking.com is tracking Santa’s progress this Christmas Eve so be sure to check in, and Santa also has a blog! At SantaSpeaking.com, you can read the North Pole Gossiper, dance to Santa’s Groovy Hits, get the recipe to make Santa’s fave hot chocolate and so much more. Whether you’re purchasing a call or not, it’s a great site to visit. However, once you experience a call from Santa Speaking you’ll likely be ordering a call every year. From $20 – $50, there’s one that’s affordable for most families.

Win it! We’ve got a $60 SantaSpeaking.com gift code for one lucky T.O.P. reader! That will cover the whole she-bang – an extended call and a mini CD ornament/MP3. Being that it’s only ten days until Christmas (yikes!) we need to close this one off soon so get your entries in quickly! Leave your comment by noon MST on 12/17/08, and the winner will be notified that afternoon!

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Am I showing my age if I tell you that the iCrib made me laugh out loud? Technology in bed? Who needs it? Then I had kids and woke up. My two year old son can work my laptop’s touch mouse as easily as I can, and ‘dot com’ was one of his first words. It’s here to stay so we might as well embrace it, right?

Intellitoys’ brand new smart-e-bear is a joint venture with Kids Preferred, a company you’ve read about here before. “Together they created the newest software tucked in a very soft bear, dog and cat. These technology-friendly pals are simple to program and easy to customize. Parents need only connect, click and then hand over for cuddling.”

Retailing for $79.99 and directed at non-reading 2 to 6 year olds, smart-e-bear/cat/dog “encourages children to discover and explore through a library of literally thousands of award-winning songs, interactive stories, educational games and other content that parents can selectively purchase through the Internet and download to the toy with a super-easy USB connection.” Sounds crazy, right? But it’s SO cool! My aforementioned two year old learned how to connect & disconnect a USB device (God help me) and worked with me every step of the way in downloading stories, games and songs. Simon Says is a huge hit around here, and thanks to Smart-e-Bear we’re playing it constantly. And I do mean constantly. Whether Smart-e is around or not. There’s a huge selection of songs including some from one of our previously reviewed faves, Dog on Fleas. The animals are 13” tall and contain an electronic insert about the size of a deck of cards. They’re truly enchanting and there’s always something for kids to discover as the software changes and grows with the child’s interests from the nursery to kindergarten.

One of the coolest features we tried was to download my child’s name from a long available list and the smart-e-bear calls him by name. He and I both love that it can tell him stories, sing songs and even go to bed with him playing soft & relaxing tunes while we cuddle. Show me a kid who wouldn’t like this toy and I’ll show you a…

Never mind – you won’t find one.

Win it! Your choice of Smart-e-animal is up for grabs. Unfortunately, this one is US shipping addresses only. Our sincere apologies to the other half of our readers – we try not to ever let that happen but sometimes it’s necessary. American friends…to enter, head over to to www.smartebear.com and peruse the Musical Artists, Games and Stories available at the bottom of the page. Come back and comment with some faves that you would download if you had a smart-e-bear. Perhaps you will very soon. Contest closes at noon mst on Friday, December 19, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED – Congrats Krissy!

We are full to the brim with Christmas spirit around these parts. As anyone with a preschooler can attest, Christmas rocks. Having an excitable child in your midst makes the holiday season truly wondrous. There are so many traditions to pass on from our own childhoods and more to start fresh with our children.

One tradition that I was excited to start this year was Elf on the Shelf (caution: music loads automatically). I was excited when I decided I was going to do it, and now that the kids have experienced him I’m even more excited and thrilled that we’ll be able to use him every Christmas season to come and start a tradition that we hope our children will pass on to theirs one day.

Elf on the Shelf, founded by mom, entrepreneur, former teacher & writer Carol Aebersold, who teamed with her daughter Chanda Bell, also a former teacher, and award-winning illustrator Coë Steinwart to create The Elf on the Shelf in 2005. The tradition of the shelf elf began for her family when her own children were young.

She says, “Plagued by their desire to know how Santa really knew who had been naughty or nice, I searched through the Christmas decorations for a plausible explanation. Nestled among them was the answer; a small elf doll from my own childhood. With that discovery, the idea for the elf tradition was born.

Unwittingly, the tradition provided an added benefit: it helped the children to better control themselves. All it took was a gentle reminder that the “elf was watching” for errant behavior to be modified.”

Seeing the look on my children’s faces when they first spotted the elf and their excitement as I read them the story was the best gift of the season thus far. Each morning as they wake and search for the elf the spirit of the season just keeps on giving. The gift of seeing that innocent wonder & bubbling excitement in a child is the best gift a parent can receive, and the Elf on the Shelf gives it to us every single day. Also a great gift? A little help with the crazy behaviour that comes with December. Just a little added bonus.

Elf on the Shelf sells for $30 US and is available for purchase from their gift shop (shipping to US & Canada) or by phone @ 877-919-4105 (for shipping worldwide or if you’d just rather not buy it online). I also spotted one in the card shop at my local mall for $40, but it was the last one and every other store I checked was sold out so online is the way to go if you’re as excited about getting this tradition started as I am. There’s an additional activity book available for $15.

Win it! We’ve got an Elf on the Shelf gift pack including the book & elf to give to one lucky reader. In order to allow the winner to use this for more than a few days, we’re going to make this contest a little shorter than usual.

To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on Monday, December 15, 2008. The randomly selected winner will be contacted via email within the hour and the parcel shipped that afternoon so that it can be enjoyed to the fullest this season. Good luck! (and if you haven’t gotten an email by Monday at 1 pm mst, order one! Your family will love it!)

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

This year has been a tricky year for a lot of families. With Canada and the United States in a recession, many families are scaling back this holiday season. Our family just bought our first home, so I knew in advance that I had to balance a great Christmas within a tight budget. I have been known to go a little overboard in years past. We have moved a lot and I was constantly wrapped up in trying to make up for that. With the best intentions in mind, I went overboard on spending.

This year I was determined to make Christmas mean more and ultimately cost less. I purchased the children a few select items that I knew they would adore then began working on simpler, more creative ways to make the celebration wondrous. Did I mention we just moved? This goal of mine was getting complicated. How do I keep it simple, inexpensive and wonderful all at the same time?

I have had wonderful opportunities to sew up awesome aprons and a tutu from YouCanMakeThis.com before and knew that I could count on them for the perfect pattern. I chose the “Easy-Fit” Pants – Girls & Boys! Sizes 1-10 (Doll sizes, too!) pattern and got down to work. I wanted a pattern that I could use over and over for all the kids, knowing that each time I sewed with it I would come up with better results. The pattern is detailed and easy to work with. Since I was under time constraints it was awesome to whip through a pair of pajama bottoms in an evening (even with distractions from the kids!)

I made these matching PJ’s (pictured) for under $30 (including the pattern from YouCanMakeThis.com that I totally plan on reusing)! I know the kids are going to love the penguins in Santa hats and totally dig that they are matching. Extra bonus … totally adorable Christmas morning pictures of the kids in their ‘made with love’ PJ bottoms!

If you are looking for inspiration this Christmas that is not only cute but also thrifty, be sure to check out the YouCanMakeThis.Com blog where they hosted the “Thrifty Under 50” Challenge – encouraging a handmade holiday for under $50. The projects that the 50 participants came up with are absolutely fabulous. Next year, I am totally going to make even more of an effort to make more, spend less and enjoy the celebration with my family. By Chelle

Save 10% at YouCanMakeThis.com with the code MakeGifts until 12/31/08.

Win it! Two randomly selected winners will receive an eBook of their choice with a maximum value of $20 each. To enter, visit YouCanMakeThis.com and then leave a comment on this post letting us know which pattern to send you if your number is drawn. Contest closes at noon mst on December 18, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

Doodlestix?. What could THAT possibly be?,” I thought to myself when I got the email about potentially reviewing this product. It turns out, Doodlestix is something I couldn’t wait to try with my 6 year old son because it’s “a subscription based product that helps parents teach their children character traits and to ‘do the right thing.’”

From their website:  “We believe most parents want their children to do what’s right, but may not have a good support structure for teaching them. That’s where Doodlestix comes in! We felt that kids would be more likely to listen to instruction from another kid’s point of view and that this type of influence should come early in their development, before they are exposed to negative influences in the external environment.

Doodlestix is not intended to be the sole source of character education for your child. Rather, it is one tool in your toolbox to support and reinforce your efforts to teach your children. Doodlestix provides positive peer pressure for your child. Doodlestix is your child’s best friend!”
[Ed: If Doodlestix is your child's best friend, you need to get out more.]

How does it work? Children receive personalized letters from Doodlestix detailing one of Doodlestix’s experiences and how that experience demonstrates a character trait.

Who is Doodlestix exactly? He is a fictitious friend, who wants to be your child’s pen pal. Doodlestix is basically a good kid and wants to do what’s right, but often makes bad choices and suffers the consequences. Fortunately, Doodlestix learns a lot in this process and is willing to write your child frequently to teach them how to do what’s right and stay out of trouble.

Doodlestix discusses many common character traits such as honesty, integrity, courage, responsibility, trustworthiness, respect, fairness, and much, much more. Each character trait is presented with practical, everyday examples that will help your child understand not only what the character trait is, but, more importantly, why it is important to be that way.

You can select the frequency at which Doodlestix will write your child a letter, and you can have it personalized so that Doodlestix will mention specific things about your child such as their pet or favorite game or TV show. Doodlestix is written in a gender-neutral manner, so it is appropriate for both boys and girls. Also, while Doodlestix emphasizes basic moral and ethical principles, no one particular religious viewpoint is expressed, so it is appropriate for children of all faiths or without faith.

Along with each letter, parents receive a parent guide outlining the themes presented in the letter. The parent guide also includes several discussion questions the parent can use as a launch pad for a conversation about that particular character trait with their child.

Try it free for one month, and subscriptions start at just $1.95/month for email delivery and $2.95/month for postal mail delivery. To order or find more information (including how you can try the service for free for 30 days), visit http://www.doodlestix.com/ – by CPA Mom

NOTE: Contest entry is different than usual at the request of the sponsoring company. Please read carefully.

Win it! We’re giving away two, 12 month subscriptions of the Doodlestix “two letters per month” service – one to each of two randomly selected winners.

To enter, just leave a comment telling how you spread the word about Doodlestix before noon mst on December 17, 2008.

Update your Facebook status, blog, twitter, e-mail or IM your friends this URL:

http://www.theopinionatedparent.com/2008/12/10/doodlestix/

We’re working on the honour system here…karma will bite you in the butt if you enter without doing your part.

A short message like this should do the trick:

“Click here to read about Doodlestix, a cool parenting tool that’s being featured on one of the leading product review blogs for parents, The Opinionated Parent.”

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNERS EMAILED – Congrats to Julie & Jennifer!

My children, it seems, were fortunate to inherit my husband’s long, lean figure. It’s wonderful…until their pants fall down. My son, in particular, loses his drawers with astounding frequency.

That is, he did. Until I found Dapper Snappers. The adjustable waist on all his pants don’t adjust enough to fit him well because of the size he needs to accommodate his height. Invented by a mom of two skinny toddlers, Dapper Snappers attach to the belt loops on the back of a child’s pants and cinch them tighter without the dreaded belt. The last thing potty training or gotta-go-right-now youngsters need is a belt to fiddle with.

If you’ve got a slimline kiddo in your midst, I highly recommend the Dapper Snappers rather than a belt – you won’t be sorry when you’re not undoing & redoing a belt multiple times a day. They’re just the right size for a stocking stuffer, too. They’re available online from ToddlerTech USA for only 9 bucks or buy big in a three pack for $24 or a six pack for $40. For girls, the cutesie Snapcessory collection is stepped up a notch for $13. Totally worth it for something as necessary as keeping your pants on. (Unfortunately, I don’t have that problem. I just can’t get them on in the first place.)

Win it! We’re giving away two original Dapper Snappers to two separate winners. To enter, visit the shop to choose your favourite colour. Contest closes at noon mst on December 16, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNERS EMAILED

Kids love computers and they instinctively want to push all those buttons on the keyboard and click on all those icons on the desktop. Even a well-meaning child can accidentally click on an important document, an older sibling’s school assignment, financial documents, treasured pictures, or more and – UH OH! – KidDesktop.com

KidDesktop is a kid-friendly Windows desktop alternative that makes it simple and safe for the kiddos to use the computer without the worry of accessing harmful web content or deleting your files or applications. With KidDesktop, your child can visit only child-friendly sites, watch videos from a personalized YouTube playlist, play games, upload pictures from a camera and view pictures locally.

When your child logs onto your computer he or she doesn’t even see the Windows desktop. Instead, the child sees a child-friendly, customized start screen and an activity bar with their own favorite activities. The desktop is icon-driven with spoken help: The start screen and Activity Bar are completely icon-driven, and even include spoken help, to make it easy for even non-reading preschoolers.

As both a teacher and a mother (and a blogger and a non-verified internet addict) I know there is great value in the web as a research tool among other things, but so much of what’s out there is unsafe for children. Instead of saying which pages or sites your child CANNOT visit, KidDesktop allows you to designate sites they CAN visit so you don’t have to know about all of the bad ones in order to block them. Each site has its own icon on the child’s activity bar. With each site you set up access for, you can decide if your child can leave the site, view pop-up ads from the site, print from the site, or download from the site.

With KidDesktop, your files are safe. Your child can’t purposefully or accidentally open, change, or delete any other files or programs installed on your computer because your child doesn’t even see those items. Children only see the KidDesktop screen with their own customized activity bar.

Even my 2.5 year old can safely use the computer now that we have installed his KidDesktop. He feels like a big kid and we aren’t worried about him downloading a virus or getting a flash of porn while he’s trying to find the next hidden letter in his online game.

Anyone can try it free for 15 days, but if you have kids that access the computer, you’re going to want to buy the full version.

Save 10% with the code TOP$10

Win it! We’re giving away a fully licensed copy of KidDesktop to one lucky reader. Simply leave a comment before noon mst on December 15, 2008 to be entered in the random draw.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

It’s time to get booking those holiday flights, and since the holidays don’t really seem like the appropriate time to ditch the kids with Grandma you’re going to have to bring them with you. Kids and confined spaces aren’t a great combination at the best of time. Try it for hours on end and mix it with the excitement of the holiday season and you could very well be screwed if you don’t plan ahead.

Portable Playtime is a patent-pending kids backpack that converts to a playmat designed to fit the airplane tray table. It’s the ideal accessory for traveling by air. As your child’s carry-on, it is lightweight and foldable and looks like a compact backpack. When you open it, though, Portable Playtime becomes an instant playmat that fits on the fold-out trays on airplanes. It is secured by adjustable straps and features easy-to-use zippers and several pockets for storing toys and snacks. More important than storing them, though, is the fact that it provides a germ-free snacking & play area in what is otherwise a germ-filled bubble.

Portable Playtime comes in five fun styles: Plane Fun (pictured @ top & middle) , Aero Playin’, Princess Adventure, Pirate Passage, and Enchanted Journey.

Now that I’ve got my Portable Playtime ready for my preschooler’s first airplane ride, I just need someone to buy me the ticket. Any takers?

Win it! We’ve got a Portable Playtime mat in the Plane Fun style to give away. To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on December 10, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED

When Amy Shek, a stay home mom of two, couldn’t find just what she was looking for in stay-put hair clips for her daughter, she made her own. Once she found what she considered the perfect clippie formula, she decided to share it with the world.

At the newly launched www.CustomClippies.com, you’ll find a huge assortment of clips, all of which Amy makes herself. Each one comes with a no-slip grip. Her designs are unique, lightweight & comfortable, and the clips are very affordable for the boutique quality that you’re getting.

My own daughter, with her super fine hair, is able to keep these clippies in for several hours – and she looks darn cute!

Win it! We’ve got a set of two of the cutesie double flower stack pictured above to give away to a reader. To enter, go have a browse around www.customclippies.com and come back to comment with another one or two of her designs that you dig.

CONTEST CLOSED AND WINNER EMAILED

I’ve got to tell you about this cool new preschooler product developed by Canadian 2FishKids and available from Stork Baby Boutique.

I have a young preschooler (Oh my God – did I just say I have a preschooler?) who is obsessed with what we’re doing each day and never forgets an appointment. I have tried to use my calendar with him and I’ve tried one with little round magnets & no writing space that just didn’t work.

This magnetic weekly calendar is PERFECT for us! It’s well organized, colourful and personalized to his incredibly active week. It teaches about the days of the week, seasons, weather and more. He can now simply look at the calendar to anticipate what’s coming up later this week and it’s greatly reduced the occurrence of “What’s tomorrow, Mommy?”

The fully magnetic calendar measures 13 1/8” x 8 1/8” and comes with 58 activity, season and weather magnets, a dry erase marker and a storage bag. Because of the smallish magnets, it’s recommended for ages 3+. This indispensable preschool tool retails for just $19.99.

Save 10% at Stork Baby Boutique with the code OP1008.

You’ll find this code and many more in the TOP Shops!

Win it! We’re giving away one of these great calendars to one reader. To enter, you just need to browse Stork and leave a comment on this post with your favourite product(s) not mentioned in this post before noon mst on November 28, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED AND WINNER EMAILED

I’ve been known to rag on many of the toys around these days for their, um…hooker-like qualities. There are enough influences teaching our daughters that beauty & boobs are more important than brains & heart without their toys adding to the mix.

That said, little girls love their dolls.

Enter Groovy Girls. Available from the Manhattan Toy online shop, Groovy Girls are not just models – they’re role models. The RSVP line embraces the valued of respect, self-expression, values and play – the core ideas that serve as the foundation for the Groovy Girls line. The Groovy Girls RSVP dolls come complete with a special password into an online community where girls can create virtual dolls, customize a play space, change into hundreds of customized glamorous outfits, interact via chat and more. All of this online play allows the girls to earn points toward making a doll donation to another child in need.

Groovy Girls are intended for girls aged three and up, and they’re dolls that even a toy stickler such as myself is happy to buy for my child and any other girl I’m buying for. They’re soft dolls with stiff yarn-like hair (that, incidentally, looks much better than mine ever will) and, most importantly, the clothes are incredibly fashionable & fun while still being modest decidedly un-hooker-like.

It just doesn’t get better than that. (When it comes to dolls, anyway.)

Win it! We’re giving away an awesome prize package that includes one of each of the eight dolls and give pets currently available! To enter, leave a comment on this post before noon mst on November 24, 2008.

CONTEST CLOSED & WINNER EMAILED