MomReviews

I’d like to wish a big Happy Mother’s Day to all my Mom Readers! I hope you got to sleep in, or had a special breakfast prepared by your kids, or went out to brunch, or got a nice long nap, or whatever makes you feel special! I got a card and the Juno DVD from Ryan, and a handmade card, bookmark and laminated handprint from Nathan. Plus I got to take a nice looong nap this afternoon! It was a pretty great day.

I also got a surprise when I checked this blog’s Dashboard this morning, an incoming link from Dance of Motherhood. Much to my surprise I found that my longtime blog pal CyberCelt had nominated both MomReviews and Table for Five to the A-List Mom Blogger’s Guild! WOW! And I get to post THIS:

Pretty sweet! It really put a big smile on my face when I saw that. So, this week on MomReviews, I have just tons of great products to review for all of you, including Momager’s Mom Calling Cards, Wishbone Bountifuls Salad Dressing, Aveeno Sun Products, Neutrogena Skin Care products, Danica Aromatics Perfumes, the book “I Just Want My Kids To Be Happy”, a cool little travel toy called Thinkets, an organic and super soft new line of Peter Rabbit stuffed toys, the VERY cool Karito Kids dolls that include a donation to charity, a review of KidsSave, an online savings program for kids, and a yummy line of cheesy snacky crackers that are just delicious called John Wm. Macy’s CheeseSticks.

This Week’s GIVEAWAYS:

• Nalgene’s “Everyday” bottles including the very cool sippy-cup like Grip-n-Gulps
• “Cahooties”,a fresh version of the paper thing we called “Cootie Catchers” or “Fortune Tellers”
• A pair of Babylegs which are like a combination of legwarmers and tights for babies (so cute!)

Wow! So many great products! I look forward to having you read my reviews and leave your comments and thoughts. You WILL leave your comments and thoughts, right? EXCELLENT.

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There are two things that Kaitlyn loves, and I mean loves, to do-the first is put together puzzles. She loves the chunky wood toddler puzzles, the thicker cardboard puzzles, even puzzles meant for grownups with the teeny pieces-she tries to fit the pieces together.

The other thing she loves to do is draw circles. She has a MagnaDoodle, and she draws big circles with dots inside and calls them “Happy Faces”. And she draws them all the time. But if she just has a crayon or a pen and some paper, she will still draw circles.

Which is why the Cranium Bloom “Seek & Find-Let’s Go To The Zoo” puzzle that MomCentral sent me has been her absolutely favorite, to the point of being somewhat maddening, game to play for the last few weeks.

Cranium Bloom is a new line of preschool books, toys, games, and puzzles that are designed to nurture the abilities that preschoolers are developing. Like counting, recognizing colors, drawing simple shapes, and using their fine motor skills.

The Seek & Find puzzle has 24 big, sturdy pieces that form a picture of a zoo. Then, there are 30 cards divided into two groups (easy and advanced), held together with a spiral bind at the top. On the Beginning level cards, each card has a picture of things to find-two polar bears, four parrots. It comes with a dry-erase marker, and that’s Kaitlyn’s favorite part-she gets to draw on the puzzle. It’s obvious that the makers of Cranium Bloom did their research, because a puzzle where it’s okay to scribble on it with a marker? And then it just wipes off for the next time? Genius.

We also received the Cranium Bloom “Let’s Play: Count & Cook Game”. This one is too hard for Kaitlyn right now, and my youngest son rolled his eyes when I asked him to play it with me, so for now I’ll just describe it to you. It comes with a board, 18 tokens, 4 movers (which look EXACTLY like Smurfs wearing chef’s hats, there’s even a Blue one), a recipe book, a die, and a rule sheet. The idea is to place all the tokens on the board face-up, and each one has a picture of an ingredient.

Everyone agrees on one recipe to “make”, and then using the die to move around the board, the first person to collect all of the recipe’s ingredients is the “top chef”, and gets to pull a tab on the recipe book for a surprise-an action activity like “pretend to crack an egg”, “pretend to mix up the fruit salad”, that sort of thing.

The recipes look easy and delicious and healthy, and are for foods most preschoolers will eat-hamburger, peanut butter sandwich, omelette, cookies. So even if the game is too hard, you can still have fun in the kitchen! And I bet if I told my son that I would make him the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies IF he plays the game, he’d be more than happy to play it.

Any of the products in the Cranium Bloom line would make a wonderful gift for a preschooler. I’m thinking it would also be a great item to purchase for a daycare, or even a preschool itself. I’m so happy that MomCentral included me in this review, because I’m sure I’ll be purchasing more of these products! Oh, and Cranium Bloom is sold exclusively at Target and online. Pick one up and have fun!

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From Fat Brain Toys, far and away one of the best sellers of fun, safe, educational toys, comes the Creative Toy Awards Toy Toy of 2007, Dado Cubes!

We received a set for this review, and when I pulled them out of the box and set them in the middle of the coffee table, it was a race between my 2 year old and my husband to see who could start playing with them first. Chris studied architecture in High School, and he builds furniture, so he was immediately drawn to the unique ways the cubes can be used to construct different shapes. Kaitlyn was more interested in unstacking them and then stacking them back together.

Each set has ten cubes, the smallest is one inch and the largest is five inches, and when stacked together, they make sculptures over 32 inches high. The very best thing about Dado Cubes, besides the multiple awards and the educational fun? They were developed in the U.S., the pieces are manufactured in the U.S., and the packages are assembled right here in the U.S.! There are very, VERY few toys that can make that claim these days. Hooray for Made In The USA!!!!!

As children play with Dado Cubes, they are developing their Visual Spatial Learning, which is explained this way on the site- “Visual Spatial Play refers to the ability to mentally picture things and is characterized by the ability to appreciate patterns & form in very large or small areas of space.” In other words, as your child plays with them, they see how patterns are formed and what space they can occupy.

The cubes come either in a multi-colored set, which are called the Original, or in shades of blue, we received the multi-colored. The price for either is $24.95, and if you order tomorrow, the 17th, they will most likely arrive by Christmas even if you choose regular Ground Delivery. I used the site’s shipping calculator, and if I order today, I’ll have the cubes by the 19th, for a cost of $5.64, just to give you an idea.

If you are looking for a last-minute gift idea, these Dado Cubes would be a great gift for really anyone of any age. And Fat Brain Toys has a lot of other classic toys like Erector Sets, Lincoln Logs, blocks, wood cars, and so much more. It’s one-stop Christmas shopping! I know that I’m keeping the site bookmarked for future purchases. Remember, that’s Dado Cubes from Fat Brain Toys, made in the USA!

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Tips for Toddlers is giving away a brand new Baby’s First Kisses doll, made by The Goldberger Co., and it is the cutest baby doll ever!

I just know Kaitlyn would love to cuddle this adorable doll, and when you squeeze the doll’s tummy, she makes a “kiss”! So sweet. Baby’s First Kisses has also won an award from The National Parenting Center. To be entered to win the doll, blog about the contest and then go to Tips for Toddlers and leave your permalink in the comments. Good luck!

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