Magna-Tiles. Are they really worth the money?

This post is sponsored by Finlee and Me

There are so many toys out there available for purchase, that it can be hard to know what is going to be of real value. We have been very fortunate to have the opportunity to review a number of fabulous educational toys over the years. We're often asked to promote or review toys for kids but the reality is that only a select few make it on to the blog and into our hearts as a toy that we absolutely love.

For a toy to make it into our top toys list, it needs to:

• be fun
• be educational
• be appealing
• be open-ended
• allow for creativity
• be able to be used for many years by multi-ages

Magna-Tiles ticks all these boxes and their aesthetic beauty combined with their ease of use and ability to allow for creativity, problem solving and imaginative play have firmly entrenched it as one of our favourite toys of all time.

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This post is sponsored by Samsung and Nuffnang

Recently we were sent Samsung's first dedicated tablet for kids, the GALAXY Tab 3 Kids, to trial.

In general, I try to limit the electronic or battery operated toys in our house and instead look for toys or materials that are open ended. Most battery operated toys I find are generally unnecessary and have limited purpose or scope for use. When it comes to technology, I understand the benefits, but I also understand the need for parental control.

I have seen how easy it is for my daughter to suddenly be on the internet after accidentally pressing something in a free kids app on my phone, and my son can walk by and touch 4 keys on my laptop and suddenly be in a whole different format or program that I’ve never seen before! It’s safe to say that I think parental control and settings for children using technology are needed.

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Who doesn't love getting parcels in the mail?

Well, I certainly do. There is something exciting about having something delivered to your house and the anticipation of ripping it open to discover the delights within. 

It's even more exciting when the actual contents of the package are completely unknown!

This, is the exciting new concept behind Bambino Box. 

This fun new Australian company has been working tirelessly to bring you a  new subscription service designed to deliver the best products and latest finds for babies and children from birth to age 4.

Each month, you receive a box full of great full sized products, delux sample size products and other standard sample size products for you to have, use and test.

The idea is to showcase some of the greatest and latest baby products to hit the market and your box is individually packed to suit the age and gender of your child. (So don't worry, no 0000 clothing for toddlers or food for newborns)

We were lucky to be sent their first month's box to review and this is what we found.

I was instantly drawn to this gorgeous knitted beanie from Buddha Baby. 

Valued at $22.95 this beanie alone is worth more than the price of the month's box!

I wasn't the only one delighted with it!

The quality of the beanie is exceptional and it really is so sweet. 

Some of the other great products we found in our September box were:

Dream Baby Mag locks. (RRP $44.95)

I must admit we already had our baby locks in place but I quickly replaced some of them with these ones as they're so much better! haha. I love how from the outside you can't see the locks at all and they are quicker for me to get into with the key than the last system we were using!

Look, something for Mum too! 

I won't pass up a nice hot Nerada Organic Herbal Tea

Phoenix Trading Greeting Card Pack (RRP $10)

This lovely gift set is going to come in handy with heaps of my friends pregnant at the moment!

This pack included some gender neutral baby wrapping paper, a card and a gift tag. I checked out the rest of their range and their are some gorgeous designs

Plus all of these things!

A discount coupon and Samples from Milk Baby and PURE Papaya Ointment as well as other special offers and coupons just for Bambino Box subscribers

Overall, I was really impressed with the quality and value-for-money that you got with Bambino Box.

The whole concept of being mailed out a new surprise box full of goodies each month that will suit your babies new stage of development is a really clever one and would be fabulous for new mums or as a pregnancy gift!

Your Chance to Win

Thanks to the lovely ladies at Bambino Box Australia, 1 lucky Learn with Play at home reader will win a 

FREE ONE MONTH SUBSCRIPTION to Bambino Box!

including delivery

That's a fabulous box full of amazing products and samples, delivered straight to your door for free!

How to Enter:

Go to the Bambino Box website and then leave a comment below with the name of one of their fabulous Partners.

Terms and Conditions:

- 1 winner will picked at random

- The competition will be open from Fri 21st Sep, 2012- 10am AEST Friday 28th Sep, 2012

- Please ensure that you leave a valid email address or have your comment linked to your email so that we can contact the winner.

- Winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to respond, otherwise a new winner will be drawn

- Sorry, this competition is only open to Australian Residents

Good luck!

Debs :)

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Music plays a big part in our household. My kids have listened to a wide variety of music since before they were born, our car is a rotating music station where we enjoy singing along together with all our favourite tunes and we love to dance at every chance we can get.

I find that Music is fabulous for learning rhythm, tone, language development, memory, creativity, engagement, pitch, volume, movement, gross and fine motor skills and so much more!

Maddie (aged 3) just loves to dance, so getting her moving to music is no trouble at all. 

But, if your child isn't so passionate about dancing, how do you get them up and moving to music?

With games!

We were inspired to GET UP and MOVING by this great CD that we were recently sent 

(which you can read more about at the bottom)

Here we share "5 Fun (and easy!) Games to get kids 

Up and Moving to Music"

1) Musical Statues

A classic game that can be played with 1 or more people of all ages.

Dance to the music. When the music stops you must FREEZE! 

Children love trying not to wobble or giggle.

You can eliminate people that move to find one winner, or just play for fun like we do with different "Statue Champs!" each round that manage to stay still. 

When the music starts again, it's time to keep moving!

2) Musical Chairs/Cushions

Another classic game for 2 or more players of all ages

For the first round, set out enough chairs or cushions for each player.

Dance to the music. When the music stops, players must rush to sit down on a chair or cushion.

With each round, remove one chair/cushion and then have the remaining player who misses getting a chair/cushion join you as the judge! 

(Some people do not like games that encourage exclusion, winning or 'losing'.. As an alternative, rather than removing the player left without a chair/cushion you can allow multiple players per seat or just have a little group of winners for each round but let everyone back in with each new round)

3) Move like the Music

This is a great way to get children considering Emotions and Actions and can be played by 1 or more children of any age

Listen to the music together and talk about how it makes you feel. Happy? Sad? Cross? etc. Then talk about what actions go with these emotions. A happy song can make you feel "bouncy," "boppy" etc. If the song is slow and makes you feel sad, perhaps the appropriate action would be "swaying" etc.

4) Animal Dance

This imaginative game is suitable for one of more people of all ages.

Download and Print out my FREE ANIMAL CARDS

Let children pick a card at random and have them dance to the music as that animal. Consider, talk about and encourage things like the typical types of movements of each animal. Does the animal usually move fast/slow, with big/small movements, quietly/loudly, on all fours? etc.

However, if they happen to be a snake that doesn't just like to wriggle on the ground but is also partial to the cha-cha... well, who are we to hinder creativity and imagination? Plus, who knows what snakes get up to when we're not around.... ;)

5) Dancing with Props

A great way to get kids really moving their bodies and manipulating various items. Play this game with one or more children of any age

Provide a selection of props and have children choose one at a time to dance with. Talk about how each item changes or influences their movement. Extend this by allowing children to search out and find their own props to dance with. Can they dance with a partner while still using their prop.

Here are a couple of the things we recently used to dance with

What extra props would you add? Little beanbags, hoops? etc...

Here are some more great children's activities involving Music

Make your own Sound Effects (Learn with Play at home)

I am Special song for Preschoolers (Teach Preschool)

Make a Water Xylophone (Smiling like Sunshine)

Music for Toddlers (Mama Smiles)

Big Rock Candy Mountain CD

We really enjoyed playing these games with our new CD, "Big Rock Candy Mountain" which is a compilation of the Greatest American Folk Songs. I had a lot of fun singing along to the well known tunes and was pleased to be able to introduce my kids to some classic folk songs from another country.
Artist: Catherine Britt / Jay Laga'aia

Album: Big Rock Candy Mountain 
Label: ABC Music / Universal 
Release Date: 20/07/2012  
Purchase: ABC Website 

As a big fan of Jay Laga'aia, back from his days on Home and Away, Water Rats and of course now on our favourite kids show, Play School, I was really interested to hear this CD. 

I can safely say that Jay has a fabulous voice that is really easy to listen to and I also enjoyed hearing the vocal talents of Catherine Britt who was unknown to me before. Together they deliver a really fun and great sounding CD that will be sung and danced to for many years to come in our household.

***Disclaimer. I was sent this CD to consider for review. I was under no obligation to post anything about this CD and all comments and opinions are my own. I was not paid to write this post.

Happy dancing and playing,
Debs :)

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As you can see by our 'food for kids' page, making ordinary food, FUN, is something we do a lot of at our place.  However, like most people, I don’t have a lot of spare time to spend creating child friendly masterpieces. I want it to be fun, but I also want it to be quick and easy!

So, when Aussie company, "Lunch boxes with Love" asked if we would like to trial and review their new FunBites range, we jumped at the chance!

It was an exciting day for us when the FunBites “Cube It!” and “Luv It!” arrived in the mail and my 3 year old wanted to give them a try straight away. She was particularly drawn to the Luv It! and I got excited by all the possibilities that started to come to mind with the Cube It!

Using them could not have been any easier. We took the middle part out, pressed the cutter over the bread, rocking it back and forth a few times to make sure it was all cut through and then inserted the middle part back in and *POP* out the shapes came. Too easy!

We’ve used sandwich cutters in the past that have small shapes in them and have always had to push a knife or something in to try and get the small shape out without wrecking it. This design made it super easy… just the way we like it J

I find that bread sizes vary greatly and if you’re using a large slice of bread (like I did here) you may wonder about the waste.

However, I found that I could simply cut out the shape close to one edge, remove the cutout and then use one side of the cutter to cut more shapes out of the remaining bread.

Taadaaa! Minimum waste and extra shapes. And, if you’re using smaller slices of bread, you won’t lose any of the shapes or have to cut any of the crust.

As you can see, the Cube It! and Luv It! make gorgeous little bite sized pieces just perfect for toddlers and young children. The fun, however, (as we soon discovered) does not stop there!

You can make cool patterns

You can make fun pictures

You can promote early literacy or numeracy skills with letters, numbers and counting

You can challenge their problem solving skills with a puzzle to take apart and make again

You can make fairy bread for play dates or parties even more fun

 You can make fancy shapes with cheese or meat slices for added fun

You can add contrasting shapes

And, as we discovered, you can practice your building and balancing skills as well!

Who knew lunch could be so fun?

The FunBites made a great addition to our “snackbox”. Here is a triple layer sandwich (3 slices of bread!) with cheese and beetroot dip.

I’m also looking forward to using the FunBites to help with cutting things like slices and chocolate brownies and for making pancakes and pikelets extra fun!

Lunch Boxes with Love are the Australian/ New Zealand exclusive distributor of the FunBites and they retail for $15.95 AUD plus postage. For something this easy, fun and versatile I think it’s worth it!  I also think they'd be great for gifts

Lunch Boxes with Love post worldwide.

If you wanted to order your own, pop on over to the Lunch Boxes with Love website www.lunchboxeswithlove.com and if you want to keep up to date with all their specials and spot sales, head on over to their facebook page and don’t forget to tell them that Learn with Play @ home, sent you J

I wonder what YOU would create with FunBites?

Debs J

Retailers
If you have any products that you think would be appropriate for my target audience and would like me to review for you, you are welcome to contact me :)


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