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Alicewinks ~ A New Interactive Version of Alice in Wonderland
*Disclosure: This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Alicewinks. The opinions and text are all mine.
Alice in Wonderland has seen many reincarnations over the years (150 years to be exact!) and Alicewinks is the latest. Not only does Alicewinks tell the original story, it is also animated with the original illustrations of several artists between the periods of 1901-1922. It’s beautiful and enchanting and my girls would not stop watching it.
Alicewinks is best viewed on an iPad, although you can view it on your Kindle Fire or Nook as well (as we did). We opted for the read along version since my oldest daughter is a beginning reader. If you prefer, you can just listen and watch without the words along the bottom.
So why should you check out Alicewinks? Well, it’s fun. Kids love the story. The illustrations are beautiful and perfectly animated. And, as we learned, it’s perfect for traveling. Load up the iPad with the story and suddenly you have something you can feel good about your kids viewing. The story is long; it’s the length of the original book. But, it’s perfect for a long car or plane ride. If your kids are not familiar with the story, Alicewinks is the perfect introduction. It’s also a fun alternative to those that are familiar with the story of Alice in Wonderland.
And by the way… it’s not just for kids! Any grownup with a love for classics would enjoy the beautiful illustrations paired with such a well-loved story. I think I loved it as much as the kids did!
In celebration of the 150th Anniversary of Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland, Alicewinks brings the story’s classic illustrations to life for digital audiences through animated video and rich narration. To download this one of a kind iBook, visit iTunes.com/alicewinks
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Alicewinks. The opinions and text are all mine.
Martha Stewart Crafts for Kids ~ Review and Giveaway (now over)
*Disclosure: I was sent a free copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own. This post also contains Amazon Affiliate links. Please see my Disclosure Page for more details.
Congratulations to entry #3 Nicolette Roux who follows me on Pinterest! Thank you to all who entered.
I was recently contacted by the lovely folks at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to see if I wanted to review Martha Stewart’s Favorite Crafts for Kids: 175 Projects for Kids of All Ages to Create, Build, Design, Explore, and Share. How could I say no?
The book is full of fun and amazing projects. Some are simple, others are quite elaborate, and all look like tons of fun. I let the girls leaf through the projects and they found so many they wanted to make. You can make a toy service station out of mostly recycled materials, design your own painted umbrellas, or make tiny trinket boxes for all your little collections. Your kids can make their own games to play, like rock dominoes, or make a nice gift for someone, like pretty button frames. This is the perfect book to have on hand for a rainy day or to help combat summer boredom. You can also view some of the projects here at the Martha Stewart’s Crafts for Kids video collection.
After leafing through the book several time, we decided to make these foil-and-paper crowns for our first project. We added our own little twist and turned them into fun 4th of July crowns.
The girls folded, cut, and stuck stickers. The instructions were simple and easy to follow. The girls did not have any difficulty making these crowns.
After a bit of modeling, we declared the project a success and the book a keeper. Now I’ve got to start gathering materials for that toy service station!
I’f you’d like a copy of the book, you can get it on Amazon here or in your local book store.
Or, you could try to win a copy for yourself. That’s right! I get to offer one reader a copy of Martha Stewart’s Favorite Crafts for Kids along with a gift package of Martha Stewart craft supplies to help you get started crafting. Included are Martha Stewart Crafts satin paint set, Martha Stewart Crafts essentials paper pad, Martha Stewart Crafts basic brush set, Martha Stewart Crafts crafter’s clay nature starter kit & Martha Stewart Crafts craft glue. You can enter via Rafflecopter below. You must be at least 18 years old and a US resident. Giveaway ends June 30, 2013 at midnight (CST).
Healthy Snacking with Green Giant
I know I’m not the only one who struggles with getting my kids to eat a healthy snack. If they had their choice, they’d be snacking on candy, cookies, and chips. Unfortunately for them, those are not daily options. When I was given the opportunity to try a new product from Green Giant, I jumped at the chance. Let’s see, chips that I could feel good about feeding my daughters… bring it on!
I received Green Giant™ Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips – Zesty Cheddar Flavor and Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips – Sea Salt Flavor. Being the sneaky mom that I am, I gave them to the girls in a blind taste test. The only thing that I told them were that these were a new kind of chip. They dove in and they loved them.
Here’s what I didn’t tell them, these chips are made from real vegetables and whole grains. You know how you can look at the ingredient list on many snack foods and recoil from the sheer number of chemicals listed? Not the case here. The number one ingredient in both chips is whole grain corn flour followed by sunflower oil. The next ingredients listed are dried vegetables, honest-to-goodness vegetables, not some strange vegetable flavoring.
Yummy right? These Green Giant chips aren’t the only foods you can feel good about giving your kids for a shack. Here are a few more fabulous choices:
Healthy Snack Ideas
raisins
dried cranberries
apple slices
carrot & celery sticks
yogurt
cheese slices
fresh fruit
trail mix
nuts & seeds
hummus with veggie dippers
What do your kids like to snack on?
Thank you Green Giant for letting me try your new product! Now that you’ve heard all about Green’s Giant’s giant surprise: veggie chips, Green Giant wants to know if you have any surprise talents. (I have none, unless you count fooling my kids with chips that were actually good for them!) Share your surprise talents at their Facebook link here or view some of the surprise talents already shared on their YouTube channel.
Thank you to The Green Giant™ for being a sponsor. Show the Giant your surprise talent at www.facebook.com/greengiant
Book Love
One of the first parenting/education blogs I ever read was Imagination Soup. Melissa is an amazing resource for fun ideas and great advice. We’ve gotten to know each other know through our blogs and now I’m thrilled to be a part of her launch team for her new book, Book Love.
The book is a wonderful resource of fun, practical, and easy-to-implement ideas for your young reader. Do you have beginning readers? This book will help you foster a lifelong love of reading. Do you have reluctant readers? Melissa will help you pin-point the problem and will give you ideas to get from reluctance to enthusiasm.
Disclosure: There are Amazon Affiliate and other affiliate links in this article which means, at no additional cost to you, we could receive compensation for our recommendations. You can read our full disclosure policy on our Disclosure Page for more details.
Here’s what you’ll find in the book:
- Activities and product recommendations.
- Word attack and reading comprehension strategies.
- The big reasons kids hate to read and what to do about them: too boring, too tricky, too blurry, too “sitty”.
- Book lists organized by kid-interests.
You can purchase Book Love: Help Your Child Grow from Reluctant to Enthusiastic Reader 1st Edition for your Kindle (you can also read it on just about any device by downloading the free reading app) or you can buy the paperback edition here.I truly believe both parents and educators could benefit from Book Love. I know I did!