JUL
19
2011

Guidecraft Review & Giveaway: Bead & Water Blocks

By | Give Aways, Homeschool

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Hi everyone! Can anyone guess what today is? You got it, it’s Guidecraft review and giveaway day, yipee! Today we’re reviewing the Crystal Bead Blocks and Shimmering Water Blocks. We already had a set of Rainbow Wooden Blocks and so we just added these into our colorful collection! My Teeny Tot absolutely LOVES the Crystal Bead Blocks. I guess all those little beads rattling around in there are fun! She always comes to me with the box of them and says “Me play with dose?” The Shimmering Water Blocks are pretty cool too, I mean who doesn’t like water sloshing around? The only complaint we had with those were that one of the blocks had leaked, so there was read dye all over a few of the blocks. Otherwise, I checked out the others and all were secure. When we combined all of our blocks the kids had a great time building. It’s actually a miracle that I got this photo with the Teeny Tot stealing back her bead blocks as my daughter was trying to build with them! Would … [Read more...]

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JUN
19
2011

Guidecraft Review & Giveaway: Fraction Action

By | Give Aways, Homeschool

5 Comments

Hi everyone! Can anyone guess what today is? You got it, it’s Guidecraft review and giveaway day, yipee! Today we had the pleasure of reviewing the Fraction Action set and Fraction Cups set. I don’t know what it is about wooden toys, but I really love them! These are great as a math supplement too! And apparently so do my kiddos, because I’ve found these out multiple times since we received them! The Teeny Tot has commandeered these as her own. Anyone who tries to touch them has to answer to her. She did really well fitting all the pieces into the grooves, but once I stopped working with her, she went on to making her own creations, stacking, mixing, seeing which pieces fit where. Later she realized she could build some fun stuff with the blocks. Then she knocked them down. And literally the second she walked away, an intruder came in… Of course I used them in math the other day to demonstrate actual fractions to my first grader, he got it quite quickly and it’s always … [Read more...]

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MAY
16
2011

Guidecraft Review & Giveaway: Twisters

By | Give Aways

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Hi everyone! Can anyone guess what today is? You got it, it’s Guidecraft review and giveaway day, yipee! Today we are reviewing the very fun and easy to use Twisters and Twister Curves! This is a great starting construction toy set! And when you combine the Twisters and Twister Curves you can make some pretty cool stuff! I started out having my preschooler make some basic shapes: Next I let them get creative. My son made 2 motorcycles, one for him and one for his Daddy. The Teeny Tot even got involved. Some of her work was really more, {u-hem} shall we say de-constructive. Both the Twisters and Twister Curves come with pliers and a small baggie of “nails” that can be used to stick the pieces together as well. They are choking hazard size though, so just a heads up. I did sit with the Teeny Tot and help her. She loved using the included pliers to pick up the little nails, great for motor-skills! The kids had a great time making their creations. You can see the snake in the … [Read more...]

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APR
19
2011

Guidecraft Interlox Review & Giveaway!

By | Give Aways, Homeschool

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Hi everyone! Can anyone guess what today is? You got it, it’s Guidecraft review and giveaway day, yipee! I have to say the Interlox might be one of my favorites! Do I say that every time? Okay, well, whatever! I love these things and so do the kids! They’re great for inspiring creativity, and super easy to use! My son was happy to have some ‘boy’ stuff this time too! He immediately grabbed these and started building. I love how they even stand up on carpet! It was great to watch him learn to build something that needed to balance too. They come in a set of 96 colorful transparent plastic pieces that lock together easily and enable some great building projects! They’re easy enough for the Teeny Tot to stick together too, though my son wouldn’t let her have a turn until his project was complete. He was building the leaning tower of Pisa. (From our week on Italy) Wanna hear the best part? Guidecraft is of course offering a giveaway for our mom blog readers YAY! Click on … [Read more...]

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APR
06
2011

Guidecraft Hideaway Country Kitchen Review

By | Uncategorized

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I had the privilege of reviewing the Hideaway Country Kitchen for Guidecraft recently and boy were the kids excited! As are all the Guidecraft products, this is a great quality kitchen, perfect for little ones! (Although, my 8 year old had no problem joining in the fun! That’s her in the chef hat.) We pulled out all of our fun Felt Food that my mom has made for the kids to play with. The Teeny Tot took orders, my son and daughter were the cooks, and my preschooler and I were the customers. We even had cake for dessert! Each side of the doors open up to reveal a nice large storage area, or in this case cooking area for our food. There are lots of added details in this kitchen set including a clock with moveable hands, moveable knobs, removable sink, a pretty white bead board backdrop and even an upper shelf for food and such. Everyone took turns as chef, and we did our best not to fight over the new kitchen. All in all, the kids love this kitchen. I think it’s been played … [Read more...]

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MAR
14
2011

Guidecraft Block Mates Review & Giveaway!

By | Give Aways

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Well as you know, each month I always get so excited for Guidecraft review day! And today’s the day! That’s right, we have another fun giveaway and review from the super cool folks at Guidecraft! This week we had so much fun reviewing the Block Mates Farm Animals! They come with several animal pieces so you can experiment and make fun animals! Each animal comes in 4 pieces: head, tail, front legs, and hind legs. This enables lots of fun mix-n-match animal creations! (Please note: the wooden blocks are sold separately) I have to say when we first got these I thought “huh, weird little animals, I wonder if anyone will actually play with these”. Since then I’ve done nothing but pick them up after a long day of playing! They are constantly getting out their new Block Mates Farm Animals and playing with them. I wouldn’t have thought they’d be so entertaining, but apparently they have some kid appeal that I don’t quite get. Does that make me sound old? Mostly they … [Read more...]

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FEB
14
2011

Guidecraft Nesting Sort & Stack Cubes Review & Giveaway

By | Give Aways

8 Comments

I always get so excited for Guidecraft review day!! That’s right, we have another fun giveaway and review from Guidecraft! This week we had the pleasure of reviewing the Nesting Sort & Stack Cubes and Cylinders! This one was mainly for the Teeny Tot, but I’ve caught the other kids playing with the blocks to see how high of a tower they could build as well! I have to say that I absolutely LOVE these games for my Teeny Tot! They are very Montessori like. The cubes each have a solid side and hollow side which allows to nest and stack, they are different colors and even are slightly smaller between the colors too. I was actually impressed with my Teeny Tot’s logical abilities with this. She carefully started off putting each piece back in place. Next she nested all of the blocks, and finally she started experimenting some, stacking, mixing colors etc. Since we got this, she’s pulled it out regularly to play with. We practice sorting by color, size, stacking, nesting, and … [Read more...]

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JAN
18
2011

Guidecraft Review & Giveaway ~ Construct It!

By | Give Aways

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Guess what time it is!?! That’s right, we have another fun giveaway and review from Guidecraft! This time we have the Construct It! The Construct It! set was not only fun but a great way to encourage creativity! One thing my kids noticed was that it didn’t come with any building instructions. They tend to go that route first before branching out onto their own designs, but it didn’t take long for them to start building regardless! First thing we did was spread all the pieces out on the floor so we could see what we had. The pieces are all plastic, and they did have small parts so just be careful with your Teeny Tots! My son immediately came up with some binoculars to help watch for pirate ships: And my daughter built a, um, tool bench looking thing: Now for the fun part! My good friend Mama Jenn is hosting this months Guidecraft Givewaway! Click on the image BELOW to enter to win your own Construct It set! I am part of the Guidecraft Mom Bloggers who are teaming up to … [Read more...]

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NOV
12
2010

Guidecraft Giveaway & Review ~ Animal Sort Match

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Guess what time it is!?! Yep, we have another fun giveaway and review from Guidecraft! This time we have the Animal Train Sort & Match! I have to say that these games are super fun and a great way to practice repeating patterns, building with balance as well as creativity! As a matter of fact my kids liked it so much that we had to bring out our Flower Match game so there wouldn’t be a fight! My first grader did think it was a little ‘babyish’ at first, but that didn’t seem to stop him from playing with it for quite awhile! LOL! The cool thing about this board is that it is magnetic. This helps the pieces stick better which seemed to be better for my teeny tot. The set comes with several thick cards with designs to copy and they can also create their own scenes. And even the teeny tot got into the action, she loved sticking the pieces onto the magnetic board. Now for the fun part! Carissa at My Life on a Taffy Pull is hosting this months Guidecraft Givewaway! … [Read more...]

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OCT
07
2010

Guidecraft Doll Furniture (Review)

By | Uncategorized

4 Comments

These adorable Doll Bunkbeds are part of the new doll furniture collection that Guidecraft is now offering and it’s just in time for Christmas! (Ironically we are reviewing it so I had to let the girls have it before Christmas…but clearly they had no complaints.) The furniture arrives unassembled, but if you happen to have a handy 6 year old lounging around, it’ll only take about 10 minutes to put it together! The Doll Furniture comes in 2 finishes, espresso and natural (below). The girls absolutely LOVED making their doll beds, and putting them down to sleep. They continue to play with it daily and I’ve found everything from dolls, lovey’s barbies and a Teeny Tot sleeping in the bunk beds. There was actually a small fight over the bunk bed as I have 3 girls and 2 bunk beds. We do have another doll bed, but the Teeny Tot wasn’t having any of that! And, if you know nothing about the Teeny Tot know this…she’s determined. And she tends to persuade people until she … [Read more...]

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