This giveaway is over. The winner is Judy Brittle. Congrats!

If you’ve got kids like mine who want to help out in the kitchen, then the Pretend & Play Bakery Set is something you need to get for your house.  This 31 piece set has everything they could ever need.  The eggs crack open, cookies are in 4 shapes to cut out, the pie can be filled, and the bread can be cut.  There is even measuring cups and spoons!  The pieces are large and definitely make them feel as if they are part of your kitchen.  Madison has a play kitchen that this works well with.  We were able to fill the pie and put it into the play oven (though we made cookies and she stuck them in the  microwave).  I love that is a toy that doesn’t require batteries and makes my kids use their imagination.  I’ve been able to use this set to distract my kids while I am cooking — I have them make pretend food while I am cooking.  This is for 3 and up, but again, Will was able to play with most of this also.

Now, I know you want this for your house.  Here’s what you need to do:

Leave a comment on this post.  Besides this, which Pretend & Play set would you love to try out or which set do you know your kids will love?

Each of these gives you one additional entry:

1. Twitter about this contest. Please leave me your username so I can verify. Or use something like this:

RT @blm03 is giving away a Pretend & Play Bakery Set!  http://lisareviews.com/2009/05/23/learning-resources-pretend-play-bakery-set-review-and-giveaway

2. Stumble this post.

3. Add this post to other social media sites like Digg, Kirtsy, Blogging Zoom, Reddit, Propeller, Etc. (1 entry for each social network).

Each of these gives you 5 additional entries:

1. Blog about this on your blog. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.

2. Add this to any forums you belong too. Please give me the URL, so I can verify.

3. Subscribe to this blog using either my email or RSS feed

4. Add my badge to your sidebar:

<a href="http://lisareviews.com"><img src="http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk258/blm03_photos/125ad-1.png" alt="Lisa Reviews" border="0"></a>

If this isn’t working, please let me know. For some reason, Wordpress seems to be eating the code up when I post. Each of these will give you 10 additional entries:

1. Join my Spark E Crew at Social Spark. Click here to find out how to sign up. If you are on my crew, please leave your social spark ID, so I can verify it.

2. Sign up for my free newsletter!

This contest is for US and Canada residents and will end at June 6th at noon CST! Good Luck!!!

Ok, I guess that is a little dramatic.  However, I do have some winners for you for contests that ended over the weekend.  The contests ended Saturday night.  I was at a Christmas party Saturday night, and ended up cleaning and making cookies and wrapping presents all day yesterday (and have another day of it tonday).  That being said, I have three great items to be giving away today. I am looking at Ficklets, a book, and a gift certificate. So without further ado, here are your winners:

Ficklets:

The winner is an extra entry from Kat!

Sixty Five Roses book:

Congrats Jo!

Build a Bear Gift Certificate:

Congrats Andreah!

I remember K’NEX from when I was a child. I am so glad to see that my kids will actually be able to enjoy their toys too! They have expanded the ages that their toys are for, so I am excited to be able to show you (and review) some of their new product lines.

The Abby Cadabby Building Set is designed for kids two to five years old. It is a 30 piece building set. It also comes with a play and learn activity sheet.  This set has everything a little girl needs for for Abby. There is a tulle skirt and pink fairy wings. There is also a flowery wand and a pigtails.  I love the size of the pieces in here; I don’t have to worry about Madison’s little brother getting into this and trying to eat it.  Madison could easily put the set together.  This is very reasonably priced too — only $14.99.  This building set also teaches hand eye coordination, role playing, and cognitive skills.

This Elmo Building Set is super cute too. It’s for ages two to five. This is a 14-15 piece set that also comes with a sticker and activity sheet.  Though I have to admit,  my favorite piece of this kit is the fishtank.  I can’t get over how cute it is!  This is available in four fun sets:  Elmo with Dorothy, Ernie with his rubber duckie, Cookie Monster, and Oscar with Slimey the Worm.   What I love the best about this is that the packaging looks like Elmo too, and the pieces all fit back into it.  You don’t have to worry about losing pieces.  Pricewise, this building set is $10.99.

You now can also build a fleet of trucks or even an amusement park too! The Road Rig series has four separate models that you can get:  Semi Truck, Pick-Up Truck, Dump Truck, and Tow Trick.  You even get a guy to drive the truck too!  Now, you can combines sets to create new and bigger trucks.  If you combine all four, you can make a ten wheeled hauler!  The semi truck building set has a motor, so it does require 2 AA batteries.  This is for kids five and up.  I love that it comes with instructions and shows you how to build all these cool things.  This set will run your about $19.99.

This DoubleDare Dueling Coaster, I swear, was making my husband salivate. It is for 9 year olds and up, and I will even admit it is really cool. The set is over 950 pieces and even has a motorized chain lift! Two chrome cars and 32 feet of track are included too.  You basically build two seperate tracks with this kit and then you can race them.  This does take a bit of time to get set up.  However, when you do, it is worth every minutes.  This should be about $39.99 which is an excellent price for this.

K’NEX is one of those brands that we know and that we love.  I am so glad to see that they are still around for my children to enjoy them.  They truly have something for every age group now, and it really doesn’t matter if you are a boy or a girl.  You just need to have an imagination and be willing to have fun.

Ever feel like nobody would understand how you feel?  Ever feel the need to connect to other moms?  If so, I definitely have the place you need to check out:  Moms Like Me.  I love the community on this site.  We are able to do everything from talk about cookie recipes to talking about how to get our kids to bed at night. It is one of those places that you get support from everyone even if they don’t have any helpful advice for you.  I remember a time when it was just Madison and me at home all day, I would have loved to have found this site them.  However, I am glad to be a part of it now.  I don’t mind telling people my story and my issues.  I have found Moms Like Me a great resource for me also.  I just recently learned how to sign up for the Toys R Us Newsletter!  There also have been some great giveaways over there for new members.  You can also sign up under one of the groups there are if you find one you like.  They have everything from a fundraising group to a blogging group to a knitting group.

If you are trying to find your place in this world, this is a great place to stop and check out.  If you have any mommy questions, this again is someplace to check out.  If you need a bit of support, you should definitely check out Moms Like Me!