If you are looking for software to purchase this Christmas, Creativity Express definitely should be on your list. The animators who created animated films like Mulan, Lilo and Stitch, and Sinbad have joined forces to create this game. The ages on it are from 7 and up. However, Madison (who is 4) and I were able to do play with this together. Creativity Express has 16 lessons on it. The lessons include movement, portraits, museums, making paint, etc. On top of having 16 lessons, there are also 30 hands on activities your kids can enjoy. Some of the activities include creating a comic book, a time capsule, and making crazy masks. With the software, you can easily store and share their artwork too!

The part that impressed me most with this software was that I found myself learning a lot about art. There was a whole section on what ingredients make up certain paint colors. I was really surprised at some of the ingredients. I learned that the impressionist era was the first time painters had paint in tubes. They no longer had to make it from scratch every time they painted which is why you find lots of outdoor paintings for that time period. The artists were able to take the tubes of paint out to their subject, and it was just easier for them. I could really go on and on about all the things I learned.

Creativity Express is software that will definitely keep your kids (and even you) occupied for hours.

Can you think of a word containing a double a (no proper names either!)? How about double h, i, or w? If these kinds of puzzles are right up your alley, you need to get Fabulous Fun With Puzzles. It just became available on October 7th, and it is right up the alley for any puzzle lovers you know. Each section of this book is broken down into what kind of puzzle it is. It makes it quite easy to find the word and letter puzzles, the anagram puzzles, and the mathematical puzzles (there are a ton more too chose from too!).

The part the amazed me most about this book was that it was originally published in 1947! They are republishing it again for all of us who don’t remember this book (which would include me). There are over 400 mindblowing puzzles that are just as good today as they were back then. I also love that they do give you the answer guide too. Sometimes I can’t help but to look up the answer.

Anyone who loves puzzles or even is mildly amused by them, will love this book. Did you figure out the answer to the above questions? Here you go if you didn’t:

Double A’s: bazaar, baaing, ma’am
Double H’s: highhanded, hitchhike, bathhouse, beachhead, fishhawk, fishhook, roughhewn, roughhouse, washhouse, withhold,
Double I’s: genii, radii, skiing, shiitake, taxiing
Double W’s: bowwow, glowworm, plowwright, powwow, arrowwood, arrowworm, screwworm, yellowwood

How many did you get?

365 Days of Baby Einstein is one of the books that is such a great deal that you cannot pass it up. This book teaches your children about art, language, poetry, math, and science. The illustrations and pictures in here are awesome and engage your child. There are read aloud rhymes, interactive questions, and poems that encourage your children and you to have a conversation about what is going on on that page. The pages of this book are paper, so you do have to be careful. There are things in this book that both Madison (my 4 year old) and Will (my 1 year old) can do and be entertained by. Each section of the book is color coded, so if you want to work on certain skill like language development, you can easily find it. They even have pages where you can learn how to say words like dog and cat in other languages (my husband has been looking for some golf bags translations in there but we have yet to find any. LOL)  This is a book that can easily be given as either a baby shower gift or a birthday present, and you won’t break the bank either.