One of the movies that Madison loves is 3-2-1 Penguins! Save The Planets! This movie follows the galactic adventures of two young kids and four space-traveling penguins. They respond to distress calls from across the galaxy. While helping others, they learn life lessons and values along the way. There are 3 stories on this DVD. However, my favorite has to be the first story about the green-eyed monster. As an adult, I knew exactly what they were talking about. However, Madison (my 4 year old) didn’t. It was great story and lesson about jealousy. My one year loved the music and danced the whole time.  He often laughed too, but I am not sure if he understood what was happening or if he just laughed because we were.  The green eyed monster is a topic that I encounter daily at my house.  I love that there was humor for both adults and kids in it too.  It makes it much more enjoyable for us adults who have to watch the movie over and over and over again.  I often found myself giggling when my kids did.  I didn’t realize this was a cartoon on TV (till my husband informed me).  However, I am so impressed with the lessons that it will be a cartoon that we will continue to watch.  Here is a sneak preview of what the movie is like and about (and you will laugh at the preview I promise).  3-2-1 Penguins! Save The Planets! is a movie that should be under your tree this Christmas.

Image via Wikipedia

Best Buy is one of my most favorite stores.  Usually.  However, last night was an entirely different story (and this review is actually going to be more like rant instead).  On Sundays, Best Buy closes at 7.  I personally thought I had plenty of time.  What I didn’t know was that out of the three people in the computer department, 2 of them were new.  Interesting times, let me tell you.  In the amount of time it took me to get waited on, I could have seriously taken a CDL training course.  The other thing is that I went looking there for a desktop.  This weeks ad had a ton of them in there.  Surprise, Surprise.  Of all the desktops that had in their ad, they had 1 in stock.  Yes, 1 in stock.  They had some not in their ad but the CPUs along were over $1,000.  Ummm, no thanks.  I ended up walking out of Best Buy at 8:00 pm — one hour after they closed due to their employees having no training!

/rant over

The Big Wide-Mouthed Frog is a great book to introduce your little ones to animals and what they eat. The story is about a big wide mouthed frog who goes around talking to other animals and finding out what they eat (none of the animals he talks to though needs cat supplies). Some examples of the animals are an ostrich, koala, and kangeroo. I love the illustrations in this book too. They are full page and are very colorful. They definitely caught my little ones attention.  This is a hit here and will be in your house too (especially for any frog fans out there!)

Brighter Minds Media has now introduced Bob The Builder Can Do Zoo. It has already been awarded three awards — that’s how good it is!  I let my greatest kid tester in my house try it out — that would be Madison who is 4.  Since we have gotten the game in the mail (thanks Family Review Network!), Madison goes around singing “Bob the Builder . . . We can do it  . . . Bob the Builder . . .  Yes we can”.  That has been my house for a week now.  However, I don’t actually mind all the much, because we really like this game.  As soon as I found out the Diner Dash (my favorite computer game ever) was behind this, I knew we had a winner.

Bob The Builder Can Do Zoo has 3 modes of play - Story, Free Play, and Sticker Book.  There is also 6 animal habitats to build,  7 unique learning activities, and hundreds of stickers to collect for building achievements.  There are three levels, so it is quite easy to pick the level that is best for your kids.  You are able to play in both English and Spanish.  There are also many skills taught through this game - problem solving, critical thinking, object classification, planning and time sequencing, pattern, size, and spatial recognition, and shape and color identification.

Why is this game a winner in my house?  That is actually pretty easy.  First, this game works on our desktop that is 8 years old.  Most games won’t work on there, and we actually consider that Madison’s computer.  When a game works on there, we all cheer for joy.  The second thing that I loved was that she was actually learning something while playing.  There are a lot of games out there that are just mindless, and I would much rather have her playing games like this.  Next, the price is right.  It should retail around $19.95 which is very cheap and affordable for a computer game.  Lastly, Madison can play this herself.  I didn’t have to help her at all.  She is only four, but that say a lot about this game.  It is truly simple and age appropriate.  Nothing is more frustrating than to get a game for her, and I have to play it because it is too hard to do and/or navigate.

If you are looking for a great Christmas or birthday present, I highly recommend Bob The Builder Can Do Zoo.  It was a big hit in my house and will be in yours too!

Winnie The Pooh’s Sleepytime Hum is another great book for little ones.  It has awesome illustrations and is about Winnie the Pooh going to bed (which we want all our little ones to do).  This makes a great bedtime story.  The book is made from cardboard, so it is very durable.  It is short, so it keeps the attention of even the shortest attention spans.  It also tells you about why Pooh wants to go to sleep at night (he might even want to buy the moon) which hopefully will entice your little one to go to sleep. (If it doesn’t work for that, well it was worth the try, right?)  The whole book is a short little poem.  Each page has a picture and a couple lines of the poem.  Though my favorite has to be the last page:

Winnie is sleeping,
so you close your eyes, too!
Catch up with your dreams -
Pooh’s waiting for you!

Guess Who? is one of my most favorite books we own.  This is a book that both my 4 year old and my one year old can definitely use.  The pages are cardboard, so they can take a beating.  The story is quite simple.  Each page has a clue to who the book is talking about.  The character at the end of the book as a purple hate, an orange nose, Asgi shoes, a red scarf, and is white as a marshmellow! Have you figured out what he is yet?   Since the pictures are simple and the only thing on the page, it makes it very easy for your little ones to figure out what the items are even if they can’t read!  Madison (my 4 year old) loves to take this book and read it to herself (and no she doesn’t know how to read yet).  She take the book and makes up her own story with the pictures too.  Guess Who? is pretty short, so it will keep the kids with the shortest attention spans occupied.  I would say this book ranks as a top ten for me.

Pooh Counts is a book that we received when Madison was little. She still plays with it and so does Will! The pages are made of cardboard, so they are definitely tough and can withstand children.  As you can see from the picture, there are beads going across the top.  Each page of the this story is about the Winnie The Pooh characters going to pick berries.  The story has you move the beads/berries from one side to the next.  The beads/berries are also color coded too.  This book very easily teaches colors and counting, and your kids won’t even know they are learning!  There are a total of ten beads/berries, so it is still very elementary (though if the characters decide to eat all the berries they are going to need some fitness equipment to burn those calories off. Look another book idea for them. LOL).  Pooh Counts is also only ten pages long, so even kids with the shortest attention spans can enjoy it.