Betty Lukens Learning Fun With Felt ~ Giveaway!

Our kids have always enjoyed any felt set that I attempted to put together for them. I say ‘attempted’ because these were really basic and pretty boring felt sets. Nothing like the full-color fun designs that are a part of the sets from Betty Lukens.

We were sent four different felt learning sets to have fun with. Here’s what we chose…Forest Camping Adventure, Days of the Dinosaurs, Under the Sea and Adventures in Space.

    

All of the felt learning sets include a 13" x 15" Felt Play Board, over 20 pre-cut felt pieces and a handy plastic storage bags with handles. I absolutely love that the pieces have already been cut out for you. The sets are ready to play with the moment you pull them out of the bag! The storage bag has been WONDERFUL for keeping track of all the pieces and also is a slim case for storing.

The first time I pulled them out with the intention of distracting the kids ~ and they ended up playing for hours! Kaleb even pulled out his toy dinosaurs to interact with the felt set. :)

I was planning to use the space themed felt set a little later for Kaleb {and we still will}, but McKenna has pulled this one out several times to play with already.

The biggest hit so far has been the camping felt set. All of the animals included are much loved especially because we’ve seen the majority of them in our own backyard.

All the sets are ones that we will be using throughout the year as part of our learning time and just for fun! The website has a variety of felt sets to choose from, including felt activity books, Bible felt sets, educational sets and more. The Carville felt set is one that I am sure our boys would love…and is on our Christmas list for them.

Betty Lukens has also offered my readers a 15% off coupon code ~ use Creations during checkout and you’ll save a bit on any order you place!

The Giveaway!!!!

One of my readers will win SIX pre-cut felt sets of their choice from the Betty Lukens site {over a $100 value!!}. To enter, visit the Betty Lukens website and then leave a comment saying which set is your favorite!!!

Want to earn a few extra entries? Give yourself an extra entry and leave a comment for each of the following:

1. If you subscribe via RSS or email to Homeschool Creations, give yourself an extra entry!
2. Follow @bettylukens on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway, give yourself an extra entry! Sample tweet: Win 6 felt board sets, over a $100 value from @bettylukens ~ giveaway hosted by @jolantheerb! Enter here: http://bit.ly/nlnrjP
3. Let your kids play with the online interactive felt sets!

Giveaway Information:

• The give away will be open until midnight EST Monday September 12th, 2011. Winner will be announced by Saturday, September 17, 2011.
• Make sure to leave a separate comment for each entry, winner will be chosen at random!
• Please leave a way for me to contact you in your entry otherwise another winner will be chosen.
• In order to enter the contest you must leave a comment on THIS post.

This giveaway is linked to Hip Homeschool Mom’s Giveaway Days.

I received four felt sets from Betty Lukens at no charge to use with my family in exchange for my honest opinion and review. I do not have to return the products and I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are mine…or my kids.

Feel & Find World Icons ~ a Guidecraft Mom Review

I love watching our kids explore things with their senses ~ beyond what they can just see and observe. A toy that involves touch can be so much fun {even for the older kids!}. We recently received a fun sensory toy from Guidecraft called Feel & Find World Icons to try out with our kids. This sensory toy is part of the eco-friendly toy line that Guidecraft offers.

What’s in the Bag?

The Feel & Find World Icons come with 20 wooden disk and matching puzzle-piece shape inserts as well as a cloth bag to store the pieces in. The pieces are made from rubberwood and then stained with a low VOC aniline dye, so you don’t need to worry if they get chewed on by little ones in the home. 

Puzzle shapes range from common shapes such as a circle, a moon and a cross to worldwide symbols such as a tree, a hippo, a fish, and a bird. The pieces are chunky and a great fit for smaller hands. There are four disk puzzles in the color groups of red, yellow, green, blue and pink/purple. The chunky puzzle pieces are dyed to match the disk color, so for younger kids this is a great find and match toy by color.

To play as a game, you place the disks on the floor, fill the bag with all the puzzle pieces, stick your hand inside, grab a shape {no peeking!!} and see if you can guess which shape you are feeling. Our kids had a blast with this! To make it a little easier for Kaleb we put between 5-10 shapes in at a time, but the older kids were stuck with the whole bag {grins}.

I love that this is something that we can all do together from our youngest up to the oldest {age 10} and even I can play along with them and have a little fun! We’ll be hanging onto these for quite some time!

Find Out More

Feel and Find World Icons can be purchased directly from the Guidecraft website, via their NEW Facebook page, or from Amazon. Want to win a bag of your own? Head over to visit Thanks, Mail Carrier to enter. Giveaway ends on September 7th!

Recommended for ages 3+

As a Guidecraft Mom blogger, I was provided this product to review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed in this post are mine…or my kids.

Twister and Twister Curves {Guidecraft Mom Review}

  

Open-ended toys, the ones that don’t scream “you have to use it EXACTLY like this!” are great to help kids use more of their imaginations. Twisters and Twister Curves from Guidecraft are construction toys that definitely let your children create and imagine away to their heart’s content.

 

The basic Twisters set includes 66 pieces, 24 connecting rods, and a small pair of ‘pliers’ to pull the connectors out of the pieces. The Twister Curves {91 pieces} set has all curved pieces and a great add-on to the Twister set. There are 66 curved pieces {red, yellow, blue and green} and includes 24 connectors and 1 tool.

Our kids all sat down to play with them together and start creating. Zachary immediately pulled out the small flyer that came along with the set to get a few ideas. The flyer doesn’t give directions on how to make the various objects, but just an example of them.

Out of all of the Guidecraft Toys we’ve played with, this is one that hasn’t been as huge of a hit as I expected it to be, but only with the boys. The toy is recommended for ages 3 and up, but our younger two {ages 4 and 6} were quickly frustrated with it not ‘staying together’ the way that they wanted it too. They could build something, but many times the pieces would fall to one side when they couldn’t use the connectors the way they wanted to.

The oldest two {ages 8 and 10} were very creative in their designs and more patient, so their time was much more enjoyable {for them and me ~ grins}. They actually ended up helping the boys quite a bit with their creations, and then stayed around much longer to continue playing with them.

Twisters and Twister Curves can be purchased directly from the Guidecraft website, via their NEW Facebook page, or from Amazon. If you’d like to win a set for your kids, Carisa from 1+1+1=1 is giving away a set of Twisters and Twister Curves! The giveaway ends Sunday, May 22nd {US residents only}.

As a Guidecraft Mom blogger, I was provided this product to review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed in this post are mine…or my kids.

Farm Animal Block Mates {Guidecraft Mom Review}

 

    

It’s amazing how a simple wooden block can be transformed by just a few things. Guidecraft has put together something very creative for children to use during block play ~ Block Mates. From farm animals to trucks, they add a new twist to unit blocks, extending an already great learning toy.

The Farm Animal Block Mates are a set of 5 different animals {cow, horse, pig, sheep, and goat} with each animal in four pieces to put onto a standard sized unit block. The four pieces slide and ‘lock’ onto the corners of the block and fit securely using a patented ‘Slip Grip’ system {see the nifty little grippers?}.

Block Mates are geared for children 3 and up, but when we had company over recently, their {not quite} 2 year old really enjoyed playing with them, and the pieces are large enough that there would be no swallowing issue.

My Thoughts

Prior to receiving the Farm Animal Block Mates, we had ordered a set of the Dinosaur Block Mates for the boys for Christmas ~ so we knew they were going to love them.

Currently, the farm animals reside in our dining room {a.k.a. school room} and have been spending much time on the table during snack and meal time. Usually, we don’t allow toys at the table, but these are just too cute, especially since all four of them are having a blast with them!

Find Out More

Both the Farm Animal Block Mates and the 5 Piece Unit Blocks can be purchased directly from the Guidecraft website or from Amazon. They also have several other Block Mates available: Dinosaurs, Safari Animals, and a few more coming soon ~ Construction Vehicles and Community Vehicles!

Would you like to win a set for your kids? Jodi @ Granola Mom 4 God is giving away a set of Farm Animal Block Mates along with a set of 5 Unit blocks {ends March 28, 2011}.

As a Guidecraft Mom blogger, I was provided this product to review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed in this post are mine…or my kids.

Construct-it Early Builder {Guidecraft Mom Review}

Three of our kids have been very into building toys lately and I am literally watching their creativity come alive as they build and create. We recently added the Construct-It Early Builder set to our home and it has been a HUGE hit since it’s debut!

Construct-It has 160 pieces in the box, including building tools such as a pliers, a hammer, a wrench and a screwdriver. The tools are ‘chunky’ so that younger children have an easier time holding onto them. Among the pieces you’ll find rods to connect pieces, wheels of varying sizes, nuts, bolts and plenty of sturdy building pieces to come up with a variety of creations.

The box also includes a picture guide of vehicles and fun things that children have created using the Builder set. There are no specific directions so that your child can do the creating on his own and work on some critical thinking skills at the same time. :)

Our Thoughts

I knew that our kids would enjoy building with the Construct-it Early Builder set, but really I wasn’t prepared for how MUCH they would enjoy it. The boys immediately created as many vehicles as they could. Kaleb stuck to making planes and robots, but Zachary was putting together tanks, cars, boats, etc… and building away. Kaleb even figured out a way to attach a screw to his plane and then drop ‘bombs’ as he flew over the other vehicles.

 

All over our house I am finding various creations ~ proudly displayed on dressers, tables, counters, but played with continually. Although the pieces are made from plastic, they have held up wonderfully with our kids and we are loving the product!

Find Out More

The Construct-It Early Builder Series 160 Piece Building Set is available through the Guidecraft website and also available from Amazon. Recommended age for the Construct-it Early Builder is 4+.

Mama Jenn is hosting a giveaway for a Construct-it Early Builder Set from Monday, January 17th til Friday, January 21st, so be sure to visit and enter to win one for your kids!

As a Guidecraft Mom blogger, I was provided this product to review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed in this post are mine…or my kids.

Animal Train Sort and Match {Guidecraft Mom Review}

Finding great learning toys that can be used in different ways is something that I am always trying to do. The Animal Train Sort and Match from Guidecraft was a toy that our kids have had much fun playing with ~ and finding creative ways to use it too!

When you slide the top of the wooden storage box off, inside you find 43 brightly colored plastic animal and train pieces ready for sorting, patterning, sequencing and more. The Animal Train Sort and Match includes a magnetic building board that props up inside the back of the box and has pegs to help hold the train pieces in place.

There are six double sided pattern cards that your child can use to imitate and build animal trains, or they can create their own train. The animals are all magnetic, so they can be used on any other surface in your house that will hold magnets.

Our Thoughts

Kaleb has really enjoyed imitating the pattern cards and our other kids have had fun finding different ways to play with the toy. He also liked sorting the animals by kind…

Working on simple ABAB patterns…

…and also lacing through the noses or eyes of many of the animals using laces from another one of our toys.

We also built houses using our Rainbow Blocks and put animals that matched the colors in the different blocks.

Overall, I’m impressed with the quality of the toy too. The pattern cards are very durable and thick {I would have a difficult time bending them intentionally}. The magnets are enclosed inside each of the animals also, so there is no need to worry about them falling out around the house for little hands to pick up and stick in a mouth.

Find Out More

The Animal Train Sort and Match is available through the Guidecraft website and also available from Amazon. We also have the Construction Truck Sort and Match and love it too!

Carissa at My Life on a Taffy Pull is hosting a giveaway for an Animal Train Sort and Match from Nov 10th til the 14th, so be sure to visit and enter to win one for your little ones!

As a Guidecraft Mom blogger, I was provided this product to review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed in this post are mine…or my kids.

Rainbow Blocks ~ A Guidecraft Mom Review

Building and boys are two things that just go hand in hand. Having quality wooden blocks on hand ~ and ones that have some fun colored panes in the center, makes the building even more fun. Our kids have been creating and playing with the Rainbow Block set from Guidecraft since they arrived on our doorstep.

About Rainbow Blocks

Rainbow blocks are hardwood and each of the 30 piece Wooden Block Set has a piece of colored plexi-glass in the center of the block. The pieces range in size from the 2.5” squares to 5.5” long rectangles. The set also has a variety of shapes: 4 half circles, 10 rectangles, 8 small squares, and 8 different triangles.

What Do We Think?

Our kids are having much fun building and creating with these blocks. Laurianna takes after me and is making everything symmetrical .

The boys are just having fun building and creating in general! If they can make it as tall as possible, it is the best building ever.

  

We’ve had fun building rockets {and counting backward from 20!!}

Seeing how you can put shapes together to make other shapes:

The blocks are sturdy and a high quality construction ~ something that I am impressed with, especially having two boys that know how to give toys a good run for their money!

Find Out More

Rainbow Blocks are available through the Guidecraft website and also available from Amazon.

Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler is hosting a giveaway for a set of Rainbow Blocks from Oct 17th til the 22nd, so be sure to visit and enter to win some for your little ones!

As a Guidecraft Mom blogger, I was provided this product to review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed in this post are mine…or my kids.