Hours of Fun with the Blast Zone Big Ol' Bouncer!

Disclosure: This is a sponsored campaign created in collaboration with the Blast Zone. All opinions are 100% my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”


Say good-bye to renting those Bounce Houses for special occasions! Your kids will stay entertained for hours with their very own backyard bouncer and it can house up to 6 kids!

Set up your Blast Zone Big Ol’ Bouncer in 2 (yes, 2!!) easy steps!

STEP1 is to lay out the bouncer on a flat surface. Blast Zone recommends laying out a tarp, and inflating your bouncy house on top, if you are setting it up on pavement or uneven yard. This will help reduce the chance of debris/rocks putting a hole in the Bounce House.

STEP 2 is to tie off the little yellow tube and insert the portable blower into the longer yellow tube. Tie the end to the blower - the Bounce House takes a short 2 minutes to inflate (we were amazed!).

That's it!

You might think that the Blast Zone Big Ol’ Bouncer will take up a lot of storage space and become very expensive to maintain. Not so! Blast Zone offers you the convenience of easy set up and take-down, while taking up MINIMAL storage. Easy to maintain and clean, this Bounce House is very durable.

My husband really wanted to show you just how durable this thing is! So he left it out during a rainstorm and in the mud. Watch his video to see how it stood up to the test:




Blast Zone offers smaller bounce houses, and even commercial sized ones. Be sure to check them out!

Connect with Blast Zone for all of their latest product releases and special deals:

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Made by Renee receives products for review purposes, and may sometimes be compensated for posts. Posts may also contain affiliate links. All opinions expressed are solely from Made by Renee and were not influenced by any form of compensation.
 

Funbites Review! Minion Goggle Shaped Food Cutter

FunBites® are perfect for picky eaters and creative moms. Rave reviews from over 5,000 mommy bloggers worldwide. Winner of over 30 design and innovation awards. Come create your bite-sized fun!

Minions available Now! and COMING SOON… Nickelodeon Paw Patrol! 

As seen on Shark Tank, award winning FunBites® creates bite-sized shapes that even the pickiest eaters can’t resist!

(cup not included in set)

From FunBites®!

FunBites® super sturdy and durable curved blade cutter cuts any kids’ food into bite-sized fun shapes. We make food so much fun that even the pickiest eaters can’t resist! FunBites® works on kid-friendly food from pancakes, sandwiches, fruit, veggies, brownies and more! Kids love FunBites® because the food is cut neatly and evenly.

 
Our Review and YouTube Video!

A few years ago, I was introduced to FunBites® through the founder, Bobbie Rhoads. She was nice enough to send my son, Zachary, a FunBites® Food Cutter in green (you can see the rainbow of colors below). We still have the cutter and love it as much now as we did then!

Easy to use, Made in the USA, dishwasher safe, and BPA free! Picky eaters, like Zachary, will try new things and eat healthier!

Bobbie recently contacted me to see if we would like to try out a new FunBites® and, of course, I jumped at the chance! We were sent their new MINIONS Goggle Shaped Food Cutter Set. This set includes a curved cutter and matching popper top.

(cup not included in set)

Using FunBites® is as easy as 1, 2, 3!! 

Step 1: Place FunBites® cutter on top of food. Remove popper top and put to the side. You’re ready to go! 

Step 2: Hold cutter handles, firmly rock back and forth 5 to 6 times to cut all the way through the food. 

Step 3: Insert popper top. Lift cutter up from food. Insert the popper top and push down to pop out the bite-sized pieces! 

Here is Zachary demonstrating how he uses his FunBites®! 

   

(cup not included in set)

 

Visit FunBites Online! 

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Disclosure: Made by Renee received a free Funbites food cutter in exchange for a review. My reviews are always honest opinions you can count on regardless of compensation.

My faith is so tiny. #scripture #bible #christian #Jesus #faith

oh, He has been speaking to me about faith.

My faith is so tiny, you know? I think, how can anything good come of this situation? I'm going to fail and everyone will see me do it.

"Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20 A mustard seed is about 1 cm in diameter. The mustard plant, however, can be 9 feet tall. That's a pretty big thing to come from something so tiny!

And so, I pray.

Father, you are the Almighty God. You, Whose hands stretched out the heavens... Whose eyes have seen the dawn of time.... Whose ears have heard angels' symphonies. You are the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace - You alone are worthy of praise.

I come to You with such little faith, but I know You will honor it. For it is in my weakness that You are made strong. I know that, although it is hard for me to believe that anything good come come of this, you will take that tiny seed of faith and plant it for me. You will make a good and fruitful thing come to pass.

I trust You and believe You for it. I am so grateful for your mercy and compassion. In Jesus' Mighty Name, Amen.

 

French for Kids: On Va Jouer (Let's Play)(DVD) Review #OnVaJouer

French DVD for Kids

On va chanter! (Let's sing!) On va danser! (Let's dance!) On va jouer! (Let's play!) This interactive French immersion program is non-stop language-learning fun. With the help of Fritzi the mouse and a playful group of peers, Marie introduces vocabulary related to different parts of the body. And what better way to get those body parts moving than with delightful sing-along, dance-along songs, including"Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and familiar French folksongs with exciting new twists. From le chapeau (the hat) to la chaussure (the shoe), kids will love trying on their new French vocabulary for clothes in playful, interactive skits. On Va Jouer entertainingly combines colorful illustrated backgrounds, live- action, and 2-D and 3-D animation. Friendly characters and abundant humor make learning a new language as much fun as play time. Vous êtes prêts? (Are you ready?) On va jouer!

This DVD includes an easy-to-use translation guide for parents and teachers who are first time learners of French, as well as French subtitles. Designed for children ages 1-7, On Va Jouer is fun for all ages!

My Review

My four year old is very advanced in his reading, so when we turned the sub titles on this DVD became a lot easier for him to follow along. This DVD is entirely in french, but the host is very expressive so it works for all ages. We love the songs and there is an insert in the DVD case that includes the translations for words used. Overall, a really great french starter tool that really engages our child.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Made by Renee receives products for review purposes, and may sometimes be compensated for posts. Posts may also contain affiliate links. All opinions expressed are solely from Made by Renee and were not influenced by any form of compensation.
 

Reading Kingdom #review

Thanks to Tomoson, I was recently given the opportunity to use and review Reading Kingdom, an online reading program that teaches children ages 4 through 10 to read and write to a third grade level.

This program looks great and I have read some fantastic reviews on it! Here are some screenshots provided by the company:

 

According to the product description, Reading Kingdom is:

a patented curriculum designed by Dr. Marion Blank, the Director of the Light on Learning program at Columbia University and a world-renowned expert on literacy. Reading Kingdom is the only program that teaches children all 6 skills required for reading and writing success. a fully customized, adaptive reading and writing program for each child, and a program that is fun and easy to use.

It looks like a really fun program!

My son can use a keyboard just fine, but was unable to take the assessment test due to the basic requirement of using a mouse. Another thing to note if you decide to use the keyboard: the keys are all uppercase and if they are just starting out, children may have trouble when the program asks them to find a lowercase letter (Zachary has no trouble with this). In addition to the mouse, Zachary would not be able to use the SHIFT key with another letter. Simply put, it takes a motor skill that he has not acquired yet. The great thing is that Reading Kingdom has a section for practicing keyboard and mouse, so we will log in every day to keep working on that.

Zachary could have used this program much easier had it been available on the IPad, which he is quite proficient on. However it requires flash and so you have to purchase a program like Photon or iSwifter. You can read how here. Zachary reads well enough that I just didn't feel like paying the extra $5, at this point, to test the program further. We will wait to try again once he can use the mouse.

The entire program is online, which means there is nothing to download. It is an award-winning program that uses Dr. Blank's patented and research based "6-SIM" (Six Skill Integrated Method) technique that yields incredible results. The program is designed so that children can use it on their own - so all you have to do is create an account and then get them started.


 The bottom line for us: Zachary already reads on a third grade level (he read the first two chapters of Genesis from the KJV Bible to Daddy yesterday). I think this program will be better for him once he gets used to the mouse and I appreciate the fact that Reading Kingdom gave us a year long subscription.

I wish we had been able to get passed the test in order to see how the program works, how Zachary felt about it, and if there are any "quirks" to it. That being said, the reviews I have read are very positive and I would recommend giving the 30 day trial a go if you have a child learning to read.

When you sign up for Reading Kingdom, you receive a 30-day free trial. After that, subscriptions to Reading Kingdom are $19.99/month (with no monthly minimum), or $199.99 per year (20% off). Additional children in your account get 50% off ($9.99/month or $99.99/year). They also offer additional resources and a store with books that complement the lessons.

Connect with Reading Kingdom on Facebook and Twitter for more information and resources!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Made by Renee receives products for review purposes, and may sometimes be compensated for posts. Posts may also contain affiliate links. All opinions expressed are solely from Made by Renee and were not influenced by any form of compensation.
 

Sponsor Spotlight: Articulation Station by Little Bee Speech! #review #homeschool #preschool

 

Zachary is 3 1/2 and very advanced in reading and arithmetic - several years ahead of where he should be, in fact. We are very proud of him, as I'm sure you can tell! He has always been a bit of a "late bloomer" on other things like walking (he was 18 months) and breaking from the bottle (he was 2) but I never had a problem with any of that - children do things at different times.

The only area of concern I have had recently has been his speech. It isn't that I think he has a speech impediment, but I have noticed that he has a tendency towards replacing sounds with others. For example: he can sound F perfectly fine on its own but if the word is mid-sentence, he will replace the F sound with a B sound. When counting, for example, he more often than not will say one, two, bree, bore, bive, six, seb-en, eight and so on. Being close to 4, it concerns me that this will turn into habit and become a permanent part of his vocabulary.

That was until I found Articulation Station!

Articulation Station was created by a certified Speech-Language Pathologist for parents, SLPs and other educators to help work with children and adults with speech sound delays. It is a comprehensive articulation program offering practice at the word, sentence and story levels in 22 sounds in the English language. 

Click here for the webpage with additional details on Articulation Station Pro along with tutorial videos which show tips on how to get the most out of the app

Thanks so much to Little Bee Speech, who sent us a code to review the full version of Articulation Station Pro!

Let me show you how Zachary and I use this app:

First we choose the letter sound to practice. From here, Zachary can touch the letter to hear the sound and choose to read (or hear) words, sentences, or stories using that sound.

Next we choose the sound position: initial, medial, final or blends. 

You can see in the second picture that Zachary chose sentences with the z sound in the initial position. He also chose random sentences so, when he pushes the red button, it flips different words inside the box (where the zither is). He is only 3 so, although he can read on a second grade level just fine, he doesn't comprehend some of the choices he is making. But he has a lot of fun!

Zachary loves to play the matching game too! 

Articulation Station is definitely one of Zachary's favorite apps and one that he chooses over and over. That makes me very happy! Personally, I love this app and feel that he has made some nice improvements on his speech since we implemented it into his learning time (I say that tongue in cheek because it is more like playtime). I love it so much when he is finished with his lesson and the little bee pops up to say "You Did It!" - Zachary loves that too :)

Here are some more screenshots:

The full Pro Version of Articulation Station can be purchased on itunes for $49.99

You can also download Articulation Station for FREE (comes with the P sound) and purchase sounds individually as needed. In other words, you don't have to spend $49.99 if you don't need to. This is especially good for parents who have a child that only needs to work on one or two sounds.

Be sure and visit Little Bee Speech on:

Facebook
Twitter

YouTube
Vimeo
Pinterest

Made by Renee receives products for review purposes, and may sometimes be compensated for posts. Posts may also contain affiliate links. All opinions expressed are solely from Made by Renee and were not influenced by any form of compensation.
 

Zachary Reading Dolch Sight Words #homeschool #preschool #literacy

Please Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more videos of Zachary!

You can contact me for more information if you would like Zachary to review your book or Ipad App, it is one of his favorite things to do!

These Dolch Pre-Primer (Preschool) Sight Word Flashcards, and others up to 3rd Grade, can be downloaded for free from School Sparks.

Learn Through Play : #preschool #kids #homeschool

This linky is brought to you by:

Caution! Twins at Play   

 Living at the Whitehead Zoo

 

Believe it or not, this has been one of our more popular activities this week. It's an old parmesan cheese container with straws, and Zachary likes to dump them out and put them back in.

Older babies and toddlers seem to love putting things into containers. You can set something like this up for your child (poking pipe cleaners through a strainer is a similar activity). It's a good way to re-use items, and it will probably be something they will really like. This activity can keep Zachary's attention for a very long time!

(Not So) #WordlessWednesdsay 07/04/12 : Early Learning Math Skills #preschool #recycle #montessouri

Sorting (and Hiding!) Red Caps  - a great way to recycle those caps from fruit pouches! When children learn to sort, they are learning mathematical skills. Sorting teaches children about sizes, shapes, similarities and differences.

Stacking Red Caps. Balancing this tower requires patience, coordination and enhances fine motor skills.

Link Up Your Wordless Wednesday Post 

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Read.Explore.Learn - I Love You Through and Through

Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! Hosted by JDaniel4sMom, this meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. 

Please be sure and link up at JDaniel4sMom's post - I look forward to seeing ways you have learned with and explored books!

 My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:








I love your hair and eyes,
Your giggles and cries...

A toddler and his teddy bear illustrate a young child's happy side, sad side, silly side, mad side, and more! Zachary loves to read this book over and over and over... and I love listening.

What did we do with this book?

This week we got 50 Counting Bears with 5 Cups. There is a Teddy Bear in the book that Zachary loves and I thought these were a perfect tie-in. These bears help Zachary with sorting, counting, matching and are good preparation for math.

What adventures have you had with books this week? 

be my friend on goodreads

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