First, we received the "Puppet-on-a-stick Rainbow Prancers". They came as a set of 3 and they all have lovely names such as: Dazzle, Twinkle, and Shine. Although my toddler has given them names of her own which is just fine. There are other variations of puppets you can find by Educational Insights on Amazon that include: Sea Squad, Dinosaurs, etc...
I must say that I am very pleased with this product. It's not something I would have typically picked out myself but I am so glad that we had the opportunity to give them a try!! Three puppets come in the box and they are exactly as shown in the picture. Each puppet stick comes with a little card of silver sparkly stickers so that your child can decorate them as they please. The stickers stay on and give just the right amount of shimmer. My daughter was super excited and named the pink one "Strawberry" upon opening the box! I love that her imagination set free as soon as she got these in her tiny little hands. They are just perfect for toddlers and not heavy at all. The jaws move up and down allowing them to pretend "talk". There are two options in making the jaw move. The first is by pressing your thumb down on a little lever on the back of the stick. If that is too difficult for your little one, then they can use the second option by pulling down on the knob at the bottom of the stick. I prefer the first method but my 3 year old prefers the second. She has difficulty using the lever yet. We spent over an hour chasing each other around with the puppets and making them talk. I really enjoyed listening to the things my daughter would come up with because she just recently started making figurines and dollies have their own conversations. Its a whole new world of exploration and these are just wonderful. At first I thought.. Hm, why three?! That's too many. But I thought about it... It's perfect for play dates (which we have alot of) and its perfect for when Daddy comes home because my daughter wanted all three of us to play together. I would totally recommend this. The quality seems to be great and I feel they will last quite some time. They do seem pricey set at $32.93 for this specific set, but when you think of them individually, it's not really that bad. You can buy them individually but you get a better deal with the Set of three. We did find that when our toddler plays too rough with the puppet (such as: banging it on things or pushing her hand in its mouth) it's mouth falls off. It's an easy fix so it's not a huge deal. Maybe adding a hinge of some sort might help improve this product with future designs. I love that they are so colorful with their long hair and how much fun they can be for puppet shoes, making videos, and circle time. We do our very own circle time at home and my daughter just laughs when I use the puppet on occasion to get her attention. Below you will find a few pictures of them that I have taken. If this is something you are interested in, check out the link to buy them on www.educationalinsights.com or on Amazon at the link below.
http://www.amazon.com/Educational-Insights-Puppet--Rainbow-Prancers/dp/B0006VU8YQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1452976695&sr=8-4&keywords=puppets+on+a+stick
I still would recommend them to friends in family. In fact, my husband and I bought the dino set for my niece as a birthday gift, we love them so much!!
**********************************************************************************************
Second, we also received the GeoSafari Jr. Jungle Crew Lab Set. It comes with activity cards, two test tubes (lion and cub), a flask (rhino), funnel (elephant), tongs (hippo), and a dropper (monkey).
I absolutely love the animal theme in this set. My daughter has always been a fan of safari animals so this was a hit straight from the box! My daughter is 3 and loves hands on activities and anything involving Science experiments. This product is special because the equipment is toddler friendly and appealing. It creates interest right way. My daughter was alot more interested than she has ever been in the past with boring funnels and measuring cups. This made it alot more fun and engaging. I was a fan of the activity cards/suggestions because I didn't have to scramble around on the internet trying to find experiments right away. We did two experiments the first day we got the lab set. The first was the Mini Lava Lamp experiment. We used a water bottle, vinegar, oil, and food dye. The instructions would be alot better if they were pictured instructions that were more toddler friendly. But paired with an adult or older child, they were easy to follow along in written form. My daughter LOVED this experiment because she is super interested in volcanoes and lava, so much that we have created a game with dirty laundry scattered through the house. We have to hop from clothing to clothing to makes sure we don't land on the floor where the "lava" is ;). With that said, she was excited to see the bubbles forming, rising to the top, and popping. She couldn't wait for her daddy to get home to show him! Its now settled and fun to use as a discovery bottle. I hot clued the cap on after all of the action ended and pressure was done building up. The second experiment we did was the slime one. I have done this before but have always known it as Ooblek. We used cornstarch, water, and food dye. That's always a hit and such a fun learning activity. We are looking forward to trying more experiments out with this kid friendly lab set. I love when products allow hands on activities that are fun while the child is learning but doesn't even realize it!! This is a perfect start to the idea of measuring and asking the "what if" and "what comes next" questions. Educational Insights lists on Amazon that it's perfect for STEM learning, introduces key scientific principles and processes, supports early math skills and understanding of measurement, and the activities provide hands-on experience with physical science, senses, and more.
One thing I hope to see Educational Insights might include with this set in the future would be a storage bag or bin to put everything in to help store it. Currently we have them in a bag and I would really like to have something nice to display them in for easy reach.
I would recommend this to family and friends because we are having so much fun with it and I know they would too.
If you are interested in purchasing this set, you will find the product on www.educationalinsights.com or at the Amazon link below.
http://www.amazon.com/EDUCATIONAL-INSIGHTS-GEOSAFARI-JUNGLE-CREW/dp/B00U6FU3YM/ref=sr_1_3?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1452979482&sr=1-3&keywords=geosafari+educational
**********************************************************************************************
Third, we received the "Hot Dots Jr. Pete the Cat I love Preschool! Set". It includes: Pete the Cat pen/stylus and two spiral-bound interactive card sets. There are 200+ activities combined and there is a level 1 book and a level 2.
This set is great for toddlers because it is interactive, hands on, and promotes math skills through patterns, numbers, etc... Each time my daughter gets the answer correct, she bursts out with excitement and each time confidence is gained. When she is right, it plays a pleasing tune and Pete's eyes shine green. When it's wrong, it has a buzz sound and his eyes shine red. We received the I love Preschool Set that includes two books, level 1 and level 2. I think it'll be awhile before we get to the second book. I like how each page mixes it up and keeps her on her toes and thinking. She just turned 3 in August and I feel like some of it is too hard for her, but with time, practice, and consistence she will get better. With that she will exhibit wonderful early math skills that she can carry with her to Pre-K. I think its alot more fun for her because she loves Pete the Cat, so having a known character makes it appealing.
The pen does require 2 "AAA batteries" that weren't included so I was happy I already had some on hand. My toddler is unable to sit and do this on her own because she is unable to read, of course. So, I do have to read the questions/instructions out loud to her and help guide her alittle. If I'm not sitting with her then she will get impatient and randomly push the pen on all of the dots waiting to see the green light shine. She gets frustrated when its red and I'm not right next to her because she doesn't understand exactly what she did wrong. The concept is new to her and it will get better with time. I feel that kids that would be working on this set should be working with an adult anyway so it's not a huge deal. We are enrolling her into Pre-K next fall so this will give her early confidence and she will have a few math skills to help move her along the way. She enjoys this product and keeps asking to do it, so I am pleased. I think it would be a neat improvement in the future to have a star or different symbol next to the sentence that you can press on with the pen to have it read the question/instruction out loud. This way the child could work independently if they chose to.
Also, one page it asks to find all of the pictures that have circles. This is alittle confusing because the spots you click on for the right/wrong answer is a circle. My daughter doesn't understand that while they are circles you shouldn't click on them. Perhaps using a non basic shape as the symbol to click on would help or even put the circle to click on next to the picture of the shapes..
Educational Insights states that this set promotes interactive learning, helps develop early learning skills necessary for school success, it's confidence building, and it's self paced learning. I do agree with this and love that once my daughter masters these, I can move her up to other sets that Educational Insights sell on Amazon and try the Kindergarten level. I do think this is a great product and will seek out the other products in this range after my daughter masters these skills.
If you are interested in buying this set, you will find it at www.educationalinsights.com or on Amazon at the link below.
http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Dots-Pete-Love-Preschool/dp/B0106EGBFC
/ref=pd_sim_21_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=61ZljKrq10L&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=0MKMW7W4RPEQ13XY0N4Z
If you would like to connect with Educational Insights you can on the following social media:
YouTube
With my review, Educational Insights offered to give one product away to a reader of mine!! So you get to choose one of the products that I've reviewed in this post!! How exciting is that?
What are you waiting for?! Enter HERE!
Comment below and tell me which product you would choose if YOU won?! Be sure to claim your entry on the giveaway form!!