Girls Gone Gadget

When it comes to the holidays, I love hearing tips and tricks from others.  Tips on how to make the most of the holidays with two small children.  Tricks on how to find the best deal on all of those toys on the kids’ wish lists.  And hints on how to survive it all with my sanity intact.

Here are five great holiday tips from the VTech Mom, Pilar Clark, and the VTech Voices that I thought you might appreciate:

1. Get Organized — Bins marked for ornaments and decorations make things easy to find, so more time can be spent decorating.
2. Be Thrifty and Creative — Spend time with your kids making homemade decorations and teachers gifts.  Try these No-Sew Sachets, the teachers will love them!
3. Let the Kids Help — Bake cookies, wrap presents and make holiday cards together.  The kids are kept busy and get a sense of accomplishment and pride for helping their parents out!
4. Get in the Holiday Spirit — Think about how to be your best from the moment you get up, almost like a mantra you’d use in yoga, to tackle your holiday “to-do’s” calmly.
5. Take Advantage of Online Shopping — Avoid the stress of the mall by shopping online.  Great for relatives who live out-of-state, the convenience of direct shipping is priceless.

The idea of taking my two young daughters shopping with me during the holidays makes me cringe!  It stresses me out just thinking about it.  So, needless to say, I’m a huge fan of online shopping!  And the holidays are a time where you can find some amazing deals online!!!

If you are still looking for gift ideas for your kids this year, here are some great products from VTech:

	Bugsby Reading System & Starter Book BundleJoin Bugsby the Book Work on a magical reading adventure! Your children will love reading along and interacting with their favorite characters as they build early reading skills. You can read my review of the Bugsby Reading System in this post! (3-7 years) ERP: $29.99
	Jungle Gym: Ride & Learn Giraffe BikeThis is a great way to get your toddler moving and learning!  As your toddler pedals, they’ll learn letters, objects and more!  The cute giraffe inspired bike includes an adjustable, kid-safe, bouncy seat with three positions that grows with your child! (18-36 months) ERP: $49.99
	V-Motion Active Learning SystemThe V-Motion Active Learning System is a breakthrough gaming console that combines wireless, motion-activated play, web connectivity and educational gaming into a system that plugs directly into your TV!  Your child will love playing and learning with their favorite characters, including Spider Man, Disney Fairies, Pixar’s UP!, and Handy Manny! (3-7 years) ERP: $24.99
	V.Smile Cyber PocketTake your gaming and learning on the go with the V.Smile Cyber Pocket!  The flip top high resolution screen makes way for the easy touch writing pad.  Best of all, the V.Smile Cyber Pocket is compatible with all of your child’s Smartridges from the V.Smile Library! (5+) ERP: $49.99

If you’re interested in more holiday tips or product announcement and holiday savings from VTech, you can join the VTech Mom and other parents on Facebook and Twitter (@VTechToys) or enroll in Club VTech at www.vtechkids.com!

We are giving away one Bugsby Reading System & Starter Book Bundle to one lucky Go Go Gadget Mom reader (valued at $29.99)!

How To Enter:

Simply leave a comment on this post telling me who you’d like to win the Bugsby Reading System for.

Extra Entries:

1 extra entry – Subscribe to Go Go Gadget Mom’s RSS Feed

1 extra entry – Follow me on Twitter (@iamgadgetmom) and tweet about this giveaway:
” I want to win the VTech Bugsby Reading System at GoGoGadgetMom.com! http://tinyurl.com/ygrmfhq #giveaway @iamgadgetmom ”

1 extra entry – Follow @VTechToys on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (just copy and use the same tweet from above)

1 extra entry – Become a Fan of VTech Toys on Facebook.

5 extra entries - Blog about this giveaway.  Make sure you link back to this post and then leave me five separate comments below!

5 extra entries – Not a blogger?  No problem!  Send an email to 5 friends with a link to this contest.  Make sure you CC me on the email (stacey @ gogogadgetmom.com).  Then come back and leave me five separate comments for doing it!

The Details:

The winner will be randomly selected from the comments posted by Sunday, December 6 (11:59pm EST).  All entries will be verified and must include a valid email address where I can contact you, should you win.  This giveaway is open to US shipping addresses only.

*Disclaimer: I did not receive any products or monetary compensation from VTech for this post.  VTech is, however, providing the giveaway prizing.

I just saw a commercial for this today and had to check it out online! It is the Crayon Maker from Crayola®.

The Crayon Maker is basically the Easy Bake Oven of crayons. You place your broken crayon pieces (or the starter colors that come with the Crayon Maker) in the melting dish inside the Maker and let them melt down, taking about 10 minutes. Then pour the melted colors into the molds and let them harden. Voila! Your new crayons are ready and you’re off coloring again, this time with whatever swirled creation your child made!

The Crayon Maker operates on a clear, colorless 60-watt candelabra light bulb, similar to the Easy Bake Oven. You can watch a short video demonstrating how the Crayon Maker works here.

Although I haven’t actually used the Crayon Maker myself, it seems to be a straightforward and practical way to recycle those bits and pieces of crayon. With two little girls who love to color, we are always left with broken crayons or pieces too small for them to color with. Typically we save them for other art projects but it would be so great if we could recycle them into more crayons!!!

Right now my only question is clean-up. I’d be very interested to see how easy it is to clean-up the melting tray and molds!

The Crayola® Crayon Maker is available at Crayola.com and other major retailers. It retails for $32.99 and is recommended for ages 8 and up.

*Disclaimer: I did not receive any product or monetary compensation to write this post. Nor was I contacted by Crayola® or any of their affiliates.

Earlier this fall I participated in a Twitter contest hosted by @VtechToys and I won! Yay!  My prize — the Bugsby Reading System and two additional Bugsby Reading books!!!

From the moment we opened the box, my daughter was elated.  She loves books and books that came with an adorable book work…let the squealing begin!

The interactive reading system features pen touch technology wrapped up in a cute bookworm character shaped pen — Bugsby!  Simply click the software cartridge that comes with each book into the Bugsby pen and let the reading adventure begin.  My daughter loves that there are so many different options with each book.  She can let the pen read the story to her; she can tap each individual word to help her as she reads the story herself; or she can choose one of the interactive activities in the story.  She never gets bored!

I was amazed at how Abbi was able to start using the Reading System without any explanation from me.  The Bugsby Reading System is so user friendly and straightforward that a three year-old will have no trouble using it.  However, the system also grows with your child in the sense that your child can read the books on their own, using the Bugsby pen to help them with the words they are struggling with.  The reading system also offers an assortment of books targeting specific ages from 3 to 7 years.

And your child is going to love recognizing their favorite characters in the Bugsby Reading System books — from Dora to Olivia to Scooby Doo!  My daughter loves the Wow Wow Wubbzy book we received with our prize pack!

As a parent there are key features of the Bugsby Reading System that I love, besides the fact that my daughter loves it and it is educational, of course!  I appreciate so much that the designers thought about parents when they created the Bugsby pen.  They put a volume control button on it!!!  AND, this is where I believe there will be a place reserved for them in heaven, it has a headphone jack!!!!!  These may seem like small things but, when you’re in a car for more than two hours or on an airplane and your child wants to use their Bugsby Reader, you’ll be singing Vtech’s praises!

The Bugsby Reading System requires no additional software or extra set-up.  It truly is that easy and that fun!

I would highly recommend a Bugsby Reading System for any child ages 3 to 7, whether they love to read or not…whether they can read or not.  And, priced at just $29.99 for the Reading System and $12.99 for additional books, this will be a great gift this Christmas season.

*I received the Bugsby Reading System and two additional books as a prize from a contest I entered and won.  This review was not solicited by Vtech® and no compensation was received for the review.

Hippo Hooray! is actually three separate apps for the iPhone that are handcrafted to entertain and educate your little one. And my daughter loves all three — Hippo Hooray! Shapes, Hippo Hooray! Colors, and Hippo Hooray! Letters!

Each app presents your child with a screen with different options of shapes, colors, or letters, depending on the app. Then the little voice of the app asks your child to select a specific shape, color, or letter, again depending on the app. If your child selects the wrong shape, for example, that shape disappears from the screen, giving your child a chance to still find the correct shape.

My daughter loves that after selecting the correct answer she receives verbal affirmation — “Super Cool” “You Rock”!!! And, after getting a few correct answers in a row, the app shoots off fireworks for her or throws her a party! She loves it!!!

I love that the apps not only verbally asks her to pick a color (letter or shape) but it also has the printed words on the screen. She is quickly learning to recognize the spelling for the names of the colors and shapes as well as the actual colors and shapes. It is a great learning experience for her!

The downfall of the Hippo Hooray! apps…I wish the three apps were combined into one. It would be nice if I just had one Hippo Hooray! button on my iPhone and, when opened, the app would allow the child to select which “game” they want to play — shapes, colors, or letters. It’s really just a picky detail because I have a lot of apps on my phone and like to keep things clutter free!

Regardless, the Hippo Hooray! apps are great for toddlers and preschoolers and are very, very affordable!

The Hippo Hooray! apps are a product of Jackson Fish Market, a company based out of Seattle, WA.  Each app costs $0.99 and are available at the iTunes App Store.