Surprise Ride Monthly Box

Details: As seen on Shark Tank Surprise Ride is a monthly subscription service specifically for children aged 6-11.  This monthly box is an educational hand on surprise full of activities that are both creative and imaginative for the children.  This company is partnered with country music star Sara Evans and with Hidden Valley Original Ranch to offer both activities and nutritious recipes that give adults quality time to play with their kids.  You can purchase your subscription via this Link.

Disclaimer: 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.

My Review: I remember seeing this company on Shark Tank, and just fell in love with the idea and products then so to get the opportunity to do a product review.  Despite not getting an investment from any of the sharks, they are growing immensely and enjoying the journey.  My children are home schooled and are ages 5-8.  I was able to let the company rep know, gender and age of my kids, not knowing how this exactly works.  But as it turns out the activities that comes are pretty gender neutral, and easy to do with children.  The box that I got was in the theme: outer space/ stars.  They specifically say "The World in a Box." as its theme.  The activities are things like: building a clock, creating a telescope, "Cosmo" the flying alien, and even some Astronaut Freeze Dried Pineapple.  We were given a National Geographic Kids activity book with all kinds of fun puzzles to fill out.  They include "Surprise facts" that have to do with the box theme.  For example; we learned that there are more stars than the grains of sand on all the beaches on Earth.  We learned about the Latin meanings of A. M. and P. M.    This is perfect for anyone who wants their child to have extra hands on learning and creative time.

My kid's love space, aliens, stars, and using their imagination.  We have Fisher Price Trio Blocks that they are constantly using to make space ships, rockets, comets, etc for their outer space explorations.  So putting this Star themed/ Outer Space themed box into the hands of my Explorers was one of the best things that could happen during the rainy season where we live.  Check out the pictures of their adventures.  As we did worked on the clock and the spy scope, we noticed some negative things.  First of all the stickers for the spy scope aren't very sticky and peeled off really quickly, so after spending 10 minutes decorating the spy scope my son removed everything since they weren't sticking very well.

As we worked on the clock and were doing our best to follow the instructions, we ended up with an extra piece and found out that one of our clock hands flopped around.  The instructions weren't as clear as I thought they were, so we ended up just making the clock something the kids can play pretend with until we can figure out what step we missed.  (the instructions for putting the gears on was just a picture, but not big enough to figure out which tiny gold washer went where).  With this news I feel like this can still be a great opportunity for parents or teachers to give their kids extra hands on learning fun, but take it with a grain of salt if the quality isn't what you would want, or if the instructions aren't as clear as you would like...other companies and products are very similar.  My youngest loved the freeze dried pineapples the best!

What is Included: You are given all the supplies you need like stickers, paint, paint brushes, clock pieces, instructions, even disposable Aprons, and easy to read directions. Granted each box will have different supplies according to it's Theme.

Packages: They have monthly, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months packages for different pricing.  For more information follow this LINK.

Contest: Local Home School contest via email.  You will get an email from me with an invitation to enter.  Ends 10/21/14

 Pros: great product, awesome themes, fun activities, healthy snacks

Cons: not all instructions are clear, quality isn't all high end.




My Rating: Thumbs Up for awesome ideas and theme and activities, Thumbs Down for quality and clear instructions, given that most toys are similar.

Shell Memory Game for Kids

Details: Thinkfun's Shell Game is for children ages 8 and up to adults.  Single player game of swapping the shells to solve memory puzzles.  60 challenges from beginner to expert level.  Shell game includes: 6 sea shells, 6 hermit crabs, 3 ocean stones, 60 spiral bound challenges, instructions and solution manual.  "Thinkfun is the world's leader in addictively fun games that stretch and sharpen your mind.  From lighting up young minds to creating fun for the whole family, Thinkfun's innovative games and mobile apps make you think while they make you smile."  4 Step setup/ play process: set up Hermit Crabs and Ocean stones in the Start position, cover the crabs with a shell, swap the Shells following the arrows from position to position trying to get to the End position without looking.

Disclaimer:  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.

My Review: I think originally I as Mommy was more excited about this memory game than my children were.  Growing up, my family had a lot of time to play games together, so we played tons of board and card games.  Memory was one of those popular games with my family.  We did all kinds of memory games: cards, math, sequences, Simone Says, etc.  Now that I'm grown, married and have children of my own, I'm also getting involved with my kids and playing board games, card games, active games, thinking games, silly games, educational games etc.  I love Thinkfun games in general.  I have been able to have a good selection of games from them, and have enjoyed every game.  This Shell Game is a new fun unique twist on memory.  My 7 year old loves the magic "cup and pom pom ball" trick, so I thought of him when getting this game.  Let me tell you, he loves this game even more.  Its the perfect game for a single player who loves thinking, solving problems, finding solutions to puzzles, and loves to test their memory.  I'm very impressed!  The levels from Beginner, intermediate, advanced to expert really are excellently thought out, and really help boost your memory, and thinking skills.  I've played some and really do have to focus in order to "win".  This will be a fun game for when my youngest gets old enough to play it.  I am going to recommend this game, I see it as a great time filler for teachers, home school moms who home school multiple children.  One negative is that this game isn't fun once all the levels have been won.  In one day my 7 year old completed all Beginner levels.  Once he's won all 60 levels he won't want to play again, but I'll be able to pass this onto my younger child.

Pros: my son loves this game, I love this game, I love Thinkfun products, fun, educational, well thought out

Cons: not a long lasting game

My Rating: Thumbs Up and Down

 

My Growing Up Chart

Details: The Victoria Chart Company's "My Growing Up Chart" is a reward chart for children from 4 years of age and up.  Their motto is to "Encourage and praise for positive child development".  Perfect for children of elementary school aged children.  Their charts have customization, a complete reward program/ kit, and reusable.  They even have a matching app for iphone/ apple tech products.  Charts come with plastic reusable stickers with pictures, and even some that you can write on to customize it for your child's need, a wipe of pen, numbered stickers 1-20, gold star stickers that say "Good Job", an 8 row laminated chart, kit tips, and tricks for how to have this chart work best for you, your family and child, and of course the chart itself which is 11"x 25".  The Victoria Chart Company has all kinds of charts: bedtime, homework, behavioral, potty training, etc.

Disclaimer: 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.

My Review:  I love chore charts, job charts, reward charts.  It's great to give the child a sense of responsibility in a form they love.  It's also wonderful for them to visually see how well they are doing.  This visual praise is a real confidence booster.  As a Mom to children who are in Elementary school, I find visual charts that children get to see, touch, and interact with help keep the school environment calm, organized, and positive.  As a Mom, my children beg to help out around the house, beg to earn

allowance, and want to generally help Mommy.  But I personally find it hard to remember to give them something to help out with, or forget to give them their allowance, and then end up forgetting how much they earned etc.  So these charts help me stay organized, and on track as well because its something my kids want to use and love to use so then I see it as much as they do.  As a Home school teacher, my children don't normally have home work, but sometimes we take a really long time getting through our school day because the kids aren't having a happy day, or I'm not having a happy day, so having a chart that I can use to help us be happy and have fun while working on our school work helps keep our home peaceful, happy, and positive.  Over all, I'm very pleased with this chart, and happy to have had this opportunity to test, try and review it.  I recommend this product, because it is reusable, the stickers are easy to move around versus tiny little magnets on charts that I've had in the past.  And most of all I love that my 4 year old can use this and know what it is and how to use it without knowing how to read!

Pros: easy for kids to use, fun for kids to use, easy for parents/ teachers to help with, reusable, wipe clean charts

Cons: none

My Rating:  Thumbs Up

Jr. Police Officer Costume for Kids

Details:  This is the Boy's Police Costumes for kids.  Costume Discounter has a large selection of costumes for infants, children, teens, and Adults. Their costumes are available online.  Its great to have costumes kids and even adults can dress up in, playing games in,  such as playing Cops and Robbers.  Size Large, fitting sizes 8-10.  Best Quality Seal!  Included in this costume is: cap, duty belt, handcuffs, phone, baton, whistle, badge, and wallet picture, This costume is made of light fabric sewn into a one piece top and pants suit.  Even though the suit material is light weight it is surprisingly strong and sturdy.  The belt is separate and made of a fabricated soft plastic/leather material.  The hat is very sturdy in structure so it will keep its very unique Cop hat design.  The accessories are all made from plastic.

My Review: As my children have grown up I'm finding it necessary to order costumes that will fit my 7 year old mostly and then just roll up the sleeves and pants for my 4 year old.  As one of my kid's last school field trips before summer break they got to visit a Police Department, speak with the Officer on Duty about DARE, his brand new vehicle (he could talk to his vehicle), meet a K9 unit, and see the jail, and evidence rooms.  Since then they have really had fun playing games with bad guys, and Cops.  So when I was given the opportunity to review a Police Officer costume I was thrilled.  My children picked out the costume based off these points of interest: 1. How real did it look?, 2. How many accessories did it have?, 3. Did it have hand cuffs ( a total must have)?, 4. Could they agree on the costume to share it once we got it?

4 year old

This costume met all their requirements, and they have surprisingly been able to share this without issues.  I have been impressed with the quality, I didn't think the fabric would hold up with such rambunctious boys, but it has.  The baton and the hand cuffs are the only accessories that have broken so far.  And even though I knew by how cheap the plastic was on the hand cuffs that they would break, I was surprised at how quickly the baton broke.  We do plan on replacing the broken hand cuffs with the metal play ones you can buy from Walmart.  My 4 year old has commandeered the phone, and my 7 year old considers this costume a part of his weekly dress and attire.  So in other words this costume was a big hit with my children and because its so big they'll both be able to grow into it at least for the time being.

7 year old

Pros: AMAZING, well priced, quality fabric, fun to use, life like

Cons: cheap accessories (but to be expected) plan on buying others if your children really want them

My Rating: Thumbs Up

Transformers Beast Hunter Toy

Details: Transformers Prime Beast Hunter Toy for children ages 5 and up.  Hyena Cannon transformer toy. Deluxe Class series 2.014 Vertabreak Predicon.  The powerful Vertabreak wants nothing more than to smash the Autobots and everyone who is with them.  With his Hyena Cannon and launching missile toy he is a fierce enemy to Bumble Bee, Prime and the rest of the good guys the Autobots.  Plastic toy with moving parts, small attaching pieces, transforming ability with included instructions.  

My Review:  We bought this for my 4 year old son who loves everything Transformers, moving changing parts on action figures etc.  He picked it out, and even though he's a year younger than the suggested age, he does really well with transforming this toy.  We tried to help him with the instructions, but he figured it out before we as the adults/ his parents did.  The transformer has 3 different head options, 3 different hand options, the Hyena cannon can be removed and "fly" on it own, or it can be attached to the transformer itself for firing the toy dart.  We thought that this toy would be broken by the 3rd day that he's had it, but no, its better quality than we expected.  Price runs around $10 depending on where you get it.  

Pros: fun for children 4-8, easy for them to play with, quality plastic pieces

Cons: small pieces will get lost quickly

My Rating: Thumbs Up

Captain America Triple Blast Shield Toy

Details: Marvel Comies presents Captain America Shield Toy with Triple Dart Attack action, 10 included attack darts, stealth mode, quick flip to change modes, attack mode, Avenger's child toy, Sells for around $13.

My Review: My 7 year old got this toy for his birthday last week and it is a highly coveted toy between friends and siblings.  Its fun that it comes with darts that shoot, you can choose to shoot single or 3 at a time using the Triple Blast action mode.  Caution: Advised from experience not to shoot darts at people it HURTS.

Pros: fun for kids, great design, easy to use, quality workmanship on the toy

Cons: the darts are easily lost, darts hurt when shot at people

My Rating: Thumbs Up

Triple Blast Action Mode

Movable handle to hold shield and shoot darts

This toy is for "serious" players only :) 

Phase 3: Jobs and Charts

This is our last phase of our Job Charts for our kids.  This whole process took much longer than I had hoped, but we were in the process of getting ready to move, and then found out it was pushed back an extra month.  So that's why it took so long.  But here is the final step.

Dollar Tree piggy Banks: 3 per child

I used NailRitz nail polish pens to write Joseph's name on his 

sorry this is sidways, I couldn't get it to change:
 I used Nailritz nail polish pens to write Dallen's name on his

Once everything was dry for Joseph's stuff

Once everything was dry for Dallen's stuff

The reason we did 3 banks per child is for this reason.  One bank is for Savings, one for Spending and one for Tithing.  Our beliefs in our church is that we are tithed 10% of everything we earn, and we give that money back to the Lord via his leaders.  Here is a link explaining more about Tithing.  Anyways, so since our kids can get up to $5.50 a month (rounding), what we do is give them their money into their Savings bank.  Then at the end of each month the 10% will go to the Tithing bank and we'll have them give that to the church.  Then half of whatever is left will go into spending.  Until we can come up with a better plan this is what we're going to use.  If it changes we'll let you know.  Enjoy!

Phase 2: Jobs and Charts

For Phase 2, we actually took longer than I planned to print off and make the Velcro stickers the boys can move across their Job Charts.  So here is what we did.  The boys cut out the printed pictures we found online using Google Images.  They each found and printed and cut out 10 pictures, with my help.

  Then they cut foam sheets to go with each picture, and using Elmer's glue they glued the foam to the paper images.

 Once those were dry, they then helped me cut up bits of Velcro and hot glue them to the back of each foam image.

 The finished product was that there were 10 foam Velcro images that each boy would be using on his own Job Chart.  5 images were jobs he should be doing daily, and 5 were jobs he will do weekly.  We decided to make it super easy right now, and we'll of course add more jobs each time we move, and as each child gets bigger.