Guidecraft Educator GIVEAWAY ~ Three Sets of Blocks

I am so excited to be hosting this awesome giveaway just in time for Christmas! This giveaway is for three different sets of beautifully-colored wooden blocks:

Sand Blocks (RV $32)     Rainbow Blocks (RV $25)     Crystal Bead Blocks (RV $32)

The blocks come in a variety of shapes and colors. They can be used together as they are all about the same size. We often divide toys into "girl toys" and "boy toys," but classic building blocks are perfect for boys and girls! Blocks are great for preschool classroom use and home use. Playing with these Guidecraft blocks allows your children to explore their creativity while working on critical fine motor skills. Children can create different patterns. They could collaborate to build a structure together or play independently. Block play also allows children to incorporate lots of other toys. Blocks can be a farm for small animal figures, a castle for princess dolls, or a fort for soldiers. Young children begin to understand cause and effect relationships as they build different structures and knock them down. All three sets of blocks are durable and can easily be stored in a large lidded container for easy clean up.

Lydia loves to build structures and knock them down!

Lydia built a house.

She added different people & animals.

She loved knocking that one down...

...and starting all over!

But Lydia's favorite thing to do is use the rainbow blocks
as colored glasses!

BUY IT! You can purchase your own set of Guidecraft Blocks for your home or classroom. Guidecraft also sells mirrored blocks and shimmering water blocks.

WIN IT! What's great about this Guidecraft Educator group is that each month, one of us will be hosting the giveaway of a product that we have all reviewed. I am hosting the giveaway this month. Just look at how you can quickly enter below!  (This contest is open to the US and Canada.)

 * I received the aforementioned product for free to review. The opinions expressed are honest and provided without monetary compensation.

Imagine Toys Review ~ Pretend & Play Birthday Set

I just learned of a great website, Imagine Toys. They carry toys for children birth through 11+ years. Toys are organized into categories, age groups, price range, and brand so parents can really explore all of the different types of toys they carry.

I was so excited to receive the Pretend & Play Birthday Set in the mail to review, just in time for Lydia's birthday! Birthdays only come once a year, but with this pretend play set, your child can pretend it's his birthday every day of the year. The set comes with everything pictured below:

 48 Pieces include:

• A birthday crown
• 5 numbered candles
• 3 nesting presents
• 5 slices of cake
• 5 plates
• Pretend camera
• Wipe off crayons and more!

I think people often disregard the value of imaginative play in learning early, fundamental skills that are building blocks to learning more advanced skills. This pretend play set targets so many of those skills! Here are just a few of the variety of skills children can learn while playing with this great set from Learning Resources:

~Social skills - With 5 slices of cake, 5 plates, and just one birthday crown, children are required to take turns to play with this set imaginatively. One child can be the 'birthday kid' while the others are guests at the party. Children can also play different roles, like the invitation maker, cake baker, cake slicer, and gift giver. Role playing is such an important part of a child's development.

~Early math skills - Some of the early math skills targeted in this set include number identification, counting, and one-to-one correspondence (understanding that each guest receives one slice of cake, one plate, and one invitation). The nesting gifts also work on teaching size concepts.

~Fine Motor development - Fine motor skills are those that require use of your hands. Children can work on placing the candles in the cakes, similar to placing pegs in a peg board. They can work on placing each lid on the corresponding gift before arranging by size. Adjusting the crown to the proper size and taking pictures with the camera also require the child to use both hands together.

~Language skills - Most importantly, pretend play allows children to practice their language skills. Parents can provide their children with directions to play with each piece in new ways. Here are some examples:

• "Put the candle in the cake and put the cake on the plate."
• "Take a picture of daddy wearing the birthday crown."
• "Show me what you do with the birthday candles."

Children can also work on their own spontaneous language as they explore each piece in this set and use it to make up pretend games with parents and friends. Here's a video clip of Lydia (age 2) and Daddy playing together. The recommended age for this toy is 3+, but with supervision, I think this set is appropriate for children who are 2 years of age. As you can see in this clip, children naturally work on imaginative and imitative play, expressive/receptive language skills, motor skills, and social skills when playing with the Pretend & Play Birthday Set.

Even though this toy has a lot of pieces, they all fit together into a small container for easy clean up!

BUY IT! Interested in owning a Pretend & Play Birthday Set for your child? It's on sale now at Imagine Toys for just $19.99.

Imagine Toys offers many other wonderful pretend play sets, like a Standing Puppet Theater by Alex, Lil' Shopper Play Set by Earlyears, and the Ice Cream Social play set, which is on sale now for just $9.97.

You can also 'like' Imagine Toys on Facebook and 'follow' Imagine Toys on Twitter, where they host fun Twitter parties with great giveaways.

* I received the aforementioned product for free to review. The opinions expressed are honest and provided without monetary compensation.