Category Archives: Games

Our Family Game Night Goes Digital with Discovery Bay Games Duo Pop iPad Games

Duo Pop iPad games

My family’s been having the best time playing Discovery Bay Games Duo Pop iPad games lately.   I am not a big fan of sitting on the couch and watching a movie, like the rest of my family is, so whenever we are all together on a weekend night I suggest that we play games together.  While we love playing classic board games and those that aren’t so classic, we also love trying new games out. Both of my kids, 12 and 5, LOVED playing Duo Pop iPad games.  We play on the couch, on the floor, and at the kitchen table. You can even play in the car!  Perfect for road trips!

Duo Pop allows you to add more interactivity and friendly competition to a night of games with you family and friends. With many of Duo’s fun game apps for iPad, your family has the ability to “pop” its way to entertainment.

Highlights Hidden Pictures, a digital version of the puzzles from the popular children’s magazine, has been adapted to a game that even young children will enjoy. Children can search for hidden pictures themselves to see if they can spot all of the pictures in a set amount of time or compete against friends to see who can find the most pictures first.

Duo Pop iPad family game

For word game enthusiasts, Swoop offers a fast-paced, vocabulary-building game. Duo Pop allows families to play a party version of the game where players grab letters and earn points by building words and pitting them against words from other players. Even younger children can play this game by creating three and four letter words.

Trivia buffs will enjoy Guesstimation which provides a question, such as “how many times a week does a cow stand up and lie down?” and asks players to submit a guess. The player with the closest guess wins the round. Not only will your family have a good time, but you’ll learn some fun new facts as well.

All of the games you can play with Duo Pop offer an entertaining new way to bring life to family game night.

Connect with Discovery Bay Games:

 

Alicia Hagan, Editor

 

Disclosure: I was provided with Duo Pop for review purposes.  All opinions are 100% my own.

PopCap™ Games: Not Just For Kids!

After a stressful day at work or a rough morning at home with the kids, sometimes all a parent wants to do is sit down, relax and regroup. PopCap games provide the perfect stress reliever. Whether you have a Mac or PC or prefer to play games on your iPhone, iPad or Android phone, you are likely to find a game to suit your relaxation and entertainment needs.

PopCap Bookworm gameBookworm

If you enjoy word games, play Bookworm and try to make as many words as possible using the letters on the screen. As the bookworm chomps the words you make, new letters appear and tiles begin to burn. Quickly you will be lost in the game, flying to make words before all of your letters are engulfed in flames.
Availability: PC, Mac, iPhone / iPod Touch, Mobile, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Online

PopCap Plants vs. Zombies gamePlants vs. Zombies

Perhaps your co-workers have made you particulary angry at the office. Work out your anger in a game of Plants vs. Zombies. Pretend your co-workers are the zombies and use the zombie-zapping plants to keep them from invading your home or sapping your energy.
Availability: PC, Mac, Android, iPad, iPhone / iPod Touch, Kindle Fire, Windows Phone 7, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, PlayStation Network, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Online

PopCap Peggle gamePeggle

Work your way through the 55 challenging levels of Peggle as you bounce balls off different pegs within the courses. With each level you pass in Peggle, you’ll feel an ounce of stress from the day melt away. You can even make Peggle a way to interact with your kids by playing in Duel Mode and gloating when you outscore them.
Availability: PC, Mac, Android, iPad, iPhone / iPod Touch, Mobile, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Network, PlayStation Portable, Xbox Live, Online

PopCap Bejeweled gameBejeweled

Be mesmerized by the sparkling gems in Bejeweled2 as you swap them to make three or more in a row and build up your score. If you master one version of Bejeweled2, do not worry. You can also work your way through Bewjeweled3 or Bejeweled Twist.
Availability: PC, Mac, Android, Windows Phone 7, WiiWare, PlayStation Network, PlayStation Portable, XBox Live, Online

Since 2000, PopCap has been providing games for everyone, not just for kids. After a few rounds of Plants vs. Zombies or one of the company’s numerous other games, you will find yourself addicted. Because all of the games are easy to learn, they provide perfect way to gain some relaxing time to yourself.

Disclosure: I was provided with copies of these games for review purposes.  All opinions are 100% my own.

Connect with PopCap™:

 

Alicia Hagan, Editor

Our super sweet Candy Land party and a giveaway!

Can you imagine.. Candy Land, cupcakes, face painting, pottery painting, bead bracelet craft, and hair-do’s.. all in an hour and a half?
Oh my gosh I can’t tell you how exhausted I was around 12:30 today.  I was pooped and ready for a nap, which is very unlike me.  All for good reason though.   Thanks to Hasbro and My Blog Spark, I hosted a Candy Land party for about 18 3-5 year old’s this morning.  I was thrilled to have Desiree from BottlesToBritches.com, Stacie from TheDivineMissMommy.com, and Amanda from OhAmanda.com at the party.  Check out their blogs!  You’ll love them.

Candy Land was recently redesigned, bringing the excitement that is Candy Land back to our kitchen table.  Forget the dinner, let’s play Candy Land!  My daughter is 4 and Candy Land is the “go to” board game when she has friends over.  Don’t even try to offer another game.. Candy Land is “IT!” and that’s the way it is.

Candy Land party - My Blog Spark

Candy Land is a classic ‘first game for children’, takes about 15 minutes to play, and because there is no need to read to play Candy Land, even 3 year olds can play it!

Candy Land board game

You too can travel down the rainbow path on a journey of discovery through enchanted lands filled with sweet surprises around every corner. Create delicious treats at the Cupcake Commons to deliver along the way, participate in a thrilling snowboard race down the Ice Cream Slopes with the Duke of Swirl, take a relaxing train ride through Gummy Hills and climb to the top of Chocolate Mountain. Be sure to make friends with Gramma Gooey, Lord Licorice, Princess Frostine and Princess Lolly of Lollypop Woods throughout your adventure, as you race to meet King Kandy at the grand entrance to the Candy Castle.

Here’s a short video of our Candy Land fun at Farmhouse in the City in Roswell, GA:

A special thanks to Hasbro who provided us with the Candy Land board games to play and give away through MyBlogSpark!

You can buy Candy Land at your local Target, Wal-Mart, or Toys R’ Us, or online from Hasbro.

GIVEAWAY!

We are giving a lucky reader a Candy Land board game!   To enter leave a comment below telling us one what your favorite memory of playing Candy Land is (with your kids or from when you were young).
Earn extra entries by sharing this giveaway with your Twitter friends (Tweet: “I entered to win Candy Land from TheMommyInsider.com!  You can enter too:  @mommyinsider”).  Be sure to follow us on Twitter and leave a separate comment below telling us that you Tweeted and what your Twitter address is.  ‘Like’ us on Facebook and tell your Facebook friends about The Mommy Insider and/or our Candy Land giveaway. You can post about our giveaway on Twitter and Facebook up to once per day – just make sure to let us know in the comments, that you did!
Entries accepeted through November 30th.

Have fun with Candy Land!

JumpStart Online 3D Virtual World + 3-Month Membership Giveaway!

I’ve known the brand JumpStart since my 10 year old was about 4.   At about 4 years old I thought Sebastian was ready to play computer games so I went out to buy some and didn’t have much luck finding a game that he could navigate and play without having to use a mouse.. until I found JumpStart at Target.  I loved that Sebastian didn’t have to use the mouse to play JumpStart games.   I’ve been a fan of JumpStart games ever since.

JumpStart 3d virtual world

My 4 year old daughter recently started playing in the JumpStart.com 3d virtual world and has a blast.  She loves the character we created for her and is very proud of herself for using the keyboard to move through JumpStart’s virtual world.  Sebastian’s playing in the JumpStart online virtual world, next to me while I’m writing this and is saying things including “that was awesome”, “this is so cool”, and “mom you’ve got to look at this”.  Yes, those three things over and over.  Oh, and he just found another way to fly in the virtual world.  It doesn’t get more exciting than that!

He’s about to check out the Dragon Sanctuary, a place where kids can hatch, raise, train, then release their dragons.  Update: It’s the 2nd day Sebastian’s been playing JumpStart.com online virtual world games and he’s very excited that his dragon hatched.

Sebastian playing JumpStart online 3d virtual world game

JumpStart.com has online games for preschoolers to upper elementary grade kids.  JumpStart’s StoryLand is aimed at 3-5 year olds and for children in kindergarten to 2nd grade, there is AdventureLand and MarineLand, an underwater adventure.   FutureLand is for kids from 3rd to 5th grade.  Both of my kids have fun on JumpStart.com and best of all, I can keep up with what they are doing and how they are progressing.  I don’t have to keep up with much for my 4 year old but Sebastian, 10, will play games for hours if I let him and it’s nice to see how and what he’s doing via a progress report area on JumpStart.

JumpStart Math Blaster CD game

JumpStart Mathblaster CD

Sebastian loves JumpStart’s Math Blaster CD game which is geared for kids ages 6 to 12.  Math Blaster: Master the Basics is a fast-action, futuristic adventure that adds up to total math success. From addition and subtraction to multiplication and division, children will build confidence, speed and accuracy in basic math skills that will stay with them long after their mission is complete.  Math Blaster: Master the Basics combines exciting, fast-action game play and state-standard math content, making it a fun game for kids but educational at the same time.  Who knew learning math could be fun? Sebastian learned a lot from Math Blaster last school year.  He was in need of some help with math during 4th grade and Math Blaster’s fun and entertaining games made learning math fun for him.. when I couldn’t.  I was having a hard time trying to figure out how to get him to learn more complicated math facts that he needed to learn and wasn’t picking up on but Math Blaster did the job.

JumpStart online games can be played on PC’s and Mac’s!

Where to find JumpStart

JumpStart.com website

JumpStart on Facebook

Follow JumpStart on Twitter

JumpStart.com Membership Giveaway!

JumpStart is offering a lucky reader a 3-month JumpStart membership!  To enter to win, leave a comment below telling us why you want to win.

Entries accepted through August 26th, 2010

Open to U.S. residents over 18 years old.


Disclosure: I was provided with a JumpStart membership and Math Blaster: Master the Basics CD game at no cost by Knowledge Adventure in order to test the products’ abilities and give my own personal opinions on it. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.

You can also fill out this form to enter to win a 3 month membership for JumpStart

Animal Fun Time iPhone app review + 5 readers will get a free copy!

Animal Fun Time iPhone appI’m having a blast trying out new iPhone apps and what’s even better is that I get to watch my kids enjoy them too! Yes, I try apps for organizing, apps for recipes, apps for travel, but apps for the kids are the most fun because my kids are involved and I love to see their reaction and desire to play or watch them over and over again.  My kids are on iPhone time limits.  I don’t recommend handing your iPhone over to your kids and letting them have at it for hours. I think about 10 minutes at a time is plenty.

Animal Fun Time (iTunes link), brought to us by people operating technology, provides interactive musical on-screen flashcards featuring the animals as the stars. Promoting interactive see, touch & recognition skills, with bright colors and great sound effects, it’s the perfect app for a busy toddler AND for a busy parent who needs a busy toddler!

So what is Animal Fun Time? It is an app that teaches toddlers ages 3+ animal recognition as well as hand-eye coordination.  There are 5 animals on the screen at a time and your child must ‘press’ on the correct animal to move to the next screen. Kids are awarded with realistic (if not real) animal sounds and enthusiastic praise when he/she presses on the correct animal.

Madelyn, 3 years old, has a great time with Animal Fun Time. She loves to hear the noise each animal makes when she chooses the correct animal. The game is randomized so the game is never the same and thus your kids won’t get bored with it. Oh, and don’t worry, there’s no need for instructions so you can count on handing your iPhone over to your toddler to play Animal Fun Time and she’ll be on her way to a super fun time!

GIVEAWAY!
Thanks to people operating technology, we are giving 5 lucky readers their own free copy of Animal Fun Time!
1 entry:
Just leave a comment below telling me why you want to win Animal Fun Time and/or tell us a funny story about your child and your iPhone.  Did something crazy happen when your kid had your iPhone?  Let us know!
2 extra entries:
Click the green ‘retweet’ button to share this post with your Twitter friends then leave a comment below with your Twitter ID.
Entries accepted until August 25th, 2009.

Alicia Hagan, Editor

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