Tag Archives: kids

Too Cute Bento Lunch Boxes

Age 3-5, Guest post: TheFind.com, New posts, Preschool, , , ,

bentoboxes

This fall my daughter begins preschool and I’m in search of a bento box for her lunches. I’m half Japanese and I’ve grown up with bento boxes my entire life. I’m looking forward to preparing meals that will make her smile and hopefully consume. Luckily it will only be twice a week! There are a plethora of bento blogs devoted to bento box preparation and many options to buy bento lunch boxes online. I’m looking for a bento that is colorful, cute and can be easily opened with a toddler’s small hands. The larger orange and pink Vivo is adorable, but with the metal handle is better suited towards older kids.

In addition to the actual bento lunch boxes there are recipe books and a dizzying array of accessories for the preparation of bento. I’ve been already using some of them to make mealtimes more fun for my finicky eater. Luckily she loves rice, organic nori and edamame which I’ll be adding to the bento and are quick and easy to prepare.

Bento products featured above:

Vivo Kids Bento Box, Orange and Pink, $22 at Amazon.com
Yokom Kids Bear Bento Box, $17.99 at Sugarcharms.com
Hawaii’s Bento Box Cookbook: Fun Lunches for Kids, $14.95 at nativebookshawaii.com
Niko Niko Punch 3 – Face Bento Decoration, $19.50 at jbox.com

From our friends at TheFind.com

ItzaBitza Educational Reading Game for kids + giveaway – this game is so much fun!

Educational Toys, , , , , ,

This is one of the most entertaining game I've played in a long time.  Yes, I admit I played ItzaBitza.  My kids weren't even around.  The concept of ItzaBitza is awesome..I've never seen anything like it.

ItzaBitza promotes reading comprehension, artisitic and imaginative creativity and provides an exciting gaming experience for kids ages four and older.  I was amazed time and time again by how the game responded to my drawings and made them come to life.  

Here are just a few things you can do in the first ItzaBitza scene:

  • Draw a tree, apples grow on it.  
  • Draw a moon and stars light up the sky and your Sketchie goes inside the house you drew, goes upstairs and goes to sleep.
  • Draw an envelope and your Sketchie takes it to the mailbox.
  • Draw a cup and watch your Sketchie drink out of it.

The Sketchie your child chooses at the beginning of the game (a boy or a girl) asks your child to draw things, including a house and a tree, then the drawings become part of the animation and story.  An example would be when I drew a tree with leaves, the game added apples to the tree.  You can see my award winning drawing (ha!) below.  Click on the image to view the larger version.  I didn't draw the flowers.  When I drew the sun, the flowers grew!  How cool is that?

Through out the game, the Sketchie gives you ideas and little games to play via a little word bubble that pops up when you click on him or her.  If your child has trouble reading a word in the bubble, all she has to do is move
the mouse over the word and it is sounded out for her.  Great reading practice!

Itzabitza1

There are several scenes that can be unlocked as your child progresses in the game including a camping scene and a naunted house.  You'll have to buy the game to find out what happens in each of the scenes!

Buy a copy of ItzaBitza at Amazon.com for $17.99 (current price) OR buy and download the game here.

Giveaway details are coming soon but until then you can subscribe to our updates and you will be notified with giveaway details as soon as we get them up!

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SquidSoap

Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Ages 10-13, Cleaning & Cleaners, Fun stuff for parents, , , ,

"Awww… you made me ink!"  That is one of my favorite lines from Finding Nemo.  Did you know that your kids can have fun with ink?  No, not the kind in a pen but the SquidSoap kind which is actually vegetable dye.

          SquidSoap by Airborne® is designed to teach and
train proper hand-washing technique to children. It’s the only
liquid-soap dispenser with a specially designed pump that stamps a
child’s hand with vegetable dye. It takes about 20 seconds of thorough
hand washing to remove the ink mark, leaving the child with clean
hands. So it literally takes the guesswork out of whether or not your
kids have washed their hands thoroughly. It’s easy, fun and effective.

I have to admit that Sebastian, 8 years old, was a little bummed that he had to put ‘ink’ on his hands at first.  However, after using SquidSoap a couple of times he thought it was cool. Eight year old boys just don’t have the time to stand around washing their hands.. silly me.   Now I simply require that the kids wash their hands in the kitchen where I can see them use vegetable dye on the top of the SquidSoap dispenser and then check to see that the dye is gone when they have finished washing their hands.

This is a great product. One that every parent should have in their home.

WEBSITE: SquidSoap