Just in time for the Halloween season, Disney Gravity Falls, is now on DVD! “Six Strange Tales” is about Dipper and his twin sister, Mabel, who are sent to spend their summer vacation with their great uncle in Gravity Falls. Perfect for this time of year, the six episodes are full of riddling situations such as silly gnomes pretending to be zombies, Mable in search for her perfect vampire, and little old men creating scary “legends” just to gain the town’s attention. The annoying uncle, Grunkle Stan, who runs The Mystery Shack tourist shop, is the biggest mystery of all!

Although not happy with their parent’s summer plans for them, Dipper is always ready for a little adventure. He is quickly distracted by his lucky find of a puzzling and intriguing old journal full of the town’s secrets. Mabel’s company adds humor to every adventure they take together.

Diego was excited to follow along with the exclusive Mystery Book: Journal #3 included in the DVD. The set includes over two hours of the very funny problem-solving duo in action. AND Gravity Falls can be enjoyed  by many with its French and Spanish subtitle options too!

The Giveaway!

We’re giving away one copy of Gravity Falls to one lucky winner. All you have to do is leave us a comment letting us know who you’d like to share this DVD with. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

Ends October 31st 

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These recent discoveries receive triple points from me. Number one, both the Slide & Discover and Math-o-Matic can be used in English and Spanish. They are also both appropriate for a variety of ages (perfect for my sixteen month-old, almost three year-old and six year-old)! Finally, as a mother who believes children can and should learn through play, both of these products are super educational.

Slide & Discover is full of vocabulary for Spanish speaking,  English speaking, or bilingual children.  A great educational toy if the child is learning a second language.The thematic cards are stored in the back of the carrier and one can slip in a bright and colorful choice through the front. My younger children are working on colors, numbers and animals. The cards feature ten pairs of vocabulary words and my oldest is practicing Spanish vocabulary for seasons, objects in the classroom and marine animals. With about 150 words to discover, children also benefit from picture-word association and fine motor skills. My little ones love to slide to discover something new!

All my children love language and reading but my oldest is already practicing basic math skills while my middle child is fascinated by puzzles. Math-o-Matic is designed with two learning levels in mind: Stage 1 helps children learn numbers and their spelling in English and Spanish and Stage 2 allows children to play by self-checking their math game using numbers and symbols. This product truly grows with your child. Even the baby benefits from the sturdy and colorful number pieces we point and count aloud for him!

Both the Slide & Discover and Math-o-Matic are ideal for homes with multiple-aged children and those who are working at developing or strengthening a second language. Early-childhood education and bilingualism is important in our home and I appreciate products designed with all of these factors.

The Giveaway!

We are giving away the Bilingual Slide & Discover Spanish + the Math-o-Matic to one lucky winner. Just leave us a comment telling us who you’d like to share this giveaway with and enter the Rafflecopter below.

There’s more! If you enter all three Ingenio giveaways going on this week you will also be entered to win a $100 gift card from Toys R Us! giveaway 1 | giveaway 2 | this is Giveaway 3

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Everyone has been talking about Disney’s “Teen Beach Movie” (including my very, very pre-teen Diego)! He can’t help but hear what his friend’s older siblings are saying and he catches the commercials on Disney all the time. Even more exciting: Disney’s Club Penguin is partying it up backstage at the “Teen Beach Movie” Summer Jam! Club Penguin is new to my son but as soon as I told him he could give it a try, he was all over it.

From now until September 3rd, your child can dress up their penguins after one of the main characters of the “Teen Beach Movie” (Brady and McKenzie remain cute as penguins).  Also, everyday they can collect items such as the beach ball, ukulele, retro hat, and more. The penguins can socialize at Big Momma’s Snack Shop, at the Dock and Epic Wave. I’m still not over how cute all this is.

Club Penguin is an always-changing world where the possibilities to create, socialize, and play are truly endless. Customized to the latest phenomena like “Teenage Beach Movie”, Disney’s Club Penguin has new content every week and it is a learning experience for your child as well. The concepts in problem solving, teamwork, critical thinking, and math are built in to the games, noticeable to a parent as the child customizes his penguin and igloo, and as he or she socializes at a party.

Diego was happily playing along and didn’t even notice I switched to the Spanish version during a session. He felt very comfortable reading the directions and other penguin’s comments once he knew how to navigate through different places on his “map.”  I was happy to see Spanish “chats” happening everywhere.

My only concern before showing Club Penguin to Diego was the social multiple-player aspect of the online game. Once I dug around and familiarized myself with the parental settings, I read this on Club Penguin’s site: “We think kids are pretty awesome. And we believe that every child should have a safe place to play. So everything we do stems from our values and commitment to safe and fun online play.” This is Disney; they have their bases covered. Nevertheless, I  still set Diego up on the kitchen table and peeked over his shoulder quite a bit. We have a membership now (thanks to Disney!) and completely recommend Club Penguin to you. Give it a try this week!  The party continues until September 3rd!

The Giveaway!

We are giving away ONE 6 month membership to Club Penguin and 5,000 coins to the winners account. All you have to do is leave us a comment telling us who you’d like to share this prize with. Then, enter the Rafflecopter below.

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I can be a little bit strict when it comes to my boys and TV. Those of you who know me, have heard me talk about using little screen time as educational as possible. Just like my boys watching Spanish cartoons, when we received these DVDs in the mail, I said to them, “knock yourselves out!” They loved THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS: REVVING UP (3 discs) and THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS: IN A PICKLE. Sixteen fun episodes about science, perfect for ages 4-7, based on the series of books by Joanna Cole and illustrator Bruce Degen, AND a Spanish language option! This mamí definitely approves!

The first time my boys sat down to watch a few episodes of the new THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS DVDs, my six-year-old was talking about microbes, energy and eggs for more than a couple of days!

I love how much there is to learn with these new DVDs; everything from the smallest cell to the largest galaxy in twelve never-before-available episodes of the Emmy Award®-winning TV series in THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS: REVVING UP. Each of the three discs in the set – “Under Construction,” “Getting Energized” and “Cracks a Yolk” – contains three new episodes focusing from computers and electricity to city critters and desert adaptation. And each DVD also contains a special bonus episode adding up to more than four-and-a-half hours of educational fun!

Then there is the IN A PICKLE, my son’s favorite DVD! Viewers who hop aboard the bus for IN A PICKLE are sure to find out across four never-before-released episodes including the title episode about microbes, along with “Meets Molly Cule,” “Makes a Stink” about smell and “Meets the Rot Squad” which covers decomposition.

The titles, the content and the animation are all very attractive to kids. I wish I would have had something like this when I was a student. I am learning more about science with my boys! For more information on these title or any other Scholastic Storybook Treasures release, visit New Kideo. Also, visit New Kideo, the online home for the DVD line, at their Facebook page.

You have to get your copies! REVVING UP is $24.95 and IN A PICKLE is $12.95, or you can enter our awesome GIVEAWAY!!

The Giveaway!

We are giving away THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS: REVVING UP (3 discs) and THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS: IN A PICKLE, a total of sixteen fun episodes to ONE lucky winner (U.S. ONLY). Just leave us a comment letting us know who you’d like to share these DVD’s with and enter the rafflecopter below.

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What a great discovery we have made! Cricket Publishers have just launched their Ladybug Magazine in Spanish! Ladybug en español is designed for children ages 3 to 6, perfect for my two oldest sons, who are beginning to or are already reading in Spanish. Our boys still need guidance when reading in their second language, and we found that Ladybug is perfect for us to continue to read aloud en español.

While reading Ladybug to my oldest, the illustrations caught my eye and reminded me of the old books my mom had of cuentitos when I was a child. The short stories are sweet and the ones with more text are rich and engaging. My oldest read the “easier” ones aloud and I read the others to both boys. Then, as I was scrolling down on my laptop, we also discovered poems, games and music sheets! My little piano player wanted to give it a try but the music was a bit advanced (so he set a goal for himself!).

I look for children’s literary magazines that have all the components I need for ideal reading instruction. It hasn’t been easy to find something like this in Spanish, for this specific age group, until now.  The magazine is well-rounded, giving me an opportunity to point out vocabulary, comprehension, spelling and most importantly, to motivate my boys to continue their practice of a second language. Bonus points to Ladybug en español for offering a digital version of the magazine for kids, like my boys, who LOVE the iPad.

Visit CricketMag.com to order your subscription of Ladybug en español. The  yearly subscription for the digital version is $17.99 and the printed version is $33.95.  You can also download individual issues via the iPad app. I believe that if Spanish is something you are working on hard in your home or classroom, this is totally worth it!  I’m so thankful to my mother for providing Spanish literature to me when I was a child. Because I have the resources available to me, I hope one day my sons will be able to do the same with their children.

The Giveaway!

We are giving away a one year subscription of both the digital AND print publication of Ladybug en español to THREE lucky winners! Just leave us a comment telling us why you would love to read Ladybug en Español with your kids. Then enter the rafflecopter below.

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