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

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do you have a child beginning to learn to read and write?  Need some help at homework time?  Learning to write is a huge milestone for children, and not all children learn at the same pace.  That is a fact.  I’ve seen children whiz through the process of reading and writing. Others, I have witnessed, struggle with letters such as b, d, and E, as well as numbers, 2, 5, 9, and 6 (which is very common for a kindergartner).  If you find yourself in this predicament, don’t worry too much yet.  Just remember that with patience, a steady routine, good study habits, and lots of practice, it will get better.

Today’s SB find is the perfect tool for this task.  Smart Play Magic Alphabet & Magic Numbers 3D lenticular flash cards are a wonderful tool for children who are in the process of  learning to read and write.  The best part about these is that they are in three languages! English, Spanish, and French.  Since we received them, we have referred back to them as a practice/reference guide almost everyday when my daughter (now in kindergarten) is doing her homework.  She loves them!

When tilting one of the cards, you see the images magically transform between the uppercase, lowercase, and word image (or number). On the other side is a wipe-off writing surface where you can practice tracing and writing with a dry-erase marker (marker not included).  They are made of a layered laminate wipe-off material, light weight, and durable enough for a child to carry around the house or even in their backpack. The ring that holds the flashcards together is made of a solid flexible plastic that is easy for older children and adults to open and close again if needed.

On a side note, we own a different set of alphabet cards (in English only) with a metal ring that is too easy to open and can pinch a child’s little fingers when doing so.  Sometimes it opens up all on its own in fact, so I was relieved to know we wouldn’t have that problem with these flash cards.  Having the flash cards on a plastic re-closable ring was a huge benefit to us because it also allows for sharing with other children at the same time!  The Bilingual Smart Play Magic Flash Cards measure 3.5″ x 4.0″,   and are available in opposites and animal themes as well.

All in all, these make a perfect gift to any child learning to read and write!  Especially if they are learning Spanish like mine!

The Giveaway!

We are giving away the Magic Alphabet and Magic Numbers flashcards 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 | this is giveaway 2 | giveaway 3

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As a teacher, I found these 3D Magnetic alphabet and number cards very appealing. They are very sturdy and durable and feature bright, fun colors (great for kid-appeal!). I love the way they identify the number as well as provide the number-to-object correspondence. When the child moves the card, he can identify the quantity that corresponds with the number on the card. As a parent, I knew my child would find these magnetic cards fun because of the colorful illustrations and the promise of interaction. When he’s engaged with them, I know that he is having fun and learning all in one and I often catch him going over to our magnetized cabinet where we keep them and he sits there to play. I hear him reciting the alphabet and identifying the objects on the card as well as identifying the numbers! This enables him to expand his vocabulary and identify the numbers in isolation as well and I couldn’t be more proud of my preschooler for working so hard with them.

As a bilingual parent I was delighted that the cards arrived with a Spanish guide so we could continue to reinforce the spanish language in our household. This serves as a wonderful addition to place beside the cards so the children can see the numbers while I can verbally recite the numbers and letters to them in our second language. Encouraging him to repeat the numbers in Spanish is a great way to introduce another language to those parents who want their children to become familiar with or even master a second language.

The magnetic alphabet cards included the same guide with English, French, and Spanish names for the animals on the cards. It was great to hear my son recite the names of the animals and use correct pronunciation in English and Spanish. I couldn’t have been more pleased with the products themselves and how my kids chose to use them both together and independently.

As I think about the different learning styles of children, I know that this works best for visual and tactile learners like my boys. They love to touch and see visuals of certain concepts so these magnets are a perfect fit in our household. These magnetic cards are an ideal extension and tool for reinforcement for what my preschooler is now learning in school. I encourage all parents to have a set of these cards in their home. With the new Common Core State Standards in place, we want our children to receive a strong foundation for early learning and these can be a great asset to get there!

The Giveaway!

We are giving away the 3D Magic Magnets- Animal Alphabet and the 3D Magic Magnets- Numbers 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 this giveaway and the two upcoming Ingenio giveaways you will also be entered to win a $100 gift card from Toys R Us! Giveaway 2| Giveaway 3

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As my boys get older, they’re more into books, elaborate building sets and Mama’s iPad, and have outgrown the babyish Spanish-“speaking” toys of old.  That’s why I liked Ingenio’s Sounds Amazing cards.  There are fifty double-sided flashcards, grouped into categories (our favorites were Transportation and Musical Instruments), which include a picture of an object (such as an ambulance), information about the object in English and in Spanish, and a bar code.  Scan the bar code with the included wand, and you get a fun noise, like an ambulance siren.

Interestingly, if anything, I had a couple of minor quibbles with the English on the cards, but I absolutely loved that the Spanish text was elegant and the vocabulary very rich, which has not been my experience with this kind of toy in the past.  (Quick:  Butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle in Spanish, anyone?)

The cards are on the thinner side so I wouldn’t give them to a toddler, but older preschoolers should have a lot of fun with these.  I know my kindergartners are—the novelty factor of scanning the bar code just like at the grocery store won them over.  An extra bonus is that the stack of cards isn’t bulky at all.  The cards and the wand fit nicely in a pencil box, and we’ll be taking these on the road with us and enjoying them over the holidays.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner: Alishia !

We’re giving away one Sounds Amazing Bilingual Pen and adding a  Zafari Alphabet Puzzle  for one lucky winner!

-The Zafari Alphabet Puzzle, winner of the Creative Child magazine’s Puzzle of the year award, allows for three different ways to play and learn the alphabet and animals in English and Spanish.

To enter all you have to do is leave a comment telling us why you want to win these games.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including a link to the post, @SpanglishBaby and the #myingenio hashtag. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Tuesday, Dec. 13th at midnight PST and is open to everyone over 18 years of age in the continental U.S. Travel not included. Check out the Giveaway Rules.

Once your kids start to fathom what cerca and lejos mean, your next step is to expand the concepts by helping them understand where they fit in the world (literally). The Smart Play USA Floor Map Puzzle by ingenio can help you do just that.

Along with cute symbols for each state, the puzzle includes Spanish names for many states and bodies of water. It is the perfect size – big enough to read easily, but won’t cover the dinner table.

My favorite part is that it’s quite difficult to put together. Trying the puzzle with my son meant testing my knowledge of the exact location of each U.S. state! This would be a great activity for older children to introduce younger ones to geography.

After my son and I completed the puzzle, we talked about it for the same amount of time it had taken us to put it together. I pointed out which states are home to all our friends and family members, and explained to him why there’s a caimán icon on the state of Florida. The best part about our discussion? It happened in Spanglish, because the puzzle is labeled in both languages.

If you want your kids to graduate from baby rompecabezas to more intricate ones, this is your chance!

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner: Lindsey Rose !

We’re giving away one Smart Play Ingenio USA Map Puzzle to one lucky winner.

To enter, leave us a comment telling us which U.S. state would you most like to travel to with your children and why?

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):

**Please leave a separate comment for each so we can count them and avoid mistakes.

1. Subscribe to receive blog updates and subscriber-only content via email and leave us an extra comment letting us know you did so or that you’re already a subscriber. Make sure to leave the comment using the same email you subscribed with.

2. Follow us on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway including this link to the post  @SpanglishBaby and @myingenio. Copy the link to the tweet in an additional comment on the giveaway’s post.

Ex Tweet: Loving the bilingual USA Map Puzzle by @myingenio Enter to win it at @SpanglishBaby

3. Like SpanglishBaby on Facebook and join a thriving community of parents.

This giveaway ends Friday, Dec. 9th, at midnight PST and is open to everyone over 18 years of age in the continental U.S. Check out the Giveaway Rules.

¿Qué dice acá? This is my three-year-old’s favorite question lately. She wants to know what the logo on her Papito’s t-shirt, the ingredients on the box of cereal and the headline on my magazine all say. Su tía–my sister– has already taken it upon herself to teach her a few letters. She knows the V (that’s because it’s the first letter of her name), O, M, I, X and J.

I guess it’s time to get a bit more involved in teaching her the alphabet and now I have a great way to do it. Today’s second review ever on SpanglishBabyFinds is another one of the 10 Ingenio toys we’ll be introducing you to during the next two weeks. As you can see in the picture above, it’s basically a combination of blocks and crossword puzzles.

Although Vanessa is way too young for the actual crossword puzzles, we can definitely start using the blocks to begin teaching her the alphabet–as well as the numbers. Each of the 20 blocks has two letters and things that start with those particular letters in both Spanish and English. The blocks are pretty sturdy, the images on them colorful and the letters simple and legible.

The game comes with six bilingual crossword puzzles in the following categories: el transporte, los animales de la granja, las mascotas, las frutas, la casa and el cuerpo all of which you can hopefully use to start teaching your niños how to spell. The blocks can also be used for what they are: to build towers, in this case, word towers. As I said yesterday, one of the best things about Ingenio toys is that they are intended to grow with our children. Ideally, this means we can a get a few years of use out of them.

I think they are just a fun and different way of teaching our kids letters and words through play. In other words, I believe they won’t even know they are actually learning since it really feels more like a game. And, how many times have we suggested that the best way of reinforcing the minority language is by making sure it is FUN, right?

All of Ingenio´s bilingual toys are available via Amazon.  Of course, the best way to get them is via La Tiendita.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to our winner DONNA HUNT!!

As we mentioned yesterday, Ingenio, the first educational bilingual toys and games brand in the U.S., has chosen you to be the first to get a chance to win every single one of their ten toys.  Today you can enter to win Bilingual Blocks + Crossword Puzzles, simply by telling us any fun strategy or game you use to teach your kids the alphabet.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends tonight, Tuesday, August 25, at midnight EST.

Hers is even cooler because it speaks…in TWO languages: English and Spanish.  OK, she can’t stream Pocoyó on Ingenio’s Mi Primer Notebook/My First Notebook, but she can certainly use her expanding imagination by freely hitting buttons that prompt a lovely española’s voice to teach her numbers, letters, colors and shapes in Spanish and, with a press of a button, in English.

Her new laptop is compact and perfect for her to carry around.  The first thing she did when I gave it to her was to place it on my desk, sit in front of it and madly press every single button she found, while hysterically laughing out loud (surely she’s not imitating me!?)

I wasted no time looking for a volume control–couldn’t find one–but was happy that the “screen” is really just a picture.  This is one electronic toy that will not over-stimulate my daughter visually with unnecessary flashing lights and videos. It will, however, interactively teach her basic pre-school concepts in the two languages she understands.

All of Ingenio´s bilingual toys are available via Amazon.  Of course, the best way to get them is via La Tiendita.

Our First Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to our very first SBFinds winner:  Diana!

Ingenio, the first educational bilingual toys and games brand in the U.S., has chosen you to be the first to get a chance to win every single one of their ten toys.  Today you can enter to win Mi Primer Notebook, winner of the Top Toy of the Year 2009 Award from Creative Child Magazine, simply by visiting their website and leaving us a comment below telling us which of their bilingual toys you crave and why.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends tonight, Monday, August 24, at midnight EST.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of the giveaway of one Ingenio bilingual toy every day this week and of the many, many more finds to come.}

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.