How to entertain your toddler!

Okay, this is so simple! It's one of those things where you say "Why didn't I think of that!" LOL! A box, some crayons, and bored toddler = lots of fun!

Crayon and box!

Apps for preschoolers!

Do you have a Kindle Fire?? I am so in love with mine. I have a first generation and a second generation. The second generation (the ones that ship out now) are amazing for kids to use! No need to go out and buy a second tablet for your little one! Seriously, we have tried Nabbi, Mobi Go, Fisher Price iXL, and many more and hands down Kindle wins every time! Why?

*Free books everyday!
*Free Apps everyday!
*Great for Parents and Kids! Win win!
*New Kidles come with a kids app called "Kindle Free Time"! LOVE THIS!

Kindle Free Time allows you to control what your child can and cannot do on your Kindle. It's so much better than Parental controls! You simply open this app, load what you want your child to use, and your done! Give it to your child in "Free Time" mode and your child cannot exit it without your password! So your games (maybe paid content games) are safe! So are all your other apps and other things kids shouldn't be playing with (such as youtube or interenet access). It has a kid friendly set up that is easy for even my 2 year old to navigate. The layout can easily be compared to that of the  Nabi. Best of all there is a time limit you can set for their usage. When time is up it goes off! So your not the bad guy for taking it away! LOL! I set mine for 1 hour each day. So through out the day it keeps track of how long he plays and when his hour is up, it's off! You can also set up more specific time limits within this time frame. For example I have mine set to 15 minutes video time, 15 minutes apps/games, and unlimited reading. AWESOME! I love this!

So what apps are the best? I will tell you that we have tried them all (just about)! Here are my favorites. Note some of these have "free versions" so get those if you can. You'll just have to search them straight from you Kindle ,in most cases, to see the free optons. Don't worry in "Free Time" mode they cannot open ads! :)
*Preschool Learning Fun
*Preschool and Kindergarten Learning Games
*Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
*Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood: Play at Home with Daniel
*Giraffe's PreSchool Playground
*Barnyard Games for Kids

Videos
*Make Friends with Pocoyo : There is something about this little guy that my son just loves! I have to admit I love it to! :)
*Blues Clues


What are your favorite apps and videos?? Please share! :)

Screenshots:

Free Printable Masks!

I just had to share this website. Lots of fun FREE printables! I really love the flash cards and the animal masks! Check it out!

Face Masks

Flash Cards

Toy Review! Leap Frog Touch Magic

Here is a fun product review on a toy I just bought for my 2 and 1/2 year old son. This toy is made by Leap Frog and is called "Leap Frog Touch Magic". You can find it at Target, Walmart (selections vary), and also Amazon.com.  The price of this toy was $25.00 at both Target and Walmart, but I see that on Amazon it is only $22 with free shipping for Prime members. YAY! This toy is so worth it!

First off let me show you the one I bought:

The colors are bright and the animals are cute and smiley! When I first saw this toy I thought, oh boy another touch screen toy! It's just going to break when the buttons under it get jammed up. Well let me tell you, this has NO BUTTONS under the main picture! NONE! It is touch sensitive kind of like your phone screen would be. It has 3 playing modes. My son's favorite is the "Old McDonnalds" which is the reason I chose this one over the Bus themed one. He LOVES this song! During the song you touch an animal to add to the song. SUPER CUTE! Also my son is just learning to count to 15, so this will help emphasize those numbers to him and since it goes up to 20 I can see this toy "grow" with him. You can run your finger up the round colored wheels up in the front of the train and it plays sort of like a piano. The entire surface is very responsive and my son has yet to become annoyed with it for not working (like other button toys).

This toy is great in the car since it fits right across the lap. It also has been great to just set on top of the coffe table and let him play and dance away. I give this toy a 5 star review! I will be getting the bus unit for a birthday present for little man in December!

So hope this helps some of you who were considering this toy. Any questions about it, let me know and I'll do my best to answer them.

You can find them here: Amazon.com , currently $2 off. :)

*I am not affiliated with Leap Frog in any way. Just a mom who loves to write up reviews! :)

Water Table

The heat of summer is upon most of us by now and if your like me your trying to find a good way to keep the little ones cool while outside. If your kids are anything like my little man, then outside play is a MUST! I cannot contain this little guy inside for very long! LOL! With the summer heat though I worry about him overheating and quit frankly he just does not like sprinklers.... yet. So to keep him cool I make him go inside for about 10 minutes (not easy when all he wants to do is play outside) or I place a cool wet cloth on his neck, again not easy! I came across this awesome tutorial on how to make a water table. I think this will be a great way for him to splash around safely in water and keep cool. It looks so like so much fun and it's very easy to put together once you have a few necessary tools. Head on over to www.instructables.com to see exactly how to do this yourself!

{Instructables.com}