** WINNER!! WINNER!! #88: Maryellen – Congratulations! Contact me at katie@marriageconfessions.com to claim your prize! Thanks to everyone for entering! **
I debated whether to review this product because I’ve already reviewed an Eric Carle product recently, but it’s too darn good not to share. For Gracie’s birthday, my mother-in-law, Jackie, brought Bean a few little goodies, too. One of them were these fabulous Eric Carle lacing cards.
The box set comes with 10 cardboard lacing cards, each with a Eric Carle drawing on it, and 10 different colored strings. (Only 6 are pictured here because the other four were up in Bean’s room and I was too lazy to go get them…)
Like the Eric Carle flashcards, these lacing cards are beautiful. The colors are vivid and rich, and the animals are just unique enough to not be the standard animals in all kids toys.
Not only are these beautiful, but the activity is perfect right now for Bean’s age. He is getting more patient and has a much longer attention span, so I’ve been looking for more activities for him that require some more thought. These lacing cards keep him busy for 20-30 minutes at a time right now.
I also like them because they promote fine motor skills. It requires excellent eye/hand coordination. But I like it most because it helps Bean practice PATIENCE! As a two-and-a-half year old, patience is in short order in Bean’s world. Surprisingly though, Bean is very patient when he is engaged in this activity.
I keep this set in my diaper bag (or Bean’s backpack, whatever we have with us) and pull it out when I need him to sit quietly for a while. I used them last week at the doctors office when we had to sit and wait for 15 minutes while Bean had a breathing treatment. He sat there the whole time working on his cards while he got his treatment. I also pulled them out yesterday when I took both kids to the grocery store with me (I was desperate!). I gave Gracie two strings to wave around, and Bean sat next to her and laced the cards while I shopped.
I can’t recommend this activity enough for toddler/preschool aged kids. It’s educational, creative, and engaging. What more could you want from an activity?
Today I’m giving away a set of the Eric Carle flashcards TO YOU! To be entered to win, leave a comment below telling me what your favorite activity or game was as a child. What did YOU like to do? For me, it was playing pretend with my sister. We’d pretend to be fairies, dogs, monkeys, adults, teachers, ballerinas…pretty much anything you can imagine. I can’t ever remember playing inside or watching TV. I just remember being up in trees or in creeks or in our cul-de-sac, pretending to be something and bossing my sister around. We may not have worked our eye/hand coordination necessarily, but we KILLED the creativity skills!
Good luck!
** UPDATED: So, I’m about two weeks late posting the winner of this giveaway. Sorry, guys. The winner is commenter #1: Betty!! Congratulations, Betty! Email me at katie@marriageconfessions.com to claim your prize. Thanks for playing everyone!**
I have been meaning to post about these flash cards since Bean got them for Christmas (or maybe his birthday?) last year. Chris’s mom gave them to him. She is always finding the most educational and creative gifts for Bean and Gracie. Jackie gives things that most people don’t find and so her gifts always have something unique and memorable about them. These Eric Carle Animal Flashcards are the perfect example.
First of all, I am a sucker for Eric Carle. I love his art work. I think it is beautiful and whimsical and bright and vibrant, which is everything I think art should be. His baby books are big hits around my house, but these flashcards might be an even bigger hit, actually.
You can’t really tell from these pictures, but they are a nice sized, sturdy flashcard on board-like material in a gift-quality display box. They hold up really well to a toddler’s rowdy learning style, or a baby’s gummy slobbers.
The letters are large, colorful, and easy to read for Bean. And I like that they show the upper and lower case letters for each.
And what would Eric Carle flashcards be without beautiful artwork?
Each card has a vibrant drawing of an animal or sea creature on the back that corresponds with the letter on the front. Unlike other flashcards, these are large pictures since the flashcards themselves are the size of a medium-sized board book. It makes them easy to see and easy for tiny toddler hands to manipulate.
Another thing I really like about these flashcards are that some of the animals and sea creatures are non-traditional. For example, everyone has bunnies on B flashcards, but this set has a buffalo instead. It gives Bean a chance to learn other animals that he might now normally see, such as a yak, a quetzal, or a narwhal.
I really can’t recommend these flashcards enough. They are so nice that they would make a lovely baby shower or first, second, or third birthday gift for a child. I was thinking about giving a set away to you all and was a little worried about how much they were going to cost. I easily thought these were $25 or more, given their high quality, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were only $10 on Amazon! So – I’m giving away TWO sets!
To enter to win, leave a comment below telling me what word you always have trouble pronouncing or spelling. What word would you need a flashcard for??? The giveaway will be open until 8:00pm EST on Friday, 2/3. I’ll announce two winners on Monday.
Good luck!
******
This giveaway is sponsored by Bean. Because he loves these flashcards. And he’s nice.
22Nov
**AND THE WINNER IS… JESSICA IN OK! Congratulations, Jessica! Email me at katie@marriageconfessions.com to claim your beautiful dress! Thanks to everyone who entered and a special thanks to Shabby Apple for hosting such a great giveaway!**
I normally try to be as gender-friendly as a mommy blogger (cringe! I hate that phrase!) can be, but I’m going to go ahead and tell you that this post is for the ladies. Girls, if you do nothing else today, then you need to go to Shabby Apple and design a show stopping, glamorous wardrobe for yourselves. It is the most fun clothing website I have been to in a long time because the clothes are so unique. When I first saw the site, I thought, “Yeah, but where would I ever wear that?” But when you look closer, the dresses and skirts are actually totally doable in a day-to-day wardrobe.
My fashion sense is fairly limited, but I do know a few basics, thanks to my good, Southern momma who taught me that you wear pearls during the day and diamonds at night, showing too much skin is the same as walking into a room naked, and white after Labor Day is never okay (though I have amended this law so that “winter white” after Labor Day is acceptable in certain situations…). But one of my Mom’s timeless fashion tips that I live by is that you should have certain staples in your wardrobe, like black and white cardigans and a good pair of khaki pants, but then you should also have a few accent pieces that can jazz you up in a jiffy.
Shabby Apple is that jazz.
If I could live in any fashion period, it would be the 1940s. Dresses with full skirts, white day gloves, fishnet hose, pearls, clutch bags, and bright red lipstick. Oh, how I wish these were staples in my wardrobe today! I see a lot of that 40s style in Shabby Apple. Maybe that’s why I filled my shopping cart with $900.00 worth of dresses before I realized what I was doing.
I mean, look at this dress. Does that not live up to it’s name of “Gondola?”
Or what about this one? Redheads of the world, can I get an “AMEN” for the color of this dress?
And look at this gem. It reminds me of the movie “Pearl Harbor.”
Shabby Apple is very, very kindly offering one of their dresses as the giveaway today. And (here’s the best part) I GOT TO PICK IT! I chose this dress because I think it is DESTINED to be a fabulous New Years Eve dress. It NEEEEEEDS to be taken out to a fabulous party! The only accessory you need with this dress is a glass of champagne.
I mean, really. This is how an adult should do ruffles. And that color is to die for.
What I love most about this dress, though, is the sizing note on the description:
To win this fabulous dress, I’m going to make you do three things. Because I think this dress is worth it. First, head over to the Shabby Apple Facebook page and “like” them. Then, leave me a comment below telling me where you would wear this fabulous dress. Lastly, if you win, you MUST send me a picture of you in the dress because I have to see where this little thing ends up calling home!
Also, Shabby Apple is offering a 10% discount to MC readers. Shop around for all your upcoming holiday parties and enter the coupon code “marriageconfess10off.”
Special thanks to Shabby Apple for such a fun giveaway and for giving me a 1940s fashion fix.
*******
This is not a paid advertisement.
26Sep
Thank you all so much for entering the 31 Gifts giveaway! I love when I can share products that I actually use on a daily basis and I’m so glad so many of you think you could use it, too. The winner of the giveaway was…
Comment #181 – Casey L.!!!
Congratulations, Casey! Email me at katie@marriageconfessions.com to claim your prize.
For the other 412 of you who didn’t win and are interested in purchasing a Large Utility Tote, be sure to check out my 31 Gifts website.
Thanks for playing everyone! Happy Monday!
Get updates via Facebook |
Become a fan of Marriage Confessions
Cool Products
Giveaways
Baby Products
