Preschool Product Reviews | Family Friendly Product Reviews & Awards

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RATINGS EXPLAINED: - perfect score = 5
1. Price is within reason for the product (1 pt)
2. The product does what it claims (1 pt)
3. Suited for recommended age (1 pt)
4. Quality manufacturing (1 pt)
5. Instructions are clear and easy to follow (1 pt)
5 = PERFECT | 4 = GOOD | 3 = OKAY | 2, 1, 0 = rejected

Funny Bone Logic DVD
Gold Award Winner 2008
Our Rating:

Product:

Funny Bone Logic DVD

Company:

Living Folklore, Inc

Introducing Giggly Sprout and Gumbo Wobbly ... Two characters that will bring out the child in everyone, and invite you to a world of carefree laughter and a lot of down to earth fun. The simplistic nature of the video can catch you off guard at first but once you put away your preconceived ideas of what makes "fun" happen, you realize that this video allows for everyone experiencing it to just let go and let fun happen.

Kids especially love it, and my kids ask for it again and again. After a few moments they were participating by mimicking what they were seeing on the screen. The values taught subtly within the video are great for all ages, as lessons or reminders. The way the movie invites children to let go of stress and cares is very helpful in a world where our kids face much more stress than we ever did as children. The non stop movement and action which children will want to do along with the characters, will keep them in a state of exercise for most of the time they watch, which is great when our kids need more activity than they normally get in a day. This is one you can allow children to watch on their own, without feeling as you have to screen portions or explain to them what they are seeing. In all these ways and more, this is just a great movie! The costumes worn by the real life characters are amazing, the Funny Bone Dance is hilariously fun to do and once you watch it you will find yourself turning it on again and again.

<<<- (2008) RETURN TO TOP | Gold Award

Kid's Console
Our Rating:

Product:

Kid's Console

Company:

Baby Azul

Does your car floor get consumed by toys, color books, crayons and the myriad of other things that seem to make their way into the car, but never leave it again? If this is your nightmare too, then you need this new console I tried called the Kid's Console. This console is so excellent! It works in cars with bench or bucket seats, straps in to keep it secure and your passengers safe and is easily accessible by children in car seats, booster seats or sitting in the backseat with a seatbelt. It holds a lot more than most consoles I have seen and keeps things neatly organized. There is room to hold cups, games, books, toys, your child's lunch and snacks and even has another compartment for storage accessible only by you. This is great when you need to store meds, documents, or what have you, but do not want them to get into it. This console will work in vans and cars, and is very easy to hook up and start using.

Now you can give your children access to storage that allows them to help you keep the car tidy and organized. Each time you leave on a road trip you can easily remove it from the car, take it in the house, empty it and then refill it with new items to enjoy for the trip. This keeps their road experiences fresh and fun and helps to keep their attention and keep them occupied while you make your journey.

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Piano Wizard
Our Rating:

Product:

Piano Wizard

Company:

Music Wizard Group

Piano Wizard turns learning piano into a video game experience... kinda.

The unique way children or adults learn to play piano and read sheet music, using Piano Wizard, makes it seem more like playing a game, than it does taking piano lessons. This is the key to learning more quickly and easily, and the key to catching the attention of children at any age.

Players will embark on a 4 step system; 5 if they venture further into the Academy. First step you simply match the color of the keys displayed on the screen with the colors on the keys of your keyboard. You are off and playing instantly - anyone can do it, if they are old enough to match colors. Second step they rotate the keyboard on the screen to show you how the notes align with the keys when playing music. Third step you no longer see the keys of a keyboard on the screen, but colored notes. Fourth step you have actual black notes displayed, and will be ready to play music naturally, based on what you have already learned in the previous steps. This simple progression allows you to learn quickly, easily and in your own time.

This package was designed for teaching children to play music, even when you do not know how to play yourself. It is also a great choice if you have tried teaching your child to play, using other methods that have not worked. By incorporating this "game" type design, many children who have previously dreaded music lessons will now come to enjoy them and look forward to "playing" music .. literally.

Please note that other packages are available at the website. Here is some info about this package, from the website:

PREMIER is the most powerful and versatile version of Piano Wizard, and can be played by anyone. It includes EASY MODE and Jam Mode, as well as many cool features and challenges.

PREMIER comes with 200 great songs, and gives players unlimited access to more than 1,000 years of music literature, so that you can learn to play the music YOU want to play. This software also lets you download songs from the internet and import them into the game for a lifetime of learning. Best of all, it makes practice fun, so you master your songs quickly!

Package contains Piano Wizard PREMIER software, a Professional M-Audio 49e MIDI piano keyboard with full size keys, a USB cable to connect your keyboard to your Windows PC or Mac, and color-coded washable removable stickers that allow you to customize your keyboard for quick learning. A full-color set-up poster, videos, and extensive help demos get you off to a smooth start. You'll be up and playing in minutes!

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You can buy a PC limited version below:
Product Description: Piano Wizard is an amazingly simple PC Video Game that teaches virtually anyone to play the piano in minutes. Includes software, 100 songs/lessons, colored stickers and 49 key MIDI keyboard with cable.

System Requirements:
Windows 98se / ME / 2000 / XP
MIDI cable, MIDI keyboard
100 Meg of Free Hard Drive Space
Internet access to register & update game
Buy the limited version now : $179.95

Speekee
Our Rating:

Product:

Speekee

Company:

Lingua4 Ltd

Wanting to give your child the advantage of a second language? Many families have chosen spanish as a second language, because of its relevance in our everyday lives as well as in today's workforce, within the USA especially. These same families report when their child learns a second language, they also see an increase in their scoring within other curricular sectors. Statistics show that children who learn a second language or music, score higher in testing than peers who do not.

As a parent who does not have the ability of a second language, sometimes we fear it may be difficult for our children to learn a second language at home. We do not have the ability or know how to instruct them, and we wonder if they will be able to do it on their own. This is where a program like Speekee comes to the rescue. You, as a parent, do not need to know even the basics of the spanish language, for your child to be very successful with this program. The Speekee program will walk them thru the fundamentals of the spanish language, on a beginner/novice level, without the need for an instructor. By starting Speekee at a young age, prior to your child entering school, they will be ready to take on foreign language at school, and be comfortable and successful in it.

Speekee is great because it uses both audio and video, working together to instill not only the ability to speak spanish, but also an interest in the language and culture itself. Children will be drawn in to the great videos and will enjoy the interaction they can experience with the videos and cds. When children experience a new language, they instinctively become inquisitive about the culture and people behind that language.. They also want to know things like why they speak a different language, where language came from, etc... You can see how this all ties in to them taking their learning experience way beyond simply saying hola!

Speekee comes with all of the following:

10 episodes on 3 DVDs

Bonus DVD of all 15 song videos

3 hours of playing time

34-track audio CD, including karaoke versions

Comprehensive 72-page guide for adults

By using fun, interactive characters, real life characters and an easy format, children have a great advantage over a text book learning style using Speekee. You will find simply after viewing one or two videos, they will be repeating what they have learned. They will then begin to build on this and be able to converse at a beginner level, using everyday words used within this program.

The pricing of Speekee is excellent and so is the quality. This program is aimed toward the very young, and is a beginner level program to introduce young children to the spanish language. We have been most impressed with this great program from the UK and hope they expand their offering in the future and allow us to share it with you.

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WordWorld
Our Rating:

Product:

WordWorld

Company:

Mom Central

A PBS children's series that helps children learn word / picture / letter association by presenting images made of words! An example is the dog shown in the photo above. He is made of a D, an O, and a G! How simple, yet brilliant! is that?

The characters of the show each have their own, distinct personalities. You will meet Sheep, who is very shy. Frog is the brilliant one (and sometimes not quite as brilliant as he thinks). Duck is very silly, as all ducks are. Pig is a real ham. Ant is the energetic one and Dog is the playful one. Together they make a great adventure, each and every episode.

You can pick up the TV schedule at the site online, by clicking the link above. You can also pick up WordWorld products at Target and online, to help children learn the word association even faster, by having the playsets as well.

This is a great series for young viewers. The characters and storyline are fun and entertaining, all while teaching needed skills as they go. In this show problems are solved by building the correct word! When the correct word is found, it then morphs into the item. Such a fun way for children to see that letters form words and words form the items in the story. This cross association really helps to implement a fun way to learn, and helps children remember the things they have learned too!

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