Mommy Plannerista

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Toy Review: Mighty Mini Band by Hape

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Our baby Zander will be turning 2 in less than a month and it has been a joy watching him develop into such a sweet, bubbly, and talented little boy. One of the things he loves is music. He loves listening to it, dancing to it, and singing along with it as well. That is why when I was exploring what toy to get him from TOYTAG I chose this Mighty Mini Band by Hape.

What is TOYTAG?

TOYTAG is a homegrown educational toy store in Singapore. They actually have both online and physical stores. They believe that learning can be fun and so they carry a huge selection of quality and fun educational toys and games from all over the world. They have toys for all ages, for one-year-olds up to adults.

At TOYTAG, you can shop by age or via type of toy, such as tabletop games, tech and gizmo, play, and brain. Another great thing about them is that they ship worldwide (hooray for us in the Philippines!) and fast too! I remember placing my orders on a Friday and receiving the toys the Monday after.

MIGHTY MINI BAND by Hape

Hape is a well-known brand of safe and educational toys. In fact, it is one of the world’s largest producers of toys made from sustainable materials. All their toys are creatively designed, eco-friendly, and adhere to exceed the strictest international standards of quality of safety.

One of their musical toys for toddlers is the Mighty Mini Band, which is designed for kids aged 24 months and above.

The box contains only four pieces and features a collection of rhythm instruments. This toy is made of wood, PA, PVA, string, metal and waterbased paint.

Our Review:

No assembly required.

I love that setting up this toy is such a no-brainer. You just place the big piece on top of a table or a solid surface then place the drum sticks and the clapper on the hole pegs at the top left part of it.

The stands can also be set two ways. You can place in in such a way that the back part will be higher, but you can also bring it down so that the whole mini band will lay flat.

Easy to store.

After playing, you don’t need to disassemble anything. Just place the clapper and sticks in their hole pegs and store the mini band on a shelf.

Made of safe materials.

When it comes to toys for my kids, especially Zander who’s barely two years old, safe materials are a must. I especially love that this toy is a wooden toy and painted with waterbased paint. There’s nothing toxic on it.

Plus, I researched about how Hape ensures the safety of their toys. I’m happy to learn that they do conduct several safety and quality control measures such as sharp point tests, bite force tests, tensile tests, small parts tests, color tests, and drop tests. This is especially important to me because at Zander’s stage right now, he loves to bite on things and throw things as well. So far, this toy has withstood his biting and throwing well. Haha! None of the parts have broken off.

It’s educational.

I believe that kids’ toys need to teach them vital skills and I’m happy to say that this Mighty Mini Band does exactly that. It helps improve fine motor skills and other physical skills. It teaches problem solving and self discovery and enhances social skills, imagination, and creativity.

At first, Zander didn’t know how to hold the drum sticks properly but he got the hang of it pretty quickly. I also showed him how to place them back in the proper holes and now he knows how to do it too, even without prompting. The whole mini band is also light enough for him to carry. He carries it on his own from the shelf to a table or to the bed whenever he wants to use it.

It’s fun.

As I expected, Zander loves playing with this toy. Although this is not the first musical toy he’s had, this is the first one that resembles an instrument. His other musical toys are battery operated and do not teach him how to actually make music. Now he loves playing music either on his own or sometimes with me, his dad or siblings.

Overall, we really love this toy and there really isn’t anything negative I can say about it. In fact, I’m hoping to have more Hape toys for Zander.

Extra thanks go to TOYTAG for sending us this toy for our review. I really love their toy selections and feel that there’s still so much there that I have yet to explore. I’m happy though that we have another one of their toys for review. So, stay tuned for that!

For more information on TOYTAG, visit www.toytag.com.

Book Review: EVO Ocean and EVO Bug

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A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a review of the 3D PopUp Cards that Kidoozi sent over to us. Today, I’m sharing a review of another 3D Augmented Reality educational tool but in the form of books. Kidoozi sent us the EVO Bug and the EVO Ocean 3D Augmented Reality Smart Books.

These two books work similarly as the pop-up cards. They are future-oriented smart books with pages that come to life with augmented reality technology. High-quality 3D illustrations depict the different animals. The only difference between the two books is the theme, one being about insects and the other one about ocean animals.

These books also work with an app that is FREE to download for either Apple or Android devices.

There are three easy steps to use them:

1. Download the app for free in Google Play or Apple’s App Store.

2. Run the app and look at the pages through your device camera.

3. You will see 3D animals coming to life!

I let my son, Ziggy, use both books and their corresponding apps. Watch him demo how to use them on the video below.

The EVO Bug and EVO Ocean books are recommended for kids ages 4 years old and above. They are both hardcover books that measure 280 x 227mm and has 32 pages. All pages include 3D Augmented Reality. Each books costs Php 700.00 on Kidoozi.

The colorful pages of the books are packed with interesting information about each featured animal including facts about their habitats, body parts, lifestyles, food, and more.

Like the pop-up cards, the EVO Bug and EVO Ocean books feature motion control, feeding functions, interactive puzzles, and photograph-taking.

 

However, we noticed a feature not available in the pop-up cards. These books feature short, animated video clips, too.

The Verdict:

Needless to say, my son really enjoys reading the books and using the app. Both are easy to use. I didn’t need to give him instructions at all since he’s a techie kid who has used several apps already.

We love that the information provided are interesting and fun to learn. It’s good to note that the books are realistically designed and based on the latest scientific research.

Even if you don’t read the info, you’ll be entertained already by the colorful pages. The photos are really amazing. But of course, it’s even more amazing when you see them on 3D because you can make them move around.

If there’s one thing I would have loved for this book to have, it would be to feature more animals on each book. But don’t fret if your kid finishes one book, there are other versions also available such as the EVO Dino, EVO Animal, EVO Bird, EVO Herptile, and EVO Farm Animal books. Ziggy has already told me he wants the other versions as well!

I definitely recommend parents and kids to try these books. They’re highly educational. They’re good supplementary material for your kids’ science textbooks. I, for one, am going to use these books and apps for our homeschool.

For more information about the EVO Bug and EVO Ocean smart books, visit www.kidoozi.com.

Review: 3D Augmented Reality PopUp Cards (A Kidoozi Featured Product)

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Our family loves educational toys and materials especially since they provide us with a fun way to homeschool our son, Ziggy. So when Kidoozi emailed me asking if I’m willing to try some of their educational materials, of course I said yes. The first one we got to try is the 3D Augmented Reality PopUp Cards by EVO.

Let me tell you about Kidoozi first though.

Kidoozi

Kidoozi was born in 2017 to two busy, millennial moms with a shared purpose of making shopping for kids a little less hard and a lot more fun. They wanted to give parents easy access to the best global and local brands for kids aged 0 to 12, all on a simple and convenient online shopping platform.

I have browsed their site and was impressed by their range of premium, well-curated, and extraordinary brands and products in several categories, including Sleep, Eat, Play & Learn, Travel, Bath, Potty, Health & Safety, Wear and even Maternity. They are currently servicing everywhere in Luzon, Visayas, or Mindanao.

3D Augmented Reality PopUp Cards

Kidoozi sent over a few of their products with the 3D Augmented Reality PopUp Cards being one of them.

The 3D Augmented Reality PopUp Cards is a set of 50 colorful and sturdy 3D augmented reality flash cards that are the perfect educational and teaching tools for children starting to learn about animals. This can be used by kids ages 2 years old and above. Here is what’s inside the box.

There’s a very helpful user guide included in the box. There are 10 cards each for 5 animal categories, namely Dinosaurs, Safari Animals, Bugs, Sea Animals, and Birds. On the front of the card is just one photo of the animal, which you will use to scan, and the name of the said animal.

At the back of each card are more info about the animal, including their size, their typical food, as well as the different kinds of the said animal.

To use these cards, all you have to do is:

  1. Download the app for free in Google Play or Apple’s App Store.
  2. Run the app and use your gadget to scan a card through your device camera.
  3. You will see 3D animals coming to life!

The user interface is very simple to understand. I had my six-year-old son, Ziggy, use it and he was immediately able to do so with minimal help from me.

You can make the animals move all over the screen. You’ll be able to hear the animal sounds.

You can make them eat.

You can also zoom in and out to look at their entire body from all angles.

You can check their size.

You can even take a photo.

Our Review:

We love that the app is free for both iOS and Android. However, I had a bit of trouble making it work on my iPad mini. So, instead we used it with my Android phone and it worked perfectly.

Initially, there were a few times that scanning took a while before the 3D animals appeared. But I think that was because of slow Internet connection. We tried it again when we finally got a faster Internet connection and the 3D animals immediately appeared.

We love how true to life the animal sounds are. You can even hear the sound of the birds’ wings flap, for example. My son really loved seeing the animals move all over the place. Controlling their movements was very easy.

It was also cool to discover what types of food each animals eat. This was especially interesting to my son because he’s learning about carnivores and herbivores right now in our homeschool. You actually see food appear and watch the animal eat it up.

I find it extra helpful to be able to learn how big an animal is because it is compared with a typical object like a ball or a bus. This makes it easier for a kid to imagine just how big the animal is.

The additional information at the back of the card was also very useful. Kids can already learn something about the animal even without using the app.

Overall, I definitely think this is a fun, educational tool for kids. While they can learn about animals by simply reading books or searching online, the 3D augmented reality aspect of this tool is really what makes the experience a lot more fun and engaging for kids. It’s definitely a great addition to our collection of educational materials for our homeschool.

In our home, we limit the use of gadgets for our son because we don’t want him to get addicted to them. As much as possible, we try to let him use only good quality educational apps and this one fits the bill. I can leave him to use it on his own and I won’t need to worry about it. I’m even excited for our baby to start using it too when he’s old enough.

To learn more about the 3D Augmented Reality PopUp Cards and Kidoozi’s other products, visit www.kidoozi.com. You can also follow Kidoozi on Facebook and Instagram for updates.

Don’t forget to stay tuned for my upcoming reviews on the other educational tools that we received from Kidoozi!

Review: Marbotic Smart Numbers – Tech Toys With A Soul

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Like any modern kids, our kids are tech users too. I let our five-year-old Ziggy use my Ipad every now and then. He also has an old Android phone that he gets to use only for YouTube. We regulate his use of technology though to make sure that all the apps he uses are kid-friendly and as much as possible, educational.

We’ve also been using technology to teach Ziggy his homeschool lessons. I find it very effective because he’s very kinesthetic so simply learning lessons from a book will not work. That’s exactly why I was really excited when I first learned about a couple of weeks ago.

Launching for the first time in the Philippines, Marbotic – tech toys with a soul, was designed by teaching experts and developed in France. They have to kinds – Smart Letters and Smart Numbers, which bring the best of physical and digital play together to stimulate creativity and imagination. Beautifully crafted, Montessori-inspired wooden letters and numbers interact with iPad tablets and 3 free educational apps to help children learn to read and write as well as count and calculate. Simply stamp the wooden pieces on the tablet’s screen, and let the magic happen!

We got our own box of Marbotic Smart Numbers a few days before Christmas and we had Ziggy try it out, of course. This is what you can find inside the box. There are interactive wooden numbers from 0 – 9 plus a small paper guide.

To be able to use these wooden numbers, you first have to download the accompanying apps. There are three apps that you can download via the App Store or through Google Play. These apps are free and easy to download although I discovered you can also upgrade to the premium version for a price.

Here are screen caps of the games/activities you can find in the apps. One app teaches kids how to count to 10.

There’s also an activity that teaches kids to form or build numbers and …..

count up to 100.

 

The third app helps kids learn to calculate, specifically addition and subtraction.

 

To use the apps, your child just has to simply stamp the tablet screen with a number and it will appear on it already. Here’s Ziggy playing with Smart Numbers.

 

What We Love About Marbotic Smart Numbers:

  • They’re very easy to use. Apps are easy to download.
  • The free apps already include several activities, which is more than enough for us. But you can upgrade if you want more.
  • The apps are available for both Apple and Android devices.
  • The activities have difficulty levels which can cater to young kids of various ages.
  • It’s a good tool to use to teach kids Math lessons. We especially find it useful because Ziggy is currently mastering simple addition and subtraction in his homeschool lessons. This makes learning Math fun for him. Learning addiction and subtraction is a lot easier because Marbotic made the process interactive, letting the kids actually see what it’s like to add and subtract.
  • The wooden numbers are gentle to your screen so you don’t need to worry that your tablet will get marks or scratches.

We really like this toy so much we wish to have the Marbotic Smart Letters too! I super love that moms like myself no longer have to feel guilty about letting our kids use technology. At least, not when they’re using Marbotic.

Marbotic Smart Numbers costs Php 2,995. To learn more about Marbotic Smart Numbers, see their contact information below:

Website: kidoozi.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Mobile: +639178877959

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