Sesame Street Goes Global
October 31, 2008
I, like many of you, grew up watching Sesame Street. My son absolutely adores Sesame Street (I know, I know…I’m violating AAP’s number one rule!). He especially loves Play With Me, Sesame. I must be naive but I really never thought about the fact that children all over the world watch Sesame Street too!
About a month ago, Putumayo Kids released Sesame Street Playground, a CD/DVD set which features songs and music videos from Sesame Street productions around the world. The mission of Putumayo Kids and Sesame Workshop is to reach children around the world and help them gain an understanding and respect for other cultures.
This our first exposure to music by Putumayo Kids and we love it! I play it in the car all the time for my son who laughs and tries very hard to “tell me all about it” (he is a babbling toddler). I think he’s most fascinated by the music videos we’ve watched on the acommpanying DVD. The music is rich, upbeat and ethnic with a truly diverse feel. You and your children will recognize many of the songs including Rubber Duckie sung in Chinese, the Sesame Street Theme sung in Dutch, and Elmo’s song sung in English. The CD features songs from Brazil, France, China, India, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, Palestine, Russia, South Africa, Tanzania, and the US, all of which were produced in the country of origin. The DVD is a compilation of 5 music videos with characters developed to reflect the diversity of children in each respective country.
I truly believe in exposing children to different cultures at a young age and I think this CD/DVD set does a great job of introducing cultural concepts to children in a familiar way. The other day I left the CD in the car and it was playing while I was driving (without my son) and I never turned it off! Kudos to that! You can purchase Sesame Street Playground on the site for $14.98. Be sure to listen to clips and watch a preview of the video on the site.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf5rHMQLdVo&hl=en&fs=1]
Pumpkin Carving
October 31, 2008
My son loves to go on walks and it seems like every house we stop at has a pumpkin (although he calls them nanas). So we bought him his very own pumpkin and he loves it! Here are some shots of him and daddy “digging in”! Enjoy!
Pretty and Personalized at The Pink Poodle Boutique (Plus a Giveaway)
October 31, 2008
*Update*
This giveaway is now closed. Thank you so much for stopping by and entering. The winner is Kimberly. Congratulations!
I absolutely adore products I can personalize. My husband and I have always been avid but amateur photographers. From digital scrapbooking to photo invites we try to add that personal touch to our creative projects.
Earlier this year I planned my son’s first birthday with the help of my friend Kristin. How fun would it have been to have personalized confetti on the tables? The Pink Poodle Boutique now offers personalized and custom-made photo confetti. Ordering is actually really fun, quick, and easy! Select the shape you’d like, message, color, and photos and you’ve got a personalized bag of confetti that will cover 2-4 eight foot tables! We took 3 photos of my son (taken over the past year), chose 3 messages (Joshua is 2,
Celebrate, and Happy Birthday), and picked out 3 vibrant colors (Turquoise, Yellow and Orange). I was most impressed by how clear the pictures look considering how small the confetti is. The confetti is printed on acid-free paper which means it’s safe for scrapbooking.
The sky is really the limit in terms of how creative and personal you want to be when ordering the confetti. From confetti shapes and colors to font and text colors, you can match the confetti to the theme of your event. Each 2 ounce bag (with 1000 pieces) retails for $8.00 (without photos) to $12.00 (with photos).
Win It! The company has generously offered to give one of you a gift certificate for a bag of Personalized or Photo Confetti. Head on over to The Pink Poodle Boutique and take a look around. Come back and leave me a comment telling me how you’d design your very own bag of confetti. Comments will close on November 10, 2008 at 10 pm PST and I will announce the winner here the following day. One comment per person, please. US residents only. Duplicates and comments not including the above information will be disqualified. Comments are moderated. If you don’t see your comment in a reasonable amount of time, send me an email. Bloggers and non-bloggers may enter. If you don’t want to leave your email address, please be sure to check back for my announcement on the winner. Please note that winners must respond within 48 hours of being announced/contacted or another winner will be drawn.
Want an extra entry? Do any or all of the following and receive an extra entry for each one. That means you can gain up to a total of three entries!
Be sure to leave me a separate comment for each additional entry.
Blog about this giveaway. It doesn’t have to be a separate post. Just include a blurb about it when you blog about other giveaways.
Trading for Girls
October 31, 2008
Contrary to popular belief, girls enjoy trading cards just like boys. I can attest to this since I was an avid collector of a trading card so digustingly popular, I almost cringe. I collected the oh-so-popular Garbage Pail Kids (although I have no idea why my mother would let me). Thankfully, parents now have a sweeter, more magical option with Bella Sara trading cards for girls.
Bella Sara trading cards feature beautiful pictures of horses and positive, inspirational messages like “be the first to say you’re sorry.” Girls will love collecting, trading, and playing games in the online land of North of North. Each card features it’s own unique activation code that can be used to place each horse in it’s own stable. I really like the fact that it teaches young girls responsibility since they are then able to care for their horses by feeding, brushing, and cleaning their stalls.
Later this month Bella Sara is expanding it’s family of horses to include the adorable Baby Bella foals (how cute is that?). There will be 10-day kick-off celebration on the site starting November 6 where girls can win daily prizes, print off birth certificates for their baby foals, read stories and access special codes.
The website is nicely designed and would keep a child occupied for quite some time. Bella Sara trading cards are targeted towards girls ages five and older. Each pack of seven retails for $2.99 and can be purchased at big-name retailers like Target and Toys R Us. You can also download a Target-exclusive coupon directly from the site.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRxSSV9uwV8&hl=en&fs=1]
