Category: children

Halloween Yoga Book Review

Get excited for Halloween and learn some simple (and not spooky) yoga poses at the same time with Little Mouse and friends! 

About Halloween Yoga

Tammy McDoodle and her friends are dressed in their favorite costumes and so are Little Mouse and his best friend, Mr. Opus the cat, in this fun book which combines Halloween with straightforward yoga postures.

“Before you go out to trick or treat,” says Tammy’s mom, “Let’s do some Halloween yoga poses to keep calm”.

Your little ghosts and goblins will delight in simple, not-so-spooky Halloween yoga moves, such as witch, ghost, black cat, and jack-o-lantern poses. Children will get excited for Halloween while learning an easy way to stay calm and get healthy activity in this beautifully illustrated board book set to rhyme.

Our Thoughts

Yoga is a great way to get young kids (and adults!) to slow down, focus, ground themselves and be mentally and emotionally prepared to face the world. Halloween is always so much fun (it is by far my favourite holiday of the year) but with all the decorations, sounds and distractions it can be overstimulating and overwhelming for young children. How many meltdowns have you witnessed as a parent of an overstimulated, overtired (and likely had way too much candy all day) child? It is so important to give them the skills that they need to take a deep breath, perform a calming pose and then carry on with their activities. These skills, if developed and encouraged at a young enough age, will become great habits as they become older.

In this story, before the group even sets out to have a magical, mysterious fun night, they participate in some very calming (and spooky) themed yoga poses. The book itself is easy to read, fun to follow along with and to do the poses as you read it (we would stop and practice the poses and it did not take away from the story). The story has adorable illustrations that the whole family will love. Children will fall in love with the spooky and fun poses that they can incorporate into practice every day of the year (not just at Halloween). I loved how she made the practice fun – this is such an important part of encouraging, guiding and supporting young children, make it fun and they will want to do it over and over again. This will make a great addition to your child’s home library.

You can pre-order a copy of this book on Amazon.

Rating: 5/5

About the Author

Teresa Power is an internationally recognized educator, keynote speaker and bestselling author of the award-winning series, Little Mouse Adventures and The ABCs of Yoga for Kids which have been translated into four languages.

In the 1980s, she started practicing yoga to de-stress from the vigor of law school, and subsequently became a yoga teacher. She is a sought-after speaker, having appeared at conferences, schools, and libraries across the nation.

Teresa enjoys volunteering and has worked with The Boys and Girls Clubs of America, Choose Health LA, Let’s Move! West LA, University of Southern California and others. Teresa has been featured by Good Morning America, USA Today, Parenting, Reader’s Digest, Fox11 LA, Telemundo, CBS LA, and other media outlets.

In addition, she is the founder of the International Kids Yoga Day, whose mission is to make the life-changing practice of yoga accessible to everyone, regardless of age, location or finances. A graduate of University of Southern California, she earned her J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law, and in 2002 completed a yoga training program with Indigo Yoga.

About The ABCs of Yoga

Our goal is to present parents, grandparents, teachers, and educators with a fun, unique and creative method to teach children a powerful art form, mindfulness outlet, and physical activity that they can enjoy for the rest of their lives. Yoga has been shown to have numerous mental and physical health benefits that can help emotionally balance children, encourage more acute mental focus, and also serve as a beneficial physical exercise that they enjoy doing.  Our products use an intrinsically engaging and colorful method of inspiring children to learn yoga.  Enjoy the benefits of a more focused child with enhanced clarity and a calmer demeanor—thanks to the benefits of daily mindfulness through yoga.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Continue Reading

Bring the Magic of Halloween to Life with Pumpkins After Dark

Halloween and the fall season in general are by far my most favourite times of the year. I love the change in the weather, setting up seasonal décor (love my pumpkins and scarecrows!) and watching movies with the family under a warm blanket. Over the last year, COVID has (like for so many other families) disrupted our normal routines, took a loved one from us and changed the way we go out and participate in activities. Not only does this event have everything that I love about the fall season but it is COVID friendly for families like ours, who are just not quite ready to get back to packed events or who perhaps have a family member too young to be vaccinated.

Pumpkins After Dark is located in Milton, Ontario and was a short roughly 35 minute drive from our home in the GTHA area. Our youngest thought it was the perfect setting as we passed by some very interestingly shaped trees that looked like they came straight out of a horror movie (my youngest’s words exactly). They were older trees that looked misshapen and broken over time but fit the backdrop perfectly. The drive was nice as we travelled down several older roads and the traffic was light at that time of day. The entrance was a bit harder to spot but they had employees outside directing patrons into the site.

I had heard of Pumpkins After Dark a few times in the past but was not entirely familiar with the event. The site is a 2.5km (roughly forty-five minutes to one hour) pumpkin display exhibits. The art that was created from these pumpkins was incredible. The exhibits use a combination of craft and real pumpkins and each one is hand carved in 2D and 3D to fit their specific exhibit. Throughout the event, you are taken on a journey through movies, fairytales, cars, anime and so much more. I loved that the exhibits had a touch of scary but they were also appropriate for all age groups .

You enter into the exhibit by queueing in the parking lot just inside the entrance. Guests are expected to remain inside the vehicle at all times so I would strongly recommend bringing some snacks for the kids (and the adults!). We rolled down each of the windows (and even the sun roof so our youngest could sit on the arm rest and watch at times from there especially in the tunnels – the speed was incredibly slow so there was not much movement as he sat there) and had so much fun at each exhibit. I learned that my children were very much lacking in their nursery rhymes education (they did not get Humpty Dumpty!) and I was so excited to see their faces light up when they saw Kong and their favourite anime characters from Naruto (this was a huge surprise for all of us and I think was the icing on their cake for them that night). My personal favourites were the animals and the Greek mythology exhibits.

To become attractive to the opposite sex, it is not enough to look after your appearance, buy beautiful clothes and be able to apply makeup. Pay attention to spiritual development vegetarians guide. Here are some basic guidelines for becoming attractive in men’s eyes: Smiling Girl: UGC Be self-sufficient. There is nothing sadder in the world than a woman completely dissolved in a man and a relationship. The coincidence of interests with the chosen one is a plus.

Tips for the Event:

  • Order your tickets online in advance as tickets are not sold on site due to COVID (you can purchase tickets here and use the code September15 which will give you 15% off for the month of September dates)
  • Arrive no more than 15 minutes early as entry is based on the time of your ticket
  • Pack your snacks and warm drinks
  • Turn your radio to the assigned station and turn the volume up high
  • Roll down those windows, open your sun roof and get ready for some fun!

Pumpkins After Dark is a fun, family geared art exhibit that will meet the likes of every member in your family. There was a little bit for everyone and we loved that we were able to get out and participate in something fun despite our reservations due to COVID.

Have you been to Pumpkins After Dark? What was your favourite exhibit?

Make sure to follow Pumpkins After Dark on Facebook, and Instagram.

Disclosure: We received tickets to the event, all opinions expressed are my own.

Continue Reading

The Grumpy Frumpy Croissant Review

Croissant isn’t happy, and he’s taking it out on the breakfast plate!

About The Grumpy Frumpy Croissant

Croissant isn’t happy, and he’s taking it out on the breakfast plate! Toast, Scone, and Milk think he’s being mean, but Croissant thinks they’re being mean to him. A sip of Milk and ten deep breaths help everyone calm down and talk to each other.

The Grumpy Frumpy Croissant is a children’s picture book with fun and colorful hand-drawn illustrations that teach a lesson about misunderstandings any child can grasp. Croissant learns how to let anger pass, and that yelling hurts others’ feelings. It’s a simple story for parents to introduce ideas of managing feelings to children, illustrated by Korey Scott.

The book also features a delicious croissant recipe that parents can make with their children, and full-page coloring activities featuring the characters in the book (kindle and e-reader compatible too!).

Our Thoughts

This was a cute, funny way to get your children talking about their feelings – especially those big feelings around unfairness, grumpiness, feeling left out and how to deal with them.

In this book, Croissant is grumpy because Toast and Scone are taking up all of the room on the plate and he feels that they are being mean to him. But Toast and Scone feel that Croissant is being mean for no reason at all (I think we can all relate to these feelings!). Milk steps in and is able to calm the grumpy Croissant down by taking a deep breath and counting to ten. Suddenly, everyone is calmer and able to talk to each other with kindness and respect.

This is a cute book to get the conversation moving with your child about those tough feelings and how we can work together to calm those feelings. We all can feel intense emotions, and children are the same. They sometimes lack the words to express those feelings and can yell, throw and hit. It is important to teach them to how to notice those emotions that are building up, why they are and how to pause, take a deep breath and calm themselves back down again. The bonus? This book comes with a fun recipe and colouring activities to reinforce the lessons that they are learning. A win-win for parents and caregivers!

You can purchase a copy of this book on Amazon and B&N.

About the Author

Mona K is a statistician by training and loves to weave stories with numbers in her day job as a health services researcher. She is also a children’s book author who believes that picture books are a source of both wisdom and silliness. Mona loves to bake in her free time, and her love for croissants and meditation inspired her to write this debut children’s picture book. She lives in New Jersey with her seven-year-old son and husband.

Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this book in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Continue Reading

Counting Campers: One, Two, Three..Help the Campers Get Their S’mores!

Goliath Games Logo

Reinforce important math skills with this fun new game from Goliath which has kids adding and subtracting on their mission to get the s’mores.

About Counting Campers

Counting Campers is a fun counting game for your little camper. Players move their pawn forward or backward on the board along their individual hiking trail by drawing a ‘plus’ or ‘minus’ card, thus allowing little ones to practice counting and to develop fine motor skills. Follow the path through the muddy swamp, across the fishing pond, over the old bridge, and more, to get back to the campsite. The first camper back to camp wins the game!

Each game includes:

  • folding board game
  • four coloured camper pawns
  • playing cards
  • instructions

Our Thoughts

We fell in love with this adorable, bright and fun game that all members of our family enjoyed, regardless of their age. Each player takes a turn choosing a card and they will have to move their player forward or backwards on their colour markers depending on the card drawn. To add a little bit of variety, there are also “happy” and “sad” camper cards that cause you to lose a turn or take an extra turn.

As a parent, I loved how this game encouraged simple addition and subtraction for little ones, they weren’t simply sliding down a ladder, they had to think about how many spots forwards or backwards they had to move. I actually liked the fact that there were no dice, instead just the cards to help guide the movement across the board.

While this game is perfect for ages 4 to 9, we all had fun playing this game (right up to the adults). It was competitive but fun game to play all together (although you have to watch the moves of the little ones trying to steal extra spots!). The board, card and pieces are durable, which is a bonus with younger children that can be rough on their items. Counting Campers will make a great addition to family game night for the whole family.

You can purchase this game at Walmart and Amazon.

Make sure to follow Goliath on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with the newest games and products.

Disclosure: I received the above mentioned product in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Continue Reading

Snatch the Treats from Granny in Greedy Granny from Goliath Games

Goliath Games Logo

Can you steal the sweets from Granny without waking her up? Try your skills out in the new Greedy Granny game from Goliath Games.

About Greedy Granny

Grab the treats as quickly and quietly as you can with Greedy Granny! Granny loves her sweets, but she’s not so great at sharing (oh no!). While Granny snoozes, spin the treat wheel to see which sweet to swipe. But be quiet…one wrong move will wake Granny up and send her teeth flying.

In order to win, you must collect each one of her treats.

Game Contents:

  • 1 Greedy Granny in an Armchair (2 Pieces)
  • 1 Set of Granny’s Teeth (1 Piece)
  • 1 Treat Wheel
  • 12 Treats

Our Thoughts

Greedy Granny made a great new addition to our pandemic game nights. While our lockdown rules may have lifted quite recently, we are still spending the majority of our time at home. To keep the nights fun and everyone in bright moods, we turn to games that entertain and bring out our competitive nature.

Greedy Granny was a new concept to me, the game requires no batteries to use (my favourite part) and was easy to set up. The set up consisted of attaching Granny’s upper body and the top of the recliner to the base and you are ready to play. To be fair – I was awful at this part (for some reason I could not get the top to recline and Granny’s arms to go down) but my husband figured it out quite quickly.

The game concept is fun and easy to follow as you spin the the wheel to determine the treat you need to steal and the amount of times that you must press the button (this will eventually trigger Granny to wake up). In order to win the game, a player must collect one of each of her favourite treats without waking her up (which causes quite the scene as she moves forward and sends her teeth flying). The game can be played with two to four players and is suited for players aged four and up. It was easy to play together and follow the rules (the game design makes it hard to cheat – a must have in our competitive family). The set up and clean up is simple as it is one unit with a few smaller pieces (treats).

Greedy Granny is a fun and easy game to play that the whole family will fall in love with.

Greedy Granny Video

You can purchase Greedy Granny from Walmart, Amazon and Target.

Make sure to stay up to date with new game releases and more from Goliath Games by connecting with them on their Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Disclosure: I received this product in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Continue Reading