Category: Stream Team

March 20, 2015

Get Science Inspired with Netflix! #StreamTeam

March Break is here!! WOOHOO!! Time to spend some time with our kids doing what they love best – crafts, experiments and baking! March also signals the start of Science Fair season. The subject of science can broken down into three categories: natural sciences (biology, fundamental forces), formal sciences (math, logic) and social sciences (human behaviour and societies).

Netflix helps us get our creative juices flowing this month with plenty of educational and science based films that inspire, educate and entertain. The hardest part will be choosing what to watch first!

Why not start with one of everyone’s favourite topics – volcanoes. Deadliest Volcanoes explores the wonder of these sleeping giants that millions of people live in the shadow of. This show follows scientists around the world exploring volcanoes, the likelihood of eruption, when it may and how deadly an eruption could be.

Some other great titles for your older child and yourself: Nova: Hunting the Elements, Cosmos and Let Your Mind Wonder.

Maybe you have a young crowd and the wonders of Miss Frizzle’s bus may suit them better. The Magic School Bus (my favourite show as a child!) returns!

Some other great children titles: Sid the Science Kid, Fetch! with Ruff and Animal Mechanicals.

Follow up these great shows with your own science experiment at home by making a volcano erupt! You can find the whole experiment instructions on Meet the Dubiens or you can follow my mini version using three ingredients.

You will need:

plastic water bottle
six drops of dish washing detergent
two tbsp of baking soda
one cup on vinegar

Directions:

Place you plastic water bottle in a baking pan to capture the eruption (and save yourself a major cleanup!). Fill your water bottle about 3/4 with warm water and add the dish washing detergent and baking soda.

Slowly add the vinegar to set off your eruption!

What activities have you been up to this March Break?

Disclosure: I am member of the Netflix StreamTeam and receive perks with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.

March 6, 2015

Netflix Canada Expands with New Shows! #StreamTeam

Netflix is expanding their line up of shows, this time for kids!

In 2011, Netflix launched a dedicated section for children twelve and under, featuring televisions shows and movies from PBS, Mattel, Hasbro, Lego and Scholastic (all commercial free!). In 2014, Walt Disney announced a multi-year agreement with Netflix *yay* for first run Disney live action and animated features. Starting this year, theatrically released films will be available to Netflix Canada members around eight months after they leave theatres, awesome right?! Dreamworks is also creating three hundred hours of original children’s shows exclusively for Netflix.

Coming in 2016:

Bottersnikes and Gumbles

A fast paced comedy series that follows three young Gumbles – Tink, Bounce and Willi – as they bounce about and play while avoiding getting tin-canned by their lazy neighbours the Bottersnikes. This thirteen episode series was developed from the book and will be coming to Netflix in the Spring of 2016.

Danger Mouse

The world’s greatest super spy, Danger Mouse, returns in this dashing animated series that features all of the classics characters, catchphrases and comedy that made it an 80’s favourite. With the world in danger, it is up to the small mouse to save the day. Originally a loose parody of British spy fiction, this series features British actor and comedian, Stephen Fry. This will premiere in Spring of 2016.

Some Assembly Required

As the new owner of KnickKnack Toys, Jarvis hires a group of his friends from school to help him build toys. This series follows their day-to-day antics as they build toys and work on their friendship. This series will also premiere in the Spring of 2016.

Lots of fantastic shows are coming soon to Netflix!

March 5, 2015

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt #StreamTeam

The Babysitter’s Club. Word Up. Light Up Shoes.

Welcome to a blast of the past with the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt!

Synopsis

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is brought to us by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. This half hour single camera comedy series stars Ellie Kemper as Kimmy, who escapes a doomsday cult and decides to reclaim her life and start over in New York City.

Armed with just a backpack, light up sneakers and a couple of way past due library books, Kimmy is ready to take on a world that she didn’t even think existed anymore. Wide eyed but resilient, nothing is going to stand in her way.

The thirteen episode series, produced by Universal Television, also stars Jane Krakowski, Tituss Burgess, Carol Kane and more. Fey and Carlock serve as executive producers along with David Milner and Jeff Richmond.

My Thoughts

I love a good comedy especially after a long day at work. All I want to do is come home and watch something that makes me laugh so hard I cry.

When I read the synopsis of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (and heard Tina Fey was involved in the production) I knew that this was going to be a must watch series. I was not disappointed! The shows run roughly for twenty-three to thirty minutes.

The first episode explains how Kimmy ended up in her current situation (the cult) and how she escaped her situation. The first episode was a little slower (giving a lot of background information) but the humour definitely picks up in the second episode and only gets better as the episodes continue. In the second episode we are shown more of the personalities behind Kimmy, her room-mate Tituss as well as her new employer and her family. Using common misconceptions (the young and terrible stepmother, the homosexual room-mate, the wild and angry step daughter) The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt offers up good laughs with fantastic reminders that kindness goes a long way. Kimmy is on a mission to make it in New York and help each one of those around her. This Netflix series is on par (humour wise) with The Mindy Project.

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt premieres tomorrow (March 6th) on Netflix!

Disclosure: I am a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam and received early access to this series in order to facilitate this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

December 23, 2014

It’s Time to Party It Up King Julien Style with Netflix #StreamTeam

Our family loves a good animated comedy – something perfect for the whole family that can leave us all in stitches.

Not too long ago we were able to attend the premiere of the new Netflix series All Hail King Julien in Toronto. King Julien is the love able and cheeky character from the popular Madagascar movie series. King Julien delivers it all in this new series dedicated to his favourite person – himself!

This Netflix original series premiered on December 19th and is available for all to watch (not going to lie we have already viewed the series twice it is that good!). King Julien is at his funniest in this series along with his sidekicks Mort and Maurice.

The kids are on their Christmas holidays now so we are getting in the holiday mode by catching up with some of our favourite holiday movies on Netflix. I was so impressed when I logged in yesterday to find so many holiday themed shows to watch! We started with the traditional Frosty the Snowman and continued in with the Madagascar Holiday series.

For the big kids this holiday season (this includes Mom and Dad!) we are watching Elf and Christmas with the Kranks! Two of our family favourites from when our eldest was young!

We are looking forward to this holiday season and ringing in the New Year King Julien style! How are you planning on celebrating the holidays and New Years this year?

Disclosure: I am part of the Netflix Stream Team and receive perks associated with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.

November 18, 2014

Keep the Laughter Coming This Winter Season with #Netflix #StreamTeam

Brrrr!! It is getting cold outside – this morning was a chilly -21C with the wind chill! I honestly did not want to get out of bed it was so cold. But here I am up and working away even though all I want to do is curl up on the couch with a warm blanket and a great movie playing.

With the temperature drop there seems to always come the rise of cold and flu symptoms which tend to peak in these early months, trend off and start up again near the end of the winter. Last week I was under the weather with a gastro bug for two days. For two days I was pampered by my boys and was able to watch all of my favourite comedies on Netflix (okay in honesty only the second part is true – I like to imagine my boys were pampering me!).

I love my cartoons – the animated movies that they are producing are incredible with humour that both adults and children alike can appreciate. Those two days were spent watching all of my favourite animated comedies and laughing my way back to health. My two favourite movies of all time have to be Despicable Me (love those minions!!) and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I can’t even begin to count how many times we have watched these movies but they are just as funny each and every time (Bee Do Bee Do Bee Do….).

Laughter is so important for all of us (and too often we are not spending enough time laughing and bonding with the ones we love) so we should always make time to do the things we love together, watch funny movies together and just be plain old silly.

Don’t believe me? Research has shown that laughter is important for:

laughter boosts the immune system
laughter triggers the release of endorphins (remember those natural feel good hormones in your body, yep those ones!)
increase blood flow which in turn helps the heart
decreases stress
improves mood
strengthens relationships

Do you have a go to movie for the winter months when you and the family are stuck in bed unwell? Or maybe not unwell but just want to spend the day in bed getting cuddles from the little ones (how I miss those days!!).

Disclosure: I am a Netflix StreamTeam member and receive perks. All opinions expressed are my own.