Category: children

Snuggle Up and Cherish the Holiday Season with Raincoast Books

Raincoast Books

We have definitely had a few early blasts of winter weather as the holiday season quickly approaches. This is the perfect time to open up some holiday treasured books with your children and spend a little extra time reading each night. Or perhaps to even discover new family favourites leading up to the Christmas holidays?

Raincoast Books has a beautiful collection of books that will make great gifts leading up to the holidays or even as a special gift under the tree. Both my kids and their cousins, always receive at least one special book as a Christmas gift because I feel so strongly that these are something that they can treasure long after the holiday season is over.

Looking for three new books to add to your holiday reading routine? Look no further then these top three picks from Raincoast Books:

Christmas Is Coming! An Advent Book

Every day of December brings a new Christmas tradition in this keepsake Advent book. Each flap on the cover of the book reveals a clue to a festive activity that can be found inside the pages. It might be a recipe for a delicious homemade treat, instructions for a cozy craft, a game to play, a carol to sing, or a beautifully illustrated story to read with the whole family. This inviting twist on the traditional advent calendar is perfect for families who love to put their own spin on celebrating the holidays.

I fell in love with this special book the moment I laid my eyes on it. Advent is a very special time in our lives and sometimes we can forget what makes life so important; family and opening our homes and hearts for Christmas. There is more to Advent than just chocolate and presents!

I put this book under our Christmas tree and we waited patiently for December 1st to open it up. This was not the easiest task for any of us, as I really wanted to dive in and see what kind of activities were in the book but we also wanted it to be a special surprise that we uncovered day by day.

We had a snowstorm yesterday and decided that we would open the book after dinner. His first activity? Write a letter to Santa. The reading for December 1st was beautiful and my son was excited to write his letter (I couldn’t believe I had not done this yet with him!). We have decided as a family, that we would do each activity after dinner but before we wind down for bed. You can follow along on Instagram as we work our way through the book.

This is the perfect book for parents and grandparents that are looking for something different and meaningful during the Advent season.

You can purchase a copy of this book here.

Don’t Shake the Present!

Go on a festive and fun-filled adventure with Larry in this hilarious holiday edition of the USA Today bestselling series, Don’t Push the Button!

Larry (the lovable monster) has received a present, and he is desperate to know what is inside, but he needs your help to figure it out. But whatever you do. . . DON’T SHAKE THE PRESENT!

This is an adorable book perfect for young readers just before the holiday season. We have two kids that love to touch and shake their presents (and even sometimes peel away the wrapping at the side so that they can see inside!). We had so much fun reading this out loud and I definitely did not see the ending coming but it was perfect and gave us all a great chuckle.

The book itself is small, hard covered and interactive, making it a great read for young children that have a harder time sitting still at reading time. It also is a book that children can relate to and helps parents explain the importance of patience during the holiday season.

You can purchase a copy of this book here.

How to Hide a Lion at Christmas

Iris and her lion go everywhere together. But when Christmas comes and the family is going away, Mom says her lion must stay behind. After all, you can’t take a lion on a train! Luckily the lion has other ideas. He sets off on a festive, snowy adventure to find Iris – and almost bumps into Santa Claus!

This is a beautifully written and illustrated book about the friendship between Iris and her lion in the context of Christmas. Iris is visiting family for the holidays and her lion is just too big to go on the train (or even to fit in her suitcase!), not to mention he may just scare her family. Her Mom makes the lion stay home, but lion has other plans – he follows them on the train! The only problem, he sleeps through their stop! He must find his way back to Iris (which he does) but encounters a unique method of finding her using Santa Claus’ method of climbing up and down chimneys. Can you imagine a lion coming down the chimney?

This was a great book to read out loud to our kids. It has such a great flow and full of great age appropriate humour. We had a few great conversations of all the animals we wished we could have at home (a gorilla was one). The illustrations are beautiful and fit the story perfectly. This will make for a great read before bedtime as we gear up into the holiday season.

You can purchase a copy of this book here.

What is your favourite holiday book?

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

Continue Reading

Travel and Defend the Universe with Klikbots

Do you have a creative child that loves to discover and come up with new ideas, plays and action dram? Do they love adventure and protecting the world from evil? Then the Klikbots are the perfect gift for them!

What are Klikbots?

Klikbots are a line of action figures that children can use to create their own action clips with. The figures have interchangeable pieces, articulating limbs, and action accessories. The figures come with their own app to create their clips with called, the Klikbot Studio.

Klikbot History

Helix is the brain of the Klikbots. She is a science whiz, and loves to experiment, tinker and fix any problem along the way. After the group discovers a precious metal, they are confronted by the evil Modulus. The group is thrust into a battle they were not prepared for. Will they choose to become heroes to save the planet?

These super cute toys are easy to use and manipulate into place. They literally click into place when you move their joints (I had a giggle over this one – not sure if it was done intentionally with the name and sound these toys make as you move them into place). They have suction cups on the bottom of their feet so it was easy to stick them in place on the table for capturing images and setting up scenes. There is nothing worse then trying to set up a scene and have all of your characters falling down (the joys of my own childhood).

Klikbots can be purchased in single packs or in a studio pack. There are four Klikbots in total: Helix, Axil, Cannon and Cosmo. Each character has their own specific colour. The studio pack also comes with a creature as well to help your child do battle. This variety really allows your child to create their own theatrical piece to fit their own creative plot. They can have the whole gang protect the universe or perhaps they have a special connection to just one specific character and that is the hero of the day.

The Klikbots use the StikBot Studio app, so if you already have those other character sets you more than likely have this app installed. The app is extremely easy to use, your child will have no problem creating stills and videos. I went over it once with my son, and he was off on his own creating his own imagery.

Klikbots will make an excellent holiday gift for the creative child who loves adventure and dreaming up stories. They can fully take charge and call all the shots with these characters. They can be purchased just in time for the holidays from Toys R Us in Canada and Target in the USA.

Make sure to follow Zing on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date with all the newest additions.

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

Continue Reading

Little Adventures for a Big, Happy Life!

Introducing two new initial books in the new series, EQ Explorers designed to inspire and empower: Wally Whale’s Mighty Tale and Compare Bear’s Double Dare. Not only do these books impact children with their message – 100% of the profits of these books goes to help children and families in need around the globe through non-profit Kapalua Cove Foundation – a win win for all!

About Wally Whale’s Mighty Tale

Koa has heard that the secret to being mighty is written on Wally’s tail, and he wants to know what that word is. But when whale and boy meet, Koa discovers the word is smudged! Determined to find out Wally’s secret to happiness, Koa follows the whale through waves and reefs, trying to guess. And the answer is surprising… Wally helps Koa learn that the secret to being happy lies within; it’s an important key to being mighty and to living a big, happy life.

We find ourselves bombarded on screen and in books on the key to happiness but so many people find themselves unhappy. In this beautifully illustrated book, Koa learns that happiness is a choice. And it is a choice – everyday that we wake up, we have a choice on how to behave, how to think and how to tackle the day to day stressors. This can be difficult for adults to learn how to do – not to mention young children.

My favourite part: “No one and no thing has the power to make you happy or unhappy. You always have the power to CHOOSE whether you will be happy.”

It is important for children to learn at a young age, that happiness is found when we choose to be happy in those moments. We don’t need material items or chasing other’s dreams to make us happy – we have to find happiness in ourselves and the world around us. We have to learn to control our emotions so that we can be happy – how we react to others and events says a lot about us and in the long run this helps improve our own mental and physical well being. Children need to learn the tools that will help them identify and express their feelings in a positive manner and also learn from these moments.

You can purchase this book on Amazon.

About Compare Bear’s Double Dare

Compare Bear is unique – he does not do anything bears usually do, like climb trees, run, roar, or go fishing, all because he thinks he can’t do these things as well as other animals! Each time he compares himself to another creature, something strange happens… Danny helps Compare overcome these unexpected surprises and discover that daring to be yourself is an important key to living a big, happy life!

It is hard not to compare ourselves to others and sometimes feel not as good. It may make us want to give up or not try as hard. This book tackles those feelings of not being as good at something as someone else and wanting to give up. In this story, we find Bear who is timid and a bit scared and embarrassed around not being as good as others. He meets Danny, a young boy who helps him come out of hiding (literally!) and helps him realize how special he is.

My favourite parts: “..When I was learning to draw and my friend drew much than I did. I wanted to quit too. But then my teacher said, ‘Danny, the only person you need to be better than is who you were yesterday!'” and “who would you rather be: bit and pieces of all these other animals..or your original self?”

This is a very important message to young children (and teens) that we all have something about us that makes us special and shine. We don’t have to be like others (and shouldn’t want to be) because we are all unique in our own way and this should be celebrated. We should dare to be different and challenge ourselves everyday to celebrate this and try new things regardless of the outcome. This is a beautifully written and illustrated book, perfect for young children to learn how important it is to be themselves.

You can purchase this book on Amazon.

About EQ Explorers Books

Studies have shown that EQ is a key component to living a happy, successful life. And, unlike IQ, EQ can be learned.

The EQ Explorers books weave magical stories of friendship and learning, geared toward children ages 5-10. Each story stars a child and an animal who adventure together to discover and understand EQ principles, such as “happiness is a choice” and “be yourself—don’t compare.” 

The principles taught in each book (i.e. the morals of each story) have been proven to help boost happiness and healthy human connections. They are intended to benefit child readers and their parents and caretakers alike.

“I spent more than two decades learning and practicing the principles in each EQ Explorers book,” says author Kim Linette. “And something very special happened: my happiness increased with each lesson I learned. Perhaps even more importantly, my children’s happiness increased with each principle they incorporated into their lives. I was inspired to create EQ Explorers in order to help other parents fast track the lessons that took me over 20 years to uncover and internalize, and to share this emotional understanding with their kids in a fun, connected way—cuddling up together with a book.”

About Kapalua Cove Publishing

The beautifully illustrated, creative-yet-relatable tales are the first offerings from Kapalua Cove Publishing, an independent imprint launched by Kim Linette in April, 2019. One hundred percent of profits from the sales of Kapalua Cove books go to help children and families in need around the globe through non-profit Kapalua Cove Foundation. The foundation’s mission is to provide resources and inspiration for children to dream big and develop emotional health. Direct donations are made to charitable initiatives and books are donated to orphanages, remote libraries, care centers, and more.

Visit their website here.

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

Continue Reading

Princess Emmy DVD and Giveaway

Shout! Kids Factory

Princess Emmy will reign supreme on October 15th!

About Princess Emmy

It’s a gift fit for a queen when Princess Emmy arrives on DVD on October 15th. The new animated feature is voiced by Ruby Barnhill (The BFG, Mary and the Witch’s Flower), Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones, Netflix’s Hilda), Franka Potente (Run Lola Run, Bourne Identity), and John Hannah (Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Mummy), and directed by Piet de Rycker (Laura’s Star, Little Polar Bear).

Princess Emmy is a young girl with a secret and special gift – she is the only one in the Kingdom of Kandis who can speak to horses! Amazing, right?

Up until now, life for Emmy has been wonderful. She spends her time exploring and hanging out with her best friends – a stable full of horses; as well as spending time with her family at the castle and not having a care in the world. 

That is, until her jealous, scheming cousin Gizana appears, challenging her at every turn and threatens Emmy’s chances of becoming an officially inaugurated princess and generally making her life miserable. 

On top of all that, Emmy must undergo the ultimate test to earn the right to keep her gift. If she fails, she loses the gift and her best friends forever. 

There is a huge amount at stake for such a little girl in this new film from Shout Factory.

Our Thoughts

This wonderful movie is based on the books Princess Emmy and Her Horses, were a young girl who can speak to horses. Not only can she speak to horses (who are her dear friends), she is also a real princess! Talk about every young child’s dream come true?

This is a story of of courage, friendship and perseverance that young children will love. Emmy is not perfect but she is 100% lovable and someone that many children can relate to (especially with her cousin Gizana always there to make her life just downright miserable).

The total run time of this film is 75 minutes – perfect for younger children who have a harder time sitting still for longer time periods.

It is wonderfully animated and will touch the hearts of both young princesses and princes alike (although to be fair – I feel it is geared more towards a female population). And if you are already doing your Christmas planning like me, this would make a great gift under the tree or in a stocking.

You can pre-order a copy of this DVD here.

DVD Trailer

The Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Continue Reading

Summer Battles with Zing HyperStrike and Zax

My kids love to run around, make noise and compete with each other. Summer months can be spent chasing each other and battling for the top spot of champion in a variety of games. The hardest part? Trying to think of new ways to keep both an eight and a fifteen year old entertained!

Zax is a soft, foam suction cupped axe that you can use to compete in axe throwing competitions (or if you are like me, to catch your husband off guard when he is walking around the corner!!).

The suction cups work great on any flat surface either inside or outside. For convenience, we tested the Zax out in our living room first. There is definitely a trick to how you flick the axe, so don’t get discouraged on your first few throws! Our first throws were unsuccessful and would bounce off the walls, but once you got used to the way that you had to flick your wrist when throwing it, it easily stuck to the wall. Important to note, it did not damage the paint at all – which I was a tad bit worried about at first.

Our youngest was by far the champion in the competition. He picked up the skills the quickest and loved throwing the axe (although there were a few throws that ended up at his brother that I am not quite were as accidental as he made them out to be!). He perfected the flick and underhand throw but none of us were good at the two handed throws.

Zax come in a variety of colours and can be purchased at Walmart and Target in the US and Mastermind Toys, Canadian Tire, Indigo and Toys R Us in Canada.

The HyperStrike is a high performance bow and arrow that can shoot over 250 feet due to its the bungee cord design. The arrows are made out of soft form and are easy to use. It is designed for ages fourteen and up, and while it was definitely easier for our eldest (and my husband to use), after a few tries our eight year old had no problem loading the arrows.

There are many ways to play with the HyperStrike and the Zing website has some great ideas to get you started, such as: attack and defend, capture the flag, elimination and battle royal. My husband came up with the idea to use his feet to hold the bow in place and would shoot the arrows across the floor in our house at targets (this was a huge hit in our home), along with our youngest shooting arrows off the porch at various targets in the front yard. The arrows come out very fast and make a very loud noise, which my boys and hubby loved but I have to admit the noise sounds terrifying. You expect the arrow to be coming at you a lot faster than it does with the noise it makes.

Both the HyperStrike and Zax will make for hours of fun for your children outside as they battle to be the champions of the summer!

Make sure to follow Zing on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for all the latest news, toys and more.

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

Continue Reading
Working Mommy Journal
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.