Kids love to imagine, create, pretend and sing, it is such an important part of their childhood. Too soon we tend to take away these early moments of performing arts from our children for more structured activities, for school work and for organized sports. Our children need to know how important it is to play pretend, to imagine and to create with their own minds.
Julie Andrews (squeal!!) will be starring in Julie’s Greenroom where she brings her love of the performing arts to children through her teaching of the “Greenies” who are puppets and her students. With Ms. Julie’s guidance they will learn a mashup of skills including mime, dance, improve, circus arts, voice and so much more!
Every episodes includes a special guest star. So far the confirmed list of guest stars includes: Alec Baldwin, Sara Bareillies, Joshua Bell, Tituss Burgess, Carol Burnett, Chris Colfer, Robert Fairchild, Josh Groban, David Hyde Piece, Bill Erwin, Ellie Kemper, Idina Menzel, Tiler Peck and Stomp.
This project brings to life one of Julie’s life long dreams to educate children about the wonder of the arts. She partners with her daughter, Emma, to help bring this show to life (is that not the best thing you have heard in a long time?!).
Here is Julie talking more about her new show:
So if you are like me and love the performing arts with a preschooler at home (hey I love her so much I would watch the episodes without my son around), then get ready for Julie’s Greenroom coming to Netflix globally in early 2017.
Disclosure: I am a #StreamTeam Member and receive perks associated with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.
I love my children with all of my heart, the day I became a Mother was one of the best moments in my life. What I wasn’t quite ready for was how hard parenting can be at times. I struggle with wondering if I am making the right decisions, am I building their confidence up while encouraging them to be independent? As if this wasn’t enough, let’s talk about the daily struggles, the name calling, the remote stealing and the general “he is looking at me – I don’t want him looking at me!” that you need to manage on top of just life.
Parenting is tough! As the Mom of two boys, I have had to learn quick what little boys like, how they play with each other and how they learn. They still shock me with the impromptu wrestling matches that make me cringe, the slide tackles while they play soccer that make my heart stop and the sucker punches thrown in (mostly) fun. 95% of the time they are laughing until one of them has decided they have had enough and that is when all craziness breaks out.
Here are some tools I have learned along the way to make the parenting journey we are on just a tad bit easier.
Understand your child’s emotions from their level. While fighting over the remote or a video game can seem like something silly to us, this is something that is important to them in that moment, there are a lot of underlying emotions going on. Trying to understand and talk our children through the emotions is just as important as the solution. Ask the questions about why they feel this way, why it’s important and let them know you understand them.
Set the rules before they play. This is a huge one in our home, before the kids can play on their video games we have rules on how they will share turns and the consequences for not sharing. The same goes for outdoor play. That way neither of them can act shocked or surprised when they break the rules and they have to deal with the consequences (usually video games go off or they need to chose a new sport outside).
Be a role model. Our kids watch us every second of the day, how we react to stress, something we don’t like, when we are sad, happy and everything in between. They also tend to copy our behaviours, even the undesirable ones. I can think of one perfect example, when our youngest was a toddler and we would go driving, I would occasionally yell at other drivers who cut me off, didn’t use signals, ran red lines and so on. It didn’t occur to me that he would pick up this behaviour until he was the one yelling at the other drivers first! Talk about a moment of horror for me. I quickly learned that I couldn’t be yelling at other drivers with him in the car as he was mirroring my actions.
Use television shows to reach your child. Cartoons have this way of reaching out to kids in a way that sometimes words can’t. Some great options are:
Learn all about Sibling Rivalry (a huge one in our home!) in episode one in season one of The Hive: Babee’s Room. In this episode, Buzzabee and Rubee compete over who Babee (their new sibling) gets to room with. Mom and dad must explain to Buzzabee and Rubee that Babee needs to grow up before she can share a room.
Responsibility (a huge topic I think in every home) can be seen in Episode One, Season One of Veggies Tales: Puppies & Guppies/Sorry We’re Closed Today. In this episode, Larry and Laura Carrot want to adopt puppies, but quickly learn it takes responsibility in order to watch over and care for a pet of their own.
What about the important topic of peer pressure as your child grows? Fuller House has you covered in episode six, season one:The Legend of El Explosivo. After getting grounded for sneaking off to Bobby Popko’s house, Jackson realizes he needs to stand up for what he knows is right and not give in to please his friend.
Parenting can be tough, no one doubts it – just remember that you are doing your best and we all have moments where we feel like we fail. Always remember – your child loves you no matter what! Keep up the great job parents!
Disclosure: I am a Netflix #StreamTeam Member and receive perks with this affiliation. All opinions expressed are my own.
Remember my post from last week about Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir (that also includes an awesome DVD giveaway)? Now you can print out your own colouring pages for these two amazing characters. Printable colouring pages are one of the best ways I have found to keep my children happy at home!
Click on the link below to bring up the PDF images of Ladybug and Cat Noir. Enjoy colouring with your children and share your colouring with me online.
Two brand new superheroes have arrived, welcome Ladybug and Cat Noir on DVD March 3rd, 2016!
About Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir
Marinette and Adrien, two seemingly normal kids live what appears to be an ordinary teen life in Paris with daily encounters that create amusing circumstances in school, with friends, family, and even with strangers. But when the evil Hawk Moth threatens their beloved city of Paris, they transform into the superheroes Ladybug and Cat Noir using super powers gained with the help of their magical friends. Hawk Moth is using his evil energy to transform normal people into super villains, so our two heroes need to use all their skills to defeat him.
Becoming Ladybug is a complicated process. First, Marinette needs a “Kwami,” which is a tiny magical assistant (called Tikki). She also needs a “Miraculous,” which is a magical accessory (her special pair of earrings). Tikki uses the Miraculous to transform Marinette, but her Ladybug super powers only work for a limited time!
It is a good thing that she gets a little help from her superhero partner, Cat Noir even though she insists she doesn’t need him. If only she knew Cat Noir’s true identity – her school crush, Adrien! It will take a lot – friendship, teamwork and skill – to outwit Hawk Moth. Will Ladybug and Cat Noir be able to balance their double lives and keep Paris safe? Will they ever find out each other’s true identity? Until then – there is a whole city of baddies to defeat…SPOTS ON, CLAWS OUT!
Episodes Included:
The Bubbler
Mr. Pigeon
Stormy Weather
Timebreaker
Copycat
The Pharaoh
Lady Wifi
Bonus features include: sing along, episode animatics and cast and crew interviews
The Trailer
Check out the official trailer of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir:
Our Thoughts
Finally we have a strong young woman in the superhero lead in Ladybug! One of my favourite features of this DVD as sometimes we need to toss up our superhero leads a bit. This movie was bright, funny and full of adventure that children of both genders will love (I know it is a girl superhero but trust me boys will love it too!). The animations are fantastic and perfect for the attended age group. You can either watch episode by episode or binge watch all of episodes like we did – whatever works for your family! If you are ready for a new type of superhero, then Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir is definitely for you.
The Giveaway!
My Canadian and American readers can now enter to win their own copy of this spectacular new DVD from Shout! Kids Factory via the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!
On April 12, 2016, join the pound puppy pals in Pound Puppies: Showstopping Pups, on DVD everywhere from Shout! Factory Kids and Hasbro Studios.
About Pound Puppies: Showstopping Pups
The Pound Puppies are in the spotlight for this brand-new collection of adventures from Shelter 17! Join Lucky, Niblet, Cookie, Squirt and Strudel as they display their song-and-dance skills, solve a mystery, become superheroes and encourage a faded TV star to return to glory!
Winner of the 2012 Humanitas Prize in Children’s Animation, the Pound Puppies series stars the voices of Eric McCormack, Yvette Nicole Brown, Michael Rapaport, John DiMaggio, Alanna Ubach, René Auberjonois, and M. Emmet Walsh.
The Episodes
The Accidental Pup Star
It’s Elementary, My Dear Pup Club
Hot Dawg!
The Watchdogs
Back In Action
Our Thoughts
The adorable pups are back in five new episodes. These adorable little characters are sweet, funny and get into just the right amount of adventure that your child will love. The episodes in this DVD had me hooked (although it doesn’t take much to get me hooked to children’s cartoons!). Our favourite episode had to be The Accidental Pup Star. I like how the episodes have something for every range from preschool to primary school age children, they have elements that children in both age groups can appreciate. The characters are loveable and well animated in bright colour, which really helps to draw your child into the shows.
The Giveaway!
My Canadian and American readers can now enter to win their own copy of Pound Puppies: Showstopping Pups via the Rafflecopter form below. Good luck!
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