Mom and baby product reviews on The Mommy Insider

Bella Sara Treasures & Miniatures collections

Why do boys get to have all the trading card fun?  They don't.. silly me.  Now with Bella Sara collectible trading cards and miniature velvety horses, girls ages 8-12 will spend hours trading and playing with the magical world of Bella Sara.  

Bella Sara trading cards were introduced a while ago and the addition of these adorable miniature horses make for amazing fun for girls.  The Miniatures collection is the first time Bella Sara collectors get the chance to collect actual figurines of the Bella Sara horses.

When I received my Bella Sara package from Team Mom I didn't realize that two of the packages held beautiful miniature horses.  Madelyn was there when I opened the first package and her face lit and she immediately took the horse to her doll house and welcomed her into her dollhouse family.  The horses fit in the palm of your hand and there are 20 velvety horses and bonus codes to collect in all.  Imagine the fun girls will have with these along with the Bella Sara trading cards. Bonus codes are used on the Bella Sara website which is a place where girls can play games and collect and care for horses.  Girls get their own cottage upon signing up for a free Bella Sara account.

More about Bella Sara

• Girls can have even more fun on the interactive Bella Sara game website

• 20 collectible horses

• 20 bonus codes to use on the website

• 8 series of trading cards

• Trading card game

• Bella Sara books

  
  

Cat in the Hat - I Can Do That! game

Are you crazy like a cat.. a Cat in the Hat?  My kids are and maybe I am too, just a little bit.  I am guessing that almost everyone reading this review owns a copy of The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Suess.  By the way, did you know that his birthday is Monday, March 2nd.  What the perfect reason to bake a yummy cake..  I'm sure even at 107 years old Dr. Suess will appreciate your thoughtfulness and so will your kids.

The Cat in the Hat I Can Do That! game brings The Cat in the Hat book to life via the game, giving kids a new and incredibly fun way to experience this classic Dr. Suss story we loved as children and our kids love now.  The Cat in the Hat I Can Do That! game will entertain your entire family, maybe not your 15 year old, including your husband! You'll all laugh and connect your family in a way that TV or video games can't.

I Can Do That! comes with imaginative props inspired by the classic child ren's book The Cat In the Hat by Dr. Seuss, as well as a deck of color-coded cards that provide funny, challenging activities thus the name I Can Do That!.

"I Can do That" is a fun game that engages kids in fast paces activities. 

• First, your child flips over one red card, one blue card, and one yellow card. 
• After flipping the cards your child fits them together like puzzle pieces which when read together as a sentence, form an activity for your child to do. 
• For example, one card might read "Take Four Giant Steps," the next card might read "With the Cake," and the third card might read "On your head!" How funny is that!?
• Each card also has one, two, or three stars on it for score keeping purposes. 
• This is a great confidence boosting game as kids will complete challenges they may not have thought possible.

Cat in the Hat I Can Do That! is available at Amazon.com and you can learn more about the game at the "I Can Do That!" website, which I highly recommend visiting.  There are lots of other fun games like Horton Hears a Who - You to the Rescue and Curious George games.

Enjoy!

UB Funkeys

U.B. Funkeys are colorful, unique collectible figures that I predict are going to be around and growing in numbers for a long time.  Funkeys provide access to Terrapinia – a virtual world and home to the Funkeys via USB connected to your PC.  Each Funkey has its own characteristics and can access different features on the website.  There are 14 species of Funkeys and 42 Funkeys available as of this review.

My 9 year old son likes Funkeys' games and the interactivity of the website.  As a mother though, I appreciate the fact that he is challenged by some of the games and that he is motivated to get more coins.

5 steps to getting started with U.B. Funkeys:

1. Purchase a Funkeys starter kit
2. Install the included software
3. Plug the base into your computer via the USB
4. Register on the U.B. Funkeys website
5. Enjoy exploring the virtual world of Funkeys

Go to the U.B. Funkeys How it Works page to learn more.  I recommend checking Funkey prices in Amazon.com's U.B. Funkeys section before running out to your local toy store. 

Toy review: Balancing Coral toy from Plan Toys

Plan Toys makes some of the nicest looking and well made wooden toys I've seen.  

Made of earth-friendly and replenishable rubber wood, Balancing Coral, is a game for up to 4 players ages 3 and up. The idea is to take turns putting pieces of coral on the coral base and see who makes the coral topple by not keeping the coral balanced.  Madelyn works very hard at putting a few pieces on but manages to topple the coral within a few tries.  That is to be expected though as she is only 2. 

Balancing Coral is great game for young kids as it will help develop good cognitive and fine motor skills.  I always supervise Madelyn when playing Balancing Coral because the pieces could potentially be a chocking hazard for children 3 and under.  Madelyn stays too busy putting the coral on to try to put the pieces on her mouth.

GIVEAWAY!
We have a Plan City Fire Station to giveaway to a lucky reader!   Go to Plan Toys website and tell me in the comment box below what you think makes Plan Toys stand out and tell me what other product (1 only) you would love to have of theirs and why.  You just might get it too!

You can buy Balancing Coral at Plan Toys or at Oompa Toys, one of my favorite online toys stores, for about $35.

Check out some of our other givewaways running now (Expire Dec. 31, 2008):  invisibelt giveaway, Little Tikes Rated Green products giveaway, Fisher Price Zen Collection Swing giveaway, Precious Girls Club book and goodie bag giveaway.

Little Tikes Rated Green products

Little Tikes is known for making colorful, fun, and educational toys for kids.  Sebastian, now 9 years old, had a Little Tikes picnic table, toddler bed, an outdoor play house, and little climber with a slide.  Our house and yard could have been a Little Tikes advertisement!  

You can't go wrong with Little Tikes which recently came out with a line of Green toys including the Bamboo 3-D Memory Matching Game,  Bamboo Tangram Game, Travel Flash Card Assortment: Numbers, Toddler Words, Subtractions, and Card Games: Old Maid, Go Fish and Slap Jack.

Madelyn loves the Little Tikes Bamboo 3-D Memory Matching Game.  The wood tiles are easy to pickup and hold and the cute character pictures on the tiles are colorful and easy for little eyes to remember and recongnize.

Besides being fun and educational, toys in Little Tikes' new line of Green toys are made from real babmoo (a renewable, sustainable, natural material), soy based ink, 100% reclylced paper and come in cases made from a biodegradable material called CBR (Corn Based Resin).

Little Tikes Rated Green educational toys and games are available at the Little Tikes online store, here.

Giveaway: Enter to win a set of Little Tikes Rated Green products!

Stylin’ Studio

The kids are back in school and girls are doing their best to make sure that they are up to date with the latest hair style and make up but how do they try new styles out before taking your money to buy and try out new shades of lipstick just to throw them away because 'they don't look with with my skin tone'?

Now girls can try out new styles with Stylin’ Studio.  Stylin' Studio gives girls the ability to see what hairstyle or makeup colors will look best on them, right from their computer.  Using the built-in digital camera, girls can give themselves a new makeover by changing their hairstyle, adding accessories and applying make-up.

Jishaku magnet game - it's addictive!

Jishaku is the most entertaining game I've played in a long time.  As you can see in the photograph, my husband is very entertained as well.   

Jishaku is a game of magnetic attraction.  Jishaku magnets like all magnets, have North and South poles.  These smooth, shiny magnets aren't marked though so you can't tell which side is going to attract or repel neighboring magnets.

The game is played by placing one of your magnets in a hole in the foam game board and hope that your magnet doesn't attract magnets in nearby holes.  If the magnet you just played does attract a magnet or multiple magnets, you have to take your magnet and the magnets that attach to yours and put them back in your hand to play again.  Players take turns until one player runs out of magnets

Xeko: an eco-friendly game that's fun for kids and parents

Sebastian and I are hooked on two games right now.  One is Xeko: Mission China.  Mission China is the newest Xeko mission.  Xeko games are eco-conscious collectible, educational card games.  The object of this game is to build the strongest Xeko-system that balances resources and species. In order to become a Xeko Master, your child must learn how to balance the eco-system.  A player wins by running out of cards in her draw pile AND also must have the highest number of eco-points indicating that she knows how to balance the Xeko-system.  Conserving cards is important too though, so like I said the game is all about balance.  Sebastian and I were playing like pro's within a couple of hours and it is so much fun to play! 
Players must play a Species card on each turn or pass.  Species cards must be linked together whether it be to your own Species card already in the field or your oponent's species card.

Sebastian loves to go on the Xeko website to learn more about his Xeko species cards and play games.  Add more fun to the game with booster packs.  Booster packs come with 9 cards from a random selection of 150 cards. All Xeko collections are playable with one another, and players can mix and match to build custom decks. 

Your child will learn interesting facts about endangered animals and their habitats while playing Xeko! Visit the Xeko website for a store near you or buy at Amazon.com.

Cluzzle, a sculpting game

Sebastian, my eight year old son loves playing Cluzzle because we have to guess and guess and guess what he's made out of clay.  Life is great for an eight year old when he can (1) play with clay and (2) make mom and dad guess what it is that he made, over and over again.

Cluzzle is a game of clay sculpting and the goal is to have other players guess what object you created.. not too soon and not too late.  All the while, you are trying to guess what other players have created as quickly as possible.  The player who identifies a player's Cluzzle is awarded points and so is the sculptor.  The longer it takes a player to guess what your sculpture is, the more points you are awarded as long as someone guesses your sculpture before the end of the game.  Your sculpture should be difficult to recognize but not too difficult to guess what it is.

Sebastian sculpted a baby monitor, but without asking questions I probably would not have figured it out.   First I asked "Is it alive?", he said no.  "Is it food?", no.  "Is it something we use everyday?", yes.  I was stumped but I kept asking.  Finally when I asked if it was electronic, I realized what is was and guessed correctly so he and I both earned points.  The game gets more tricky when there are more than two players, but I think it's more fun with more players.  There is no turn order for asking questions so when there are three or more players, the game gets pretty exciting..  Watch out though.. you don't want to ask questions that are going to give hints to your opponents.

Cluzzle is an award winning game that can be enjoyed by players 3-6 players, ages 8 & up.  As much fun as we've had playing this game, I can see why About.com rated Cluzzle the #1 drawing and sculpting game even over Pictionary and Cranium!

Website: Cluzzle

Cahooties - a modern twist on the classic 'fortune telling' game

Like most little girls, I spent hours folding paper and playing the game of  'fortune telling' when I was a child.   I was recently thrilled to learn about Cahootie, a game based off of the 'fortune telling' game and to share it with Sebastian, my eight year old son.  Who say's boys can't play too?   Despite the fact that Cahootie is geared toward girls onl y, Sebastian enjoys the Sporty Girl Cahootie.  I didn't make a big deal of the game being for girls, so he doesn't care.

Cahootie, available in several versions; Truth or Dare, Wishes and Dreams, Sporty Girl, Birthday Wishes, Democrat, and Republican each featuring colorful designs and 40 re-positionable stickers, so the game changes as often as players want it to.

I quickly learned that Cahootie is tear-resistant. My 2 year old daughter and un-approved Cahootie tester put our review Cahootie to the test and I am pleased to say that the Cahootie withstood some rough treatment. 

Priced at just $5.95, Cahootie make a great gift.

Cahootie.com, is an interactive website where free Cahootie templates are available for download and printing so your kids can make their own Cahootie and stickers.  Join Club Cahootie and your kids can submit their own Cahootie designs to be featured on the website!

I have five Cahootie's to giveaway! Sign up for our newsletter using the link above or come back to see when the giveaway starts.