Thursday, August 13, 2009

Discovery Toys Back To School Sale!

Did ya hear?-
There's a Discovery Toys Sale going on!!

Four totally fun products are on sale right now until they sell out! Once they're gone, they are GONE!

1. Juggle Toss-

On Sale!! Was $18.50 NOW--$10.00!
This is a great product to get moving with! It develops hand-eye coordination as your child tosses the bean bag up and tries to catch it in the cup. Juggle Toss also is a great product to work on social skills, like turn taking, as 2 children can play together and toss the bean bag to each other.

2. I'm Going Green CD-

On Sale!! Was $12.50 NOW-- $6.50!
Music is such a fantastic way to teach new concepts!! This CD is full of very catchy tunes that teach your child (and YOU too ;)) about nature and keeping the Earth clean. Check out previews of some of the songs here. Go green with me!

3. Gearopolis-
On Sale!! Was $37.50 NOW-- $22.50!
Build your own little world with this easy to assemble gear system! Take this 80 piece set and get your creative juices flowing to put this together as you increase your fine motor skills. use your problem solving skills to put the gears in the right places and watch them turn and turn!

4. Out of My Head--

On Sale!! Was $29.99 NOW--$10.00!
I love, love, LOVE this tactile game! Work on turn taking as each player picks a card and then feels inside the alien's head to use only their sense of touch (no peeking, folks!!) to get the same object. You can even work on using descriptive language by talking about what each item is, what it looks and feels like and what you do with it.

Get yours now, before they are sold out! You can check all the items out here at my website! Have you seen the new website? It's pretty!!!
E-mail me if you have any questions!

Happy Sale-Shopping!
~Marcy

StumbleUpon.com

Monday, August 3, 2009

Bathtime Fun with Discovery Toys!

Bath time in the Fox household used to consist of lots and lots of screaming. And splashing. And crying.
Well, it still contains all that, but, fortunately, it occurs at the END of the bath, not at the beginning and middle. She does not want to come out. Why, you ask? I think it has something to do with


Bathtime Bugs

Bathtime Bugs is a 4 piece set made of sturdy, washable plastic. Each piece is a different bug (a butterfly, bumblebee, worm/bug and flower {yeah, I know! A flower isn't a bug...work with me here...}) so you can work on springtime and bug vocabulary!

Here's what the Discovery Toys (fancy, schmancy new) website says about Bathtime Bugs {with my commentary, too!}...and, have you seen the awesome new Discovery Toys Parent Guides?
KEY BENEFITS:
  • Brightly colored and textured pieces encourage child to investigate early science concepts {Rachel had fun manipulating each piece and exploring. She also was figuring out the concept of water displacement as the worm kept popping out of the flower. It was kinda fun to push it down and squirt the water out!}
  • Thinking skills are reinforced through cause and effect principles {Rachel had a blast trying to figure out how to keep all 4 bugs under the water at the same time. She also was learning that she had to keep the yellow butterfly under the water for a longer time to get it to full up so she could dump it on herself}
  • Assists with bath time while aiding motor skill development {Rachel had to use her (cute little) fingers to spin, push, scoop and sprinkle}.
  • Provides the opportunity to expand vocabulary by introducing new words and concepts and demonstrating their meaning.{Beautiful!! Read below for my speech-language point of view!}
  • Versatile pieces are also perfect for backyard water or garden play. {we will TOTALLY have to try that!}
And, here it is...the after bath...
So, what kind of cool speech and language things can you do with the Bathtime Bugs?
Early Sound Development- "B" is one of the earliest sounds that develop in children. So, if you are using Bathtime Bugs with your little baby or with your non-verbal child, you can encourage him/her to use their /b/ sound---you've got bath, bug, butterfly, bumblebee, and even bubbles. You can put the pieces by your mouth to help your child focus on your lips. Then, /b/ away to your heart's content! "B-B-B-bubbles! B-B-B-Bee!!" Eventually, your child will join you!

Vocabulary- Remember, teaching words within a theme is one of the best ways to make sure your child is learning the vocabulary. The theme here is "Bugs." Have your child point to each bug as you name them. Then, have your child label each piece as he/she puts them in the tub.
Action vocabulary words--as your child is playing, talk about what she is doing. "Splash," "pour," "swim" and "push" are great words to learn!
Descriptive vocabulary words (a.k.a. adjectives)-- "Wet"

Using Simple Sentences-Some of the things I heard Rachel say included "I taking a bath!," "I got water," "bug go down," "I wet" and, not to mention "no all done!!!" Most of her sentences include a subject, verb and a complement (the basic 3 word sentence), which is pretty typical for a 2 or 3 year old. When she said only "I wet," I could have helped her expand her sentence by saying "yes, you are wet" "you said 'I am wet!"

Bathtime Bugs has been a great addition to our bathtime!! They are available at my website as a set of 4 sturdy pieces for $20. (But, don't forget!! If you order any product through my e-mail by August 11, you can enjoy 10% off your purchase!!).

Keep clean ;)
~Marcy

StumbleUpon.com

Saturday, August 1, 2009

A blog that I absolutely LOVE!!

So, I was wandering around Blog-ville and Twitter-land and No Time For Flashcards came up a couple of times. Since no-flashcards!-naturalistic-stuff-only! (or as much as possible...) is a philosophy of mine with my speech-language therapy, I thought I'd check it out.

I was blown away!

Step by step, theme related, nifty-neato activities galore!! How cool is that?!?! She even has photographs of the materials needed and of the step by step directions. (Puts my most recent blog post to shame!! :/ ) And, with me being a visual learner, I LOVE the photos even more. Oh, did I mention her photos star her super cute son? Yup!

OH!! and there's more!! With each coolio activity, she recommends books to go along with them! AND, Allie even sings for us! She really knows her stuff because she's got an extensive background in early childhood education (oh, and she's creative and has her own little one!).

Sorry, I'm drooling here a little. I've totally just found inspiration for my classroom for next year. Yipee!!

I should end this now before Allie thinks she's gonna find me in her front yard or something...
Please check her website out at http://www.notimeforflashcards.com

I'm off to explore her activities some more!...

~Marcy

StumbleUpon.com