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Like many children attending school, my daughter helped shop for all the things on her supply list before school began this year. The list included your typical supplies like pencils and crayons, but I was surprised to see Ziploc bags included. Why in the world would the teacher need that many Ziploc bags?


This past Tuesday I volunteered to help out in the classroom, and I learned how she uses some of the Ziploc bags. One of the tasks I performed was to inventory, organize and assemble the literacy "fun" bags so that the kids could start taking them home. The themed literacy bags are totes filled with a book, games and activities and sometimes stuffed animals and the kids take them home to encourage parent involvement in teaching early reading skills and other kindergarten basics. A lot of the totes contain small pieces or things that need to stay together. My daughter's teacher uses the Ziploc bags to keep all the pieces together. Some of the literacy bags even contain bubbles, watercolor paints, and glue! Those items need to be contained in strong and dependable bags so that they don't spill all over and make a big mess. Ziploc bags and literacy? Who knew? But, it's definitely something I'm willing to support!

We use a lot of different Ziploc products in our home so I was very happy to receive several different products to review as part of a Family Review Network blogging opportunity. Ziploc sent us four different products:
· Ziploc Brand sandwich bags
· Ziploc Brand Freezer slider bags with expandable bottom and smart-zip seal (quart)
· Ziploc Brand Storage slider bags with expandable bottom and smart-zip seal (quart)
· Ziploc Brand Containers with the Smart Snap™ Seal (medium square)

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the sandwich bags so they probably don't need much description. However, this is the first time I've tried out the expandable Ziploc slider bag. Both the freezer and storage bags have a special folded bottom that expands out so that the bags stay upright when you fill them. The bags are also roomi

This past week several Nutcracker performances took place in our area. On Christmas Eve our local PBS station is airing Dance in America: San Francisco Ballet's Nutcracker. The Nutcracker ballet was first performed in its entirety in the United States on December 24th, 1944 by the San Francisco Ballet. This famous ballet is now an annual Christmas season tradition and productions can be seen all over the nation, in large and small venues.

As I've said before, my preschool age daughter takes beginner ballet lessons. She wears her hair in a bun, has a pink leotard and tutu and, of course, has her own special pink ballet slippers. If she continues to show an interest in ballet, someday she may be able to perform in the local Nutcracker production. However, right now she enjoys pretending to be a prima ballerina and likes to dance along with the performers on television while watching her newest favorite DVD, Prima Princessa Presents The Nutcracker.

The Prima Princessa Presents series is perfect for children ages 3 to 7. The DVDs bring ballet performances right into your home. Children can watch and dance along with the performers and they even get the chance to learn real ballet steps.

Prima Princessa's The Nutcracker DVD features actual performance segments by the San Francisco Ballet and the students at the School of American Ballet show kids a few dance steps. Best of all it provides a wonderful introduction to Tchaikovsky's famous ballet. An animated, sparkly fairy ballerina named Prima Princessa describes and provides a summary of the plot, the dances and the music in terms that young children can easily understand. She covers both Act I and Act II and children alternately watch segments of the actual ballet and instructional dance clips. Positions and steps covered include Passé, Glissade and Sauté (échappé sauté and sauté arabesque). The 40 minute movie also includes two bonus segments:
Arm Positions and Port de Bras shows the four basic arm position in classical ballet, along with visual images of flowers blooming. In the other segment, a Holiday Party set to the "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" music depicts children decorating cookies, eating other yummy Christmas treats and handing out gifts.

Young children that love princesses, ballerinas, ballet or the story of the Nutcracker will especially enjoy watching the DVD. The divided segments are short enough for small attention spans. Even my toddler son enjoys watching parts of the film and trys

Ever since our children were born, my husband and I haven't really spent much time playing board or card games together. Sure, we play Candyland and Hi Ho! Cherry-O, but I'm talking about the games meant for kids older than five. I like playing games (especially if I win), an inherited trait from my father. We played a lot of different games growing up. I posted about my love of Rummy Royal a while back. That's the game that taught me about basic poker hands like a flush and a straight. My mom's favorite game is Scrabble, so we played that game quite a bit as well.

Just recently I had the chance to review a new game called Rummino. The game combines aspects of Rummy with certain aspects of word tile games like Scrabble. Each player takes 7 tiles and then must play as many tiles as they can by adding them to runs (tiles in a sequence) or sets (tiles of the same rank). Each play is scored depending on how many tiles played and bonus points gained. The game ends when when one of the players runs out of tiles and the player with the highest score wins. The game consists of 92 tiles, a tile bag and an instruction sheet. (Best played by ages 8+ and 2-6 players).

At first, I thought Rummino sounded relatively simple, but it does require quite a bit of thought and strategy. My husband and I sat down one night and tried it out. It took us a few practice times and several glances at the rules before we caught on. Once you get the hang of it though, the game gets easier. Like they say, practice makes perfect. Besides the normal suits (hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs) and colors (red and black), the game includes a star suit and the colors blue, green, and purple. The tiles are small, about one inch square each, but you'll need a little room to spread out. The game does not come with a board so the tiles are played like dominoes on a table or surface. My only complaint: I wish Rummino would have included tile racks like Scrabble. If you want to play on the floor the pieces won't stand on carpet, making it hard to hide your "hand." Those that like games of sequence and strategy will enjoy Rummino. I can't wait to play against my dad. Think he'll let me win for once?

This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program for Marina Games, who supplied a free game for my family to review. (View my full disclosure statement for more information about my reviews.)

When I was in middle school a new pastor accepted a call to our church. He liked to play guitar and taught us a song about Noah's Ark called "Arise and Shine" (Children of the Lord) with lots of silly verses including "The Lord said to Noah: There's gonna be a floody, floody; Get those children out of the muddy, muddy; Children of the Lord." The song is fun to sing for children but because of the lyrics, it is one of those songs that a child could easily get made fun of by their non-religious friends for singing, for showing their faith. All kids worry about what their friends think of them and try to avoid getting laughed at by their friends. The newest VeggieTales DVD just released on August 4th called Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella addresses the issue of confidence around friends and teaches children to do the right thing and not worry about possible ridicule.

In this episode, Larry the Cucumber stars as Minnesota Cuke, the curator of the Mooselake Children's Museum. A rich man named Humfrey Muffet sends Cuke on a quest for Noah's Ark. Muffet wants the Ark for his Bible-themed goldfish pond. Cuke, along with his friends Martin, Julia and Professor Rattan, work to locate the Ark and learn of the existence of a supposedly powerful "Noah's Umbrella." Following clues, Cuke journeys to the pyramids in Mexico and later to Turkey and overcomes tests and hardships. Rattan's evil twin brother named Wicker knows of the quest and tries to find the location of the umbrella and Ark before the others. The accompanying silly song for this episode is titled "Sippy Cup." Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella is an Indiana Jones inspired episode, much like the earlier VeggieTales adventure, Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Samson’s Hairbrush.

Minnesota Cuke is overly concerned about what other people think of him. The show relates the following message: "God promises He will give us the confidence to do the right thing," despite what others may think. It is important to have faith in God's plans, just like Noah had great faith when he built the Ark. The applicable Bible verse discussed at the end of the film is Proverbs 29:25 - "Being afraid of people can get you in trouble, but if you trust in the Lord, you will be safe."

This faced-paced episode full of adventure and suspense will keep kids interested. Like the other VeggieTales episodes, the adventure includes plenty of creative and witty remarks. For example, one of the cities Cuke visits is called "El Pez," the ancient city of candy dispensers. For those interested in incorporating bilingual studies, parts of the episode feature Spanish words and phrases, especially the song "Mexican Ice Cream." And, to my delight, the song "Arise and Shine" plays a big part in the show. I have a feeling VeggieTales has another hit on their hands!


Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella Not Rated-50 minutes-Color-5.1 Surround Sound-English & Spanish Subtitles-Close-Captioned; DVD UPC Code: 820413114091 $14.99 SRP
DVD Source: Review copy provided for free by Big Idea


Related Links:
Watch the Sippy Cup Silly Song
Online game: Minnesota Cuke and the Search for Noah's Umbrella
Printable Coloring Pages [pdf]
First day of school help guide: Bob and Larry's Confidence Building Tips [pdf]

This post was written for Family Review Network as part of a program for Big Idea and VeggieTales, who supplied the DVD for review.