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August 25, 2011

KRE-O Giveaway

THE WHAT:  HASBRO's new line of construction toys - KRE-O TRANSFORMERS

THE HOW:  It's the new cool of construction toys.

THE BONUS: Plan a visit to Fan Expo happening on August 25th – 28th (Metro Toronto Convention Centre) and visit the KRE-O booth! Families will have the chance to get their picture taken with Bumblebee, guess how many KRE-O bricks it takes to build the 8 foot Optimus Prime and put their construction skills to the test.

THE GIVEAWAY: 2 KRE-O Prize packs up for grabs!  Approx total value = $105.00 each

·         PRIZE PACK #1
o   Optimus Prime with Twin Cycles
o   Megatron

·         PRIZE PACK #2
o   Sentinel Prime
o   Bumblebee
o   Prowl

THE ENTRY:

  • Visit http://www.hasbro.com/kre-o/en_US/ and browse the construction sets (there are 12!), game, kreons and videos and COMMENT below which KRE-O product appeals to your child.


  • one entry per day


  • LIKE Parent Club on Facebook = an extra entry*


  • Tweet this giveaway mentioning: @HasbroCanada @ParentClub = an extra entry*


  • Follow Parent Club on google friend connect (GFC) = an extra entry* {at bottom of main page}


  • Blog about this giveaway with a link back to to this post = an extra entry*

    *Comment separately that you did so

    THE RULES (because life has rules)


  • open to Canadian residents only (sorry rest of the world!)


  • No double winners.  1 winner = 1 prize


  • Winners have 48 hours to claim their prize or a new winner will be drawn

    Disclaimer: Parent Club will receive a KRE-O construction set to review (post to come).  No financial compensation or baked goods were received.

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    What makes a good toy? | #playpanel

    When I think about the "good toys" in our house - they aren't the ones in the toy box.  The "good toys" are the ones out on the floor - played with everyday.  From what I see from the attraction of my 7 month old...a "good toy" is musical, brightly coloured and durable (read -- he likes to bam bam bam his toys).

    I had the chance to ask Dr. Kathleen Alfano, Director for the Fisher-Price Child Research Department (cool job points to her) her thoughts on "good toys" specifically...

    Is it wrong to offer higher aged toys for infants/kids - hoping they will be more challenged (and learn more sooner?). Or should parents stick to age-specific toys? – Caroline

    -If a toy is challenging and it brings the child back to it again and again then it is a good toy.


    - If a toy proves to be too challenging, it is up to the parent to be the child’s cheerleader to encourage them to try again. - Dr. Kathleen Alfano

    Well, I happen to be a fantastic cheerleader...I was all "yay!" when he touched... 
    Go Baby Go!™ Poppity-Pop™ Musical Dino
    Topzy Tumblers™ Twirlin' Tumblin' Fun Park™
    Lil’ Zoomers™ Spinnin’ Sounds Speedway™
    And touched...

    Laugh & Learn™ Learning Workbench  (yes, I keep it in packaging - baby likes to hang off it) 
    Go Baby Go!™ Bat & Wobble Penguin

    And touched some more...

    Circa 2000 Fisher-Price Little People Farm, Fisher-Price Zoo, Fisher-Price tri-lingual toy, Fisher-Price musical stacker
    Do you see a recurring theme in our "good toys"?!  In our house, for more than 10 years, "good toys" have been open-play toys.  Toys that attract them to touch (ok - hit in my son's case), discover, manipulate, sort, stack, hide, find, watch, play, laugh and enjoy. 

    I think it's interesting to share that Dr. Alfano notes the areas "good toys" should hit include:

    4 Areas of Development


    Physical (first year and a half - two years)


    Cognitive (ABC’s, understanding directions (sit/eat/bed)


    Communicative (softer- Parents are key in this area)


    Social/Emotional (softer- Parents are key in this area)

    *When Fisher-Price develops toys, they try to incorporate all 4 of these stages.

    We are offering an assortment of physical, cognitive, communicative toys (not so much social at this point).  We are finding as the days go on...baby boy is learning how to play which is helping him grow. 

    And he is most attracted to the musical toys...those are his "good toys"...and they are all over the living room floor. 

    Where they belong ;-)

    Disclosure: I’m part of the Fisher-Price Play Panel and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own

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    August 24, 2011

    Keeping the kids busy | #LMDConnector

    Crafts: Kids=busy. You=happy

    In the final stretch of summer vacation and some parents may be tapped out of kid activity ideas (me included some days!). 

    Over HERE they have some easy activities and easy recipes for kids - like that fruit loop liquorish string necklace pictured over there.

    I also like the idea of cereal art.  Have the kids gloop and loop white glue on a piece of coloured construction paper and then stick Cheerios on the glue for a 3D piece of artwork.

    And I happen to know there are some cereal coupons (yes, click that)...around the web that should help keep kid activity costs down.

    And as an aside: now that Thing 3 is able to munch Cheerios (5 teeth = 7 months) our new restaurant activity is allowing the kids to give him one Cheerio at a time at the table.  Keeps kids busy and baby busy too!  Win - Win.

    Disclosure: I am part of the Life Made Delicious Blogger program and I receive special perks as part of my affiliation with this group. The opinions on this blog are my own.

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    August 22, 2011

    Parent Club Profiles | Julie Cole

    Name please.

    Julie Cole

    Your Website?
    http://www.mabel.ca/

    What's your specialty? (work-wise - you're probably pretty special at a lot of things)
    I have three business partners and we are each responsible for different departments within our portfolios. I focus on Sales and I am also the Company Spokesperson.

    What's your shameless plug? (books, blogs, bling, etc.)
    Mabel’s Labels is the leading provider of labels in North America. We have won many awards, including the coveted Momentum Award, RBC Women Entrepreneur of Canada Awards 2009. We have been featured on The View, Live with Regis and Kelly, The Racheal Ray Show, Breakfast Television, The Marilyn Denis Show, and many others.

    Best thing about your work:
    Being in a position to engage with our community of customers and Mabel fans. That interaction is what makes this fun!

    Parent or not a parent?
    Parent x6

    Share a typical Tuesday (really we want to hear how you "do it all")

    Are you ready to be exhausted?

    During the school year:

    7:00am – kids get up, 3 biggies off to school bus at 7:45am

    I feed three little ones, quick email check and tweet.

    8:30am – nanny Hazel appears and takes over, I head into office for a Manager’s meeting. If that’s my only meeting for the day, I head home afterwards

    12:00noon - I drive the kids in JK and SK to school for the afternoon. Baby sleeps, I work on my laptop.

    3:10pm – 5 kids come bursting through the door. We go through agendas, homework items, get people fed and changed for the evening activities which include dancing, Scouts, violin, hockey and any number of other things they are into. I also pack up school lunches for the next day immediately after they return home from school.

    8:00pm – throw 6 tired kids into bed, and hop back on the laptop. I usually go to bed around midnight.

    Do you blog?
    But of course!

    I blog at Mabel’s Labels at www.mabelhood.com/JulieCole
    I blog at the Yummy Mummy Club at http://www.thebabymachine.com/

    Do you tweet? Who doesn’t?

    @juliecole
    Mabel’s Labels can be followed @mabelhood

    Link to a post/portfolio/recipe piece you think shows your most supreme skills:
    This is a tough one! I recently wrote a post that many parents could relate to:

    http://www.mabelhood.com/?s=Mrs.+Judgy

    Wallflower or social butterfly?
    I’m a pretty social gal!

    Name 3 people you would like to meet-in-person from Twitter (add why so we can follow them too)...
    This is tough! I think I’ve met most of the twitter folks I love! I’ll give you a couple of friends who are definitely worth a follow because they are interesting and engaging:

    @tothink
    @phdinparenting
    @anissamayhew

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