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IBW Books have generously donated one of the prizes to the Art Contest and Giveaway as well as giving me a few samples to look over and review.  The books offered by IBW are not your typical books.  They are called Interactive Book-Webscenes.  It is a combination of books and webscenes you look up on the computer while reading the books.  The webscenes are very detailed and have movement with bright pictures.  They also include certain words from the stories.  The books themselves are small, simple books with no pictures.  They have a nice explanation at the beginning of the book about how to utilize it with their webscenes.  They have a Beginning reader series called KA Reader and a preschool curriculum called “The Busy Preschoolers Guide to Learning”.

I read “Where Can Lost Bee Be?” which is part of the KA Reader series .    In each book they have an English and Spanish version of the story.  I folded over the spanish portion (since I was reading the English) so I wouldn’t find it distracting.  It’s nice that they do have Spanish text as well for students who might have english as their second language.  There are a lot of Rhyming words which is great for beginner readers.  For my son I put up the webscene first (although they recommend putting it up after reading each section) to help with clues for reading the story.  He uses the visual cues while reading still and it is difficult for him to do it without any visual.  If I were just reading it to him, showing it after would have been fine.  The reason they suggest doing it after the reading of each section is that you can then ask your child about what you read and what they think it might look like.  It can stimulate them to use their imagination.  The story of “Where Can Lost Bee Be” was a cute and simple story.  Perfect for an early reader.  It tells the tale of a little bee on a search for a perfect flower.  He get’s lost on his journey and the story follows his adventure.

There are some nice activities on the website that you are directed to in the book.  They relate to the story you read.  I especially liked the activity which was called “You tell a Story” where the child picks the correct words with in the sentence.  Some of the activities seemed to be geared more towards a child of around age 7.  So younger children would need more assistance with the activities.

The Busy PreSchoolers Guide to Learning is a preschool curriculum that is built around the letters of the alphabet.  I received two books to review: “Celebration of Letters A and B” and “Celebration of Letters G and H” that each contain two of the letter activities from the complete Busy Preschoolers book. At the beginning of each book it explains how to utilize the books and gives a link to go to on the internet that goes with the activities.    For each letter there was a poem and an activity to create related to the poem.  After completing the activity you go to the website where there is a tracing activity for the letter you are working on.  It’s pretty neat since your child would trace the letter on the computer using the mouse.  They do need to be fairly confident with the mouse to be able to complete the task.

For readers who want to share IBW books with others and make some extra money in the process, www.IBW-Booksellers.com has all the details on becoming an IBW Bookseller. You’ll not only represent a product with NO COMPETITION… and but also receive an IMMEDIATE 20% commission on all sales at the close of each hosted event!

I had never before heard of an Interactive Book-Webscene and it is a very interesting concept.  One that utilizes children’s natural love of technology, while encouraging them to learn.

The winner of the prize will get to choose between “The Busy Pre Schoolers Guide to Learning” and  3 books from the KA Reader Series.  Thank you to Ghost Hunter Productions and Interactive Book-Webscene for the opportunity to learn about this program.

I recently had the pleasure of reading Catch those Monkeys by Jessica Ziegler of Story Tots.  It was an entertaining book about a little mischivous monkey who loves balloons and a hero who saves the day.  The book also has adorable illustrations.  But, what made it even better was that it featured both my son and daughter in the book!  All of Jessica’s books at story tots can be personalized by name and you can design the characters so that they look like your son and daughter.  There are even a couple that you can customize for 2 children! I chose Catch those Monkeys and it had the option of having two personalized characters.

When ordering the book you first choose if you want the character to be a boy or girl.  Then you are able to choose from  various hair color, styles, skin tone and you can even choose to add freckles and glasses.  Then you put in your child’s name and you are done!  It takes about 2 weeks to get the books.  There are 5 stories to choose from.

When I first showed the book to my kids and showed them who the hero’s of the story were they were really excited.  They couldn’t wait to get started.  My daughter was beside herself and kept saying “so is that me?!” pointing to her character.  Throughout the book she would say “that’s me, I thought of that idea !” meaning the heros idea to save the day!  It is so much fun to see her reaction.  These books are great gifts for kids!

StoryTot’s also has a newsletter that has:

• Fun projects
• Holiday and party ideas
• Plus the latest StoryTots news and announcements

You know how I love that!!

These are wonderful books that make a special gift and Jessica of StoryTots has offered to GIVE ONE AWAY TO ONE OF THE WINNERS OF THE ART CONTEST!!   I am so excited because this will be a special prize for one of the kids who wins!  Thank you Jessica for sending us this great book and offering to give one away!!

Review of Jewish Holiday Games For Little Hands by Ruth Esrig Brinn.  With Passover coming up soon I thought it would be good a good time to review this terrific book and share an activity from it related to Passover.  This book has activities for all the Jewish holidays, with multiple activities for each holiday.

Here is a list of the holidays covered in the book:

• Shabbot
• Rosh Hashanah & Yom Kippur
• Sukkot & Simchat Torah
• Hanukkah
• Tu B’Shevat
• Purim
• Passover
• Shavuot

There are at least 5 activities for each category.  Most of the crafts and activities are simple to make.  They tie in the meaning of each holiday to help children learn from the activity or craft.  There are also activities that you can photocopy – like game boards, coloring activities etc.  If you celebrate the Jewish Holidays and have young children you definitely want this book!!

Leaving Egypt (This activity is from the book Jewish Holiday games for Little hands)

Supplies:

• Two Small suitcases or duffel bags
• Two sets of clothes ( for example-pants,shirts, hat, socks, mittens, jacket)

To play:

1. Divide children into two teams
2. Fill both Suitcases with similar items (each has a set of pants, each has a pair of socks, each has a hat etc)
3. Set a goal line across the room from each team
4. The first player from each team empties the suitcase and puts on all the clothes
5. They then close the suitcase and run with it around the goal and back to the beginning
6. Then they take off the outfit and put back in the suitcase
7. They then hand suitcase to next person on their team
8. The team that has everyone go and sit back down at the beginning first WINS!

The message is that the Jewish people left Egypt in a hurry running away from the Pharoah.  Reading a book about Passover and talking about how the Jews left quickly before playing this game will reinforce the message.