Wedgits

  I planned on reviewing a wagon from CSN (remember I said it was in the Riding Toys section?), but they were out of the particular one we wanted.  That’s ok – I’ve been wavering back and forth over Wedgits for a long time – are they really as great as everyone says?  Will M actually play with them?  Are they easy to use, yet still challenging enough to keep him engaged?

Yes, yes, and yes.  I finally decided to get them and try them out.  We opted for the Deluxe set, which has 30 pieces.  I’m glad we did because they are so much fun that we all play with them and we need as many pieces as we can get! :) 

These are amazing building blocks (I guess you’d call them blocks??) – they fit inside one another in a variety of ways, and you can even wedge them together so they “lock” as M says.  This set came with a book that shows several designs to copy.  This is great reasoning work for M, since he really has to think about what to do first, second and so on in order to duplicate the design shown.  He also enjoys just “building with my imagination”. :) 

I wish we’d ordered a set of design cards so we’d have more to work on.  That’s on our Christmas list for now.

If you’ve been wondering about Wedgits yourself, I definitely encourage you to go ahead and get a set.  They are a bit pricey, but well worth it in my opinion.  We are very happy with our Wedgits and they are something that will grow along with M.  I envision him playing with these for years to come!

Have a beautiful day! :)

I was given a complimentary set of Wedgits from csnstores.com in return for writing a review.  This review is my honest opinion of the product I received. 

Big Universe

In the past I’ve turned down offers to review educational websites; I just don’t like the idea of helping my 3 or 4 year old develop a computer addiction (like mom, heh).  I hear things from other parents, thinking they are praising a particular site, that make me cringe… things like “my 5 year old wants to be on the computer first thing in the morning!”, or “I can’t pry him away from this awesome site – he loves it!”.

This just rubs me the wrong way, and I’m not sure I can even explain why.  Call me crazy, but interaction with a real human being and having a 3-dimensional learning experience, are standards for me when it comes to educating very small children.  And as for learning computer skills – well, don’t get me started.  Even if it is something that will benefit them in the future, technology changes so quickly that whatever skills they learn today may be very well be obsolete by the time they have any real need of them. 

Ahem. But I digress.

When Big Universe contacted me my initial reaction was to say no, as I have in the past to other “educational” websites.  However, I took a look at the site first and, you know what?  It’s not bad.  It’s books, and books are good!  It’s jam-packed full of books to read together.  I can see how it would be a fun way for a beginning reader to practice their reading.  But it’s also great for just browsing and reading books together with a smaller child.  It’s searchable by age, reading level, publisher (I was happy to see Sylvan Dell and Zoobooks!), and categories.  You can choose to read math books, science books, social studies, language arts; there’s fiction, non-fiction, poetry… I could go on and on. 

You can even write books to share with others on Big Universe.   

I like the set up of the site;  I’ve found it easy to maneuver and find what I am looking for.  I also really like the layout of the books as we read them – the pictures are crisp, and it’s really as if we are reading the book itself.  It’s easy to save books to my virtual bookshelf, and I like this feature since I can browse and scan the books first and then have them easily accessible to read with M later.

Many of the books have “quizzes” to go along with them.  These are made up of basic reading comprehension questions and are a help in determining how much M is ready for.  He understands much more than I imagined and is easily comprehending books for much older children (just some shameless mama bragging). 

Check out Big Universe when you get the chance.  It  has a lot going for it and is a great (supplemental!) way to get and keep children interested in reading.

I was given a free 6 month membership to biguniverse.com in return for writing a review.  This review reflects my honest opinion of the website.