News, Reviews & Guest Posts

Our next guest post comes from Jane Johnson a freelance writer for Prepaid Reviews, the largest prepaid phone review site on the web that provides news, commentary, and over 20,000 consumer reviews of prepaid cell phone services.

 

The Top Apps for Keeping Babies & Toddlers Entertained

 

Saving the sanity of parents and supporting the learning development of kids everywhere!

 As a busy mom of young children, I honestly have no idea what parents did before technology.  I use it technology to entertain my kids when I’m driving to the grocery store in my minivan—a quick cartoon on the fold down screen does the trick. And I use it when while waiting for medical appointments—allowing a quick, educational game on my iPhone, anywhere I have access to T-Mobile wireless coverage, to distract from the drilling sounds behind the closed door.  I can honestly say that thanks to technology, my youngsters have picked up counting, the alphabet, and even a few phrases in foreign languages faster than many others in their preschool classes. 

Smart phone apps have saved my sanity when I’m running out of patience with my kids—and they can preserve yours as well. Check out my top 6 picks for the top apps for keeping babies and toddlers entertained:

1. Baby Sign ASL ($4.99)

This brilliant app will keep your baby occupied while they learn a very valuable skill in sign language. The Baby Sign app has over 200 American Sign Language baby signs ready to teach your little one communication skills at a very young age. Using dynamic video instead of still pictures this app engages babies and keeps their attention. Studies show that babies who learn sign language can sign five to six months before they can speak words verbally and develop verbal language skills faster than children who don’t learn how to sign.

2. Red Rover (Free)

“Red Rover, Red Rover, we call Justin over!” Do you remember playing this game as a kid? I certainly do, and the Red Rover app has the same charm, allowing moms and dads check in at parks, zoos, kid-friendly restaurants and playgrounds, and invite their toddlers’ friends and play dates to join them.  Using Red Rover I’ve suggest many impromptu play dates for my son. 

3. PBS Kids (Free)

A visual smorgasbord of the best cartoons that PBS Kids has to offer, this app will keep your youngster occupied with over 1,000 video clips of cartoons that kids love—including Arthur, Elmo, Cat in the Hat, The Electric Company, and tons more as long as you have access to WiFi.

4. Learn To Talk ($1.99)

Learn to Talk facilitates language development skills in toddlers using audio flash cards. Both sight and sound are important to learning, and the Learn To Talk app teaches basic vocabulary and early language skills by conveniently touching the top corner of any flash card for a quick audio spelling sample.  And it makes learning fun with bright colors, interactive sounds, and flipping flash cards.

5. Toddler Teasers ($2.99)

Available for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, the Toddler Teasers app is one of my favorites because it’s simple, fun, and educational. Toddler Teasers features a collection of educational games for kids of all ages with easy-to-follow voice-over directions so no directions. My kids are learning their shapes, alphabet, and how to count thanks to this engaging app. Plus, when a child answers a game question correctly, they are awarded an attractive sticker for their efforts. 

6. Interactive Alphabet - ABC Flash Cards ($2.99)

The Interactive Alphabet – ABC Flash Cards app using memory and interactivity keep kids engaged in this educational game. There’s little wonder why this app was dubbed “Best iPad kids app of 2011”. This app teaches the alphabet through phonetic sound. For example, press the D card makes and kids will get a dinosaur roar, learn the catchy alphabet song, and watch your kids dance while they learn upper and lower case letters to music!

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A guest post from Mey with Baby Sign Language:

www.babysignlanguage.com

 

On the Trail to Teaching Baby Sign Language

Whether we realize it or not, we are teaching our children all the time. They are sponges for knowledge and sometimes it feels like they pick up more of the things we didn’t mean to teach them than the things we strive to teach on purpose. One day when your son or daughter repeats something you promise you did not say, you will know exactly what I mean.

But before those verbal days arrive, you have tons of time to teach. Teaching your baby to sign is one of those tasks that we think will be cumbersome. After all, teaching baby this non-verbal language means learning a second language yourself. Don’t be discouraged. Most parents who choose to implement sign language in their baby’s routine start from scratch.

The key to keep from being overwhelmed is to take it one word at a time. Your baby does not start out walking; there are rolls and crawls and cruising to concur first. Likewise, you don’t need to know every sign of the alphabet or the sign for every object in nursery. Learning while you teach is perfectly fine. And if baby becomes curious and starts to ask for signs that you don’t know, there are resources available at your fingertips to help learn and teach new signs.

Here are a few tips to make learning and teaching baby sign language easy and practical for both parent and child.

Start Small - Pick three to five signs ranging from necessary to fun. When you and baby have those down introduce more.

Build slow - Just like you started with three to five signs, you also don’t want to try to introduce more signs that this at one time. It can be tempting to want to teach every color at once, or the entire alphabet, but one letter at a time is sufficient.

“My Flashcards” - Encourage your little one to take ownership of their lesson material by creating personalized flashcards or decorating the flashcards themselves. Allowing your toddler to pick which objects or words they learn next is another way to take ownership of their learning process and it can also be a means of encouraging the use of sign language even after the verbal language skills have surfaced.

Teach on location - You don’t have to sit down with a stack of flash cards, book or video. You can teach animal or plant signs on a trip to the zoo, or even a walk outside. Reinforcing with flashcards later is great, but offer a contextual learning experience.

These non-verbal cues are super useful and give the benefits that come from earlier communication with our little ones - fewer tantrums, the ability to express needs and wants, improved fine motor skills and a richer vocabulary. But the language can only bond parent and child if you are both having a wonderful time with the learning experience. So which ever teaching tips and methods work for you, remember that above all, practicing baby sign language should be fun!

Head to BabySignLanguage and stock up with hundreds of free resources from baby sign language flashcards to encouraging blog posts to help in your sign language for babies journey.

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 Kid Safe Pools

276 E. 20th Street

Costa Mesa, CA 92627

(866) 655-7233

The house I live in was originally owned by my husbands grandparents.  We've been doing many upgrades and  modifications since we've lived here, but nothing as important as installing a "Kid Safe" fence in our pool area.  We had looked at several different companies and at several different kinds of fences and decided to go with "Kid Safe" because the fence was one that could be removed if we were having a huge party, whatever.  Best decision ever!!!

Don, the owner and installer has been awesome.  Originally we installed the fence back in May of 2009.  In August of 2010, we took out an old brick barbeque and he came back out and extended the fence for us.  We just re-did our patio area, pouring and stamping concrete.  Called Don back out and he re-drilled the holes for the fence.  These fences are super quick to install, easy to store and clean!  What a relief that my kids will be safe!

 

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Carbon Monoxide Detctor law

Did you know that as of July 1, 2011 a state law went into effect, which requires all existing single family homes to install carbon monoxide alarms.  Carbon monoxide is an invisible, odorless poison that can only be detected with an alarm.   With proper alarm coverage (the NFPA recommends one in every bedroom and sleeping area), CO poisoning is a completely avoidable incident.

 

There are so many different models to choose from and a variety of different retailers are carrying them.  The one shown above is fairly in expensive and are available here.  It is 4in by 3 1/2 inches and can be mounted anywhere in your home.  

Keep your family safe!  Get one today!

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Emergency Contact Sheet
Have you ever created one?  A friend of mine did and here it is to share.  Great for babysitters or even grandparents to have one hand!
If you need an example, check out this one:  Emergency Contact Sheet

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