Our next guest blogger is Corine from Complicated Mama!

Featured in the  Digital Mom’s Handbook and nominated as a 2010 Nickelodeon Parents Pick Nominee, Corine has been a member of the blogging community since 2003. Corine’s Lifestyle site, Complicatedmama.com which highlights fun finds and topics for the fun, chaotic, and sometimes complicated life of mom.

Read her post Education & Imaginative Play with the ALEX Mix N Blast Volcano Set!

Maui’s volcano has not been active in many years and is surrounded by a rainforest, so I knew getting a great view of it while we were away would be unlikely. So before we left, to further embrace his curiosity, and continue the dialogue, we broke out the ALEX/Kid Concoctions  Mix N Blast Volcano Set.

We began our Mix N Blast Volcano adventure by taking out the volcano trey, lava mixing powders and water squirter to activate the volcano-

To set the scene, the set comes with black slime for a swamp area and dinosaurs to play with.

We played with this set as a family, so even though the set is for ages 6 and up, with assistance, we allowed our 3 year old to get in on the fun.

My son, ever the Spiderman fanatic quickly pointed out that the “black slime” looked like Spiderman-Venom and he and my 3 year old took turns stomping the dinosaurs around the play set, getting them stuck in the swamp and activating the volcano over, and over again with the water squirter.

This set is great for so many things, education, imagination and I can see it being a great display for a school science project!

What was the best part? Cleanup was super easy – which always scores bonus points with this Mom!

Either way, once the diagnosis was official, we started looking into sensory integration therapies. Through that process, I realized that my definition of “Sensory Integration” needed some amending. I had thought that sensory issues meant that there was a breakdown in the use of the senses themselves (i.e., hearing incorrectly or limited vision), but it is actually the inability to organize sensory information as the senses process it. This means that a kid sitting in circle time, for example, may be unable to process what they’re seeing, feeling and hearing simultaneously (a brightly colored calendar, singing voices, birds outside, the carpet under their hands), resulting in what appears to be “zoning out”, “not listening”, and sometimes even behavioral issues.

Thankfully, we live in progressive times when it comes to children with special needs, and there are many helpful options available. Aside from formal occupational therapy and other treatments, we parents can offer our children many activities at home to help with sensory processing. Tactile experiences in particular, like playdough or water tables (messy, but worth it) are fabulous opportunities to help kids focus on what they’re doing without it feeling like work. Massage toys help give kids sensory input, help them relax, and allow them to identify precisely where they’re experiencing feelings. Even playing “Let’s Pretend We’re Animals” is a great sensory activity; by using their bodies and senses in one concentrated effort, they are training their brains to do so in a more generalized way.

Remember, you’re not alone and you are your child’s greatest asset. Thousands of parents just like us have worked wonders for their children, and even offer their suggestions online. Best of luck!

What Sensory Activities do your kids like?

Good news! April is Mathematics Education Month and there is no better time to begin engaging your child’s or children’s imaginations with math concepts and games. I often have to help children battle their math anxiety away. Even in my middle school classroom we create math art and play math games to support their confidence in math. Research has found that reading to your children insures success in school.  My belief is that playing math games with your children will also help them be successful in mathematics and, above all, enjoy it—and learn not to fear it. Children are natural scientists and will explore if given the opportunity. Give them the chance.

ALEX® offers three products in their Little Hands preschool line - Ready, Set, Write, 123 Flashcards and Match & Stack that I think will help young children explore math while having fun. Besides being entertaining, all three products, are colorful and visually pleasing.

I really appreciate the Ready, Set, Write Activity Book because it encourages children to copy letters and numbers on wipe away pages from A-to-Z and up to twelve.  While it is important to understand basic counting young children need to know how to count beyond ten.

The 123 Flashcards have a similar focus. This time the children are asked questions about what they see and feel on the cards.  Contextualizing an idea helps ideas stick for everyone. Some toy companies may have directed the children to  see the one cat on the card, which is not as good as what ALEX® poses, “How many cats do you see? Can you pet the cat one time? Does the cat feel hard or soft?” which engages the child while exploring the number one. And finally, their trademark ALEX monkey poses a question on each card. “Can you hold up one finger?” he asks, extending their knowledge to make an association between one finger and one cat, a very important skill.

The Match & Stack item, is a wonderful math manipulative.  Mathematics is the science of patterns, not numbers.  Numbers fit a particular pattern.  With Match & Stack, children can create all kinds of patterns with the blocks. A child can create three-dimensional sculptures or purposely mix it up–zebra, lion, zebra, lion, for example. There are numbers on every cube, which increase in size as their numbers increase, emphasizing how numbers and size compare. On every stacking cube there is a picture with the number of items that correspond to the number cube–another pattern to be explored.

My favorite part of this toy is that it teaches children about the volume of an object because the largest cube is filled  with the stacking cubes.  Children might go so far to figure out how many of the little cubes fit inside the big cube. Observing a child’s play with this product provides parents with insights into how your child is beginning to understand their world. Whether they create different stacking creations, hide boxes within boxes, or creating a train of boxes, you will find yourself wanting to play with them.

Most importantly, don’t leave these toys home in the toy chest, take them on the road with you.  Whether you are going in the car or on an airplane, engaging your child’s mind will make the trip entertaining. Math is fun!

Bio: Margaret R. Sáraco is an award winning middle school mathematics teacher, adjunct professor and a published writer for over twenty years.  She and her husband live in Montclair, New Jersey,  and are the parents of two children, ages 13 and 21.

Our next guest blogger is Drew Bennett, blogger at 

Drew is a husband and lucky father of two adorable kids. He is also a photographer who recently completed seven straight years of taking a photo each day. At BenSpark.com, Drew blogs about life with his wife Allison and their children.

Read his review here: Inspiring Creativity.

With my daughter, she is four, we color, paint, sing and play instruments. I play like a four year old and color outside the lines take pictures at odd angles and make up silly songs. Through crafting I can see my daughter beginning to develop her sense of self, her ability to create and achieve. She is proud of her work and we celebrate it.

I recently received a couple of  Little Hands craft kits from ALEX Toys, Clothespin Farm and Pop Stick Art. The really nice thing about each of these kits is that each project is bagged separately in the box. The little hands of a preschooler can easily punch out the pieces and assemble the crafts themselves. There are stickers, colorful characters and very little mess. I don’t mind messy but do love it when a project is nice and neat and easy to complete.

The Little Hands line has been around since 2006 and I think that ALEX has refined the kits down to a simple science. Provide everything that a child needs to create, make it simple to assemble, make it colorful and include a glue stick. Kids love glue. They also love stickers, so the combination of colorful paper pieces, pop sticks, clothespins and glue makes this a real winner. Then when the finished product looks as good as they do you have an even bigger win on your hands. But the biggest win of them all is to come into a room where your child has just complete the art project they have been working on, they look up see you and show you their work with the biggest smile and look of accomplishment on their face. That is priceless.

The one thing I know for sure about traveling with kids is to plan, plan, plan. Kids like to know what to expect, where they’re going, and what they’re going to do there. I would even recruit them to help you draw up the itinerary, so they won’t complain later that they “never get to do what they want to do”. Make reservations and buy tickets in advance; the last thing you want is to sit at a car rental desk for two hours with a crew of tired, hungry kids. Bring travel-friendly activities (small pieces NOT recommended) and snacks (small pieces ARE recommended), and for long trips, if you can get access to a DVD player, take advantage. Pack lightly to avoid mountains of laundry when you get home.

Most importantly, make sure you take time to yourself. A family vacation is a vacation for everyone except the parents, who work hard to keep everyone happy. Even if it’s carving out a couple of hours a day for a nap or getting a babysitter at the resort so you can shop or go out to dinner together, you deserve to walk away from the trip feeling like you got a break, too.

Happy Travels!

What are your best tips for traveling with kids?

For more great traveling ideas, check out our On the go! Pinterest board.

Our next guest blogger is Happi Olson!

Happi is a wife and mother of four kids ages 5 to 15. She loves all things creative, crafty and cooking related. In her spare time she is the Director of Sales and Marketing for Creative Kidstuff, a Minnesota based specialty toy retailer.

Read her review here: On the Farm Fun for Easter.

Another one of our favorite things to do in the spring is visit the local zoo to see the baby farm animals. The kids love seeing the baby animals, participating in the feeding and learning about life on the farm. The egg hunt and the visit to see baby farm animals are two signs spring has finally arrived. This year I decided to add farm fun to our annual event.

My youngest son and I worked together to create the Clothespin Farm characters by ALEX. We had lots of fun making these charming little characters. They will be hidden in some very tricky spots with a cache of filled eggs.

There are so many fun ideas for hosting an egg hunt filled with farm fun.

Plant the Seed

Invite little farmers to wear their best farming duds—jeans, boots and straw hats. Have a variety of colored bandanas on hand to add the finishing touch to their farm finery.

Fertilize the Field

Hide the ALEX farm friends in very tricky spots. Leave a cache of filled eggs (enough for each child at the hunt) by the character. Tip: color code eggs by age or gender, if appropriate.

Assign the Farm Hands

Divide kiddos into small groups. Mix older kids with younger kids to search for the characters and collect their eggs.

Harvest the Crop

After each team has collected their eggs from each station, gather them all up and empty all treats out of the eggs. (Pack empty eggs away for next year.)

Gather Round the Table

After a delicious brunch keep kids busy with some fun art projects. ALEX Pops Craft 3 Happy Birds  and Farm Finger Crayons with paper are easy projects kids can do by themselves or with just a little help from an older child.

The Easter Bunny will be stopping by our house on Easter Sunday this year. Some of my favorite basket fillers are by ALEX. I plan on filling my sons’ baskets with ALEX/Kid Concoctions (the perfect combination of science and slime). My daughter will love finding her treats stuffed in a So Cool Satchel.

Happy hunting!

She made it look so easy.

Although I’m a pretty decent singer, I have neither a magic purse or a jolly sidekick like Dick Van Dyke to psyche my kids up about clean-up time, which is why I have to remind my kids about 47,000 times each evening to clean up the living room before the toys start getting put away…maybe. I have, however, a few tricks up my sleeve which are, in fact, inspired by our favorite magical nanny.

The “Spoonful of Sugar” approach is a brilliant one.  Games are fun. Cleaning up is not. So, if the job becomes a game, you’ve got willing participants. For the younger ones, have them count how many toys they can put in their toy box. See if they can put in one more than the night before. Older kids can race to see who can put more toys away first (ordinarily, I’m not big on having kids compete with each other, but once in a while, you can make it work to your advantage). You can also designate certain jobs for certain kids, depending on what their preferences are (the painter gets to put the art supplies away, the tallest gets to put the puzzles on the shelf, the big reader gets to organize the library). And, of course, there’s always bribery, which I succumb to more often than I’d like to admit.

Once in a while, if you feel like you’re at your wits’ end by evening time, maybe getting the kids to clean-up is not worth the hassle. I promise you that no one from House and Garden is going to come barging in and brand you as the “Worst Homemaker in History”. At the end of the day, a happy home is more important than a perfectly tidy one.