July Favorites Roundup

SHARK TOYS

The sea is fascinating. We just visited a big Aquarium in Florida and my kids’ favorite things were the sharks and the turtles. When we got these my kids grabbed a shark and my 11 year-old is having a lot of fun sewing the blanket and putting it together. Everything is hi quality and great for kids! PIck these up for your ocean loving kids for their birthday! Discovery Channel is celebrating 30 years of Shark Week starting on July 22nd and these are the perfect way to celebrate with your kiddos!

Cuddlekins Sharks and Living Ocean Sharks from Wild Republic
Cuddlekins are Wild Republic’s exclusive line of ultra-plush wildlife toys. Specially designed to look like real the thing while still being incredibly soft and irresistibly squeezable. Every Cuddlekins is made with-and for-love. Customers can choose a variety of sizes from our many collections, including African, Rainforest, Wilderness, Asian Mountain, Prehistoric, Polar and Aquatic. New sharks for 2018 offered in two sizes and price points, $9.99 MSRP for 8” plush and $14.99 for 15” plush.  Choose from Blacktip, Great White, Hammerhead, Mako and Tiger Sharks.

Living Ocean is a new line of ultra-realistic plush from Wild Republic. This highly-detailed aquatic plush line utilizes fabric printing method to achieve vibrant life-like colors and designs on super soft fabric. Choose from Blacktip, Hammerhead, Great White, Tiger, Zebra, Leopard, and Bamboo Sharks.   Living ocean sea creatures are approximately 20-25″ in length; size varies by species. MSRP $19.99.

DINOSAUR TOYS

My kids, especially my son, were thrilled with the new selection of Dino toys and kits we got. He grabbed the baby dino excavation kit right up and had it done in a couple of days. My two oldest love the glitter dinos and my 6-year-old has been working overtime trying to get the glow-in-the-dark T-Rex done. These are great gifts for birthdays and summer fun!
Glitter Dinosaurs from Wild Republic
Wild Republic’s colorful prehistoric beasts come with a rainbow-chrome glitter print that gives them a holographic look. Three different sizes and price points. The line includes a velociraptor, stegosaurus, triceratops, T-Rex, and diplodocus. Large T-Rex and Velociraptor come with plastic teeth!

T. Rex Excavation Kit from Thames & Kosmos
Use the hammer and chisel to go on a hunt for Tyrannosaurus rex, the dangerous prehistoric giant. Excavate the skeleton relief from the surrounding soft plaster block.

Porsche 911 GT3 Cup by PLAYMOBIL

This car is a blast to build and my kids spend hours playing with it. There is so much interactivity during the building and when it’s done that it keeps them entertained over and over.

Race to the finish line with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup. This top-line racing car is primed and ready to hit the track! Got a flat? Don’t worry – just pullover at the pit stop. The mechanic will get it changed in seconds and have you back in the race. Celebrate your victory across the finish line with the winner’s cup. Functioning front and rear lights add a cool effect as you chase other cars around the track, while the removable roof makes it easy to access the car’s interior. Set includes two figures, Porsche car with sponsor decals, mechanic tools, spare tire, racing flag, helmet, and tons of other accessories.

Books to Read with Dad

This summer, have your kids spend some quality time with dad exploring National Parks and learning to draw. I get to stay home with the kids and I see them a lot more, so spending time with dad is a treat! They love adventures and activities, so these books are the perfect thing to give them inspiration and get them started on their own adventures.
National Parks of the USA
Discover the beauty and diversity of America’s great outdoors in this tour of its most iconic national parks. Explore Florida’s river-laced Everglades, travel down the white water rapids of the Grand Canyon, trek across the deserts of Death Valley and scale the soaring summits of the Rocky Mountains with this book that brings you up close to nature’s greatest adventures. Packed with maps and fascinating facts about the flora and fauna unique to each park, this fully-illustrated coast-to-coast journey documents the nation’s most magnificent and sacred places—and shows why they should be preserved for future generations to enjoy.
Parks include: Acadia, Badlands, Big Bend, Biscayne, Bryce Canyon, Channel Islands, Death Valley, Denali, Everglades, Glacier, Glacier Bay, Grand Canyon, Great Smoky, Mountains, Hawaii volcanoes, Isle Royal, Mesa Verde, Olympic, Sequoia and Kings Canyon, Virgin Islands, Yellowstone and Yosemite.

Draw with Me, Dad!
Description: Create beautiful artwork and spend quality time together with Draw with Me, Dad! Doodling is a great activity for parents to do with their children. Not only does it take you away from the screens of tablets and computers, but it gives you an authentic way to connect and have fun! Featuring over 50 unique doodling templates, family psychologist Dr. Jasmine Narayan’s doodling book is shaped to make coloring side by side easier. Each spread features prompts for you and your child to doodle together and fill the scene. Work together to complete an underwater sea party, dinosaur family vacation, and so much more! The book also includes tips on how to best communicate with your child through coloring, the top 100 questions to generate thoughtful responses or engage your child, how to tailor your quality time so it’s still fun, and more!

Learn a new art technique this summer

My girls love drawing. I have told them time and again that they need to become animation artists or something similar when they grow up. These two books have helped them so much bring new aspects to their drawing and teaching them new ways to draw. The books are packed with helpful information and a ton of illustrations that inspire and help them learn how to draw better.

The Creature Garden takes you on a step-by-step expedition through the natural world, teaching you how to draw and paint 50 beasts–both real and imagined–in a whimsical folk-art style. Hardcover / 160 Pages

The blank page can be daunting, but Ten-Step Drawing: Animals offers a quick and easy starting point for any doodler, illustrator, or aspiring artist. Paperback / 128 Pages

Think Tank Scholar Sight Word Flashcards

My two youngest love learning and they are always asking to read with me. These flashcards have been so helpful in keeping their words fresh during summer and getting them ahead of the game for the next school year.
My daughter is zooming through the cards, already finishing the Pre-K, K and almost all of 1 grade! She will be all ready for her First Grade year to start in another month.

Think Tank Scholar Sight Words Flashcards help children to learn and practice reading the most common words found in a children’s book.

Help kids build their vocabulary and increase their reading skills by memorizing simple letter-to- sound high-frequency words that do not necessarily follow phonics rules.

Learning to recognize these words without decoding them increases a child’s reading speed accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. In addition, 6 teaching techniques and 6 fun learning games are included to help your children practice writing, spelling and build sentences. Providing simple learning resources for a first-time reader. Girls and boys can practice word activities to help their memory skills, key for tests.

Our cards are designed to make learning fun for young learners with a non-distracting design and large bold print that helps students automatically recognize words. The flashcards are made from high-quality card stock with a smooth laminated coating and rounded edges for easy sorting and handling.

Teach your child over 500 basic words to master the reading skills needed for their level and beyond.