itty bitty HeartBeats™ - Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

My nieces came in handy for this incredibly cute review!!!  itty bitty HeartBeats™ is a super cute animated musical series for girls and boys ages 2-6 - just so happens SC is 4 and GC is 2!

Through humor, friendship and original songs, the itty bitty HeartBeats help children on Earth solve problems and "do things from the heart."

With engaging animation and upbeat melodies this series touches on a variety of subjects such as long distance friendships, sharing troubles, and being afraid of the dark. The itty bitty HeartBeats™ emphasizes three core values:

• Living a healthy, nutritious lifestyle
• Having a healthy heart, both physically and emotionally
• Teaching positive life lessons

SC was engaged from the get go, but when I took out the SweetHeart doll, she was even more on board. GC stayed engaged for a short time while watching the video, but really liked the coloring book and the music. They both declared that BabyHeart was their favorite! I think that SC really understood most of the concepts, while they definitely went flying over the head of GC, but exposure is sure to bring results and help to set expecations! The emphasis on being kind and caring for others is what really resonated with us. This is truly a wholesome kids show, with great values, morals and viewpoints! CJ said it reminded him of a very well done cross between the smurfs and the care bears! I am very hopeful that this series will be expanded. 

BabyHeart - The Girls Favorite!

Now for the giveaway!!!
One lucky reader will receive - 
1 itty bitty HeartBeats DVD
1 plush doll - CoolHeart or SweetHeart
5 sheets of stickers


I have a few ways you can enter, please submit separate comments for each method so that I will have a number for each one and make sure that I have a way to contact you! 

1. Head on over to itty bitty HeartBeats™, watch an episode and come back here to let us know what you think, who your favorite character is or what your favorite song was! 
2. Tweet about this giveaway making sure to mention both @theittybittys & @gckhomeschool
3. Follow @theittybittys & @gckhomeschool on twitter - or let me know if you already do! 
4. Share this giveaway by linking it through a blog or website.
5. Share this giveaway on Facebook.
6. Share this giveaway with Google+1. 

Entries will be accepted from Tuesday 9/27/11 through Tuesday 10/11/11 10/4/11 10pm EST. Winner will be chosen on Wednesday 10/12/11 10/5/11 and announced no later than Friday 10/14/11 10/7/11.


CONGRATS TO Kathryn at Cummins Life the winner of this great prize pack! Hope your kids enjoy!!!




~~~Disclaimer: I was contacted to do this review and giveaway, but this review is completely unbiased. I was given materials to review, but was not compensated in any other way for this review. Itty Bitty HeartBeats will be filling the giveaway and is solely responsible once the winner's information is sent to them. 

All alone with little G!

For the very first time EVER I had my niece GC - the younger 1/2 of the Little - all to myself! SC was off on a field trip with the day care and MC wanted to take the Itty Bitties in to have a trial run before she heads back to work this weekend.

It was so much fun to play with her uninterrupted and you could tell how much she was enjoying playing with things without having them ripped out of her hands because it was time to share. She got dress up, we made some scrambled eggs, played outside and then she got the music box ALL to herself! So much fun!

Sesame Street Free EBooks - Toddlers & Preschoolers

I was contacted and asked to review the new Sesame Street Ebooks site, I was a bit hesitant at first, but then I went on and saw that they had my all time favorite sesame street book - HERE - and I had a change of heart!

Here is a link to a press release regarding the new site that gives the ins and outs of it.

So far they only have the free content up and it looks really great. I don't know if it is great enough that I would want to pay for something like this or subscribe to it, but as a free resource that will be changing weekly, it looks fantastic.

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE the new design on the Sesame Street website! I must say that since my daughter is 12 I have not been on the Sesame Street site in quite sometime, but I took a look around it with SC this morning and it looks great!

Here are my top picks for the site:

• I love the playlist feature where you can choose one they have made or create your own based on subject, theme and content type!
• My street - where you can customize a webpage with all your favorite aspects of the site.
• podcasts - great for a little something to take on the go!
• Parents section - and more specifically Media for Milestones section that has all the great developmental stages at the click of a mouse!

Really the only thing that I think could be improved was the fact that I couldn't find ANY printables! I am big on watch a video, do a color page and SC really loves this type of thing. I may have not looked deep enough into the site, but I couldn't find ANY! ~ with the exception of one of the ebooks, which was coloring book that could be printed off and I may have done that if I didn't already have the HUGE version of it!

I really think I will be using this site often in the future to gather things for SC - WHO LOVES ANYTHING on the computer.

Children's Museum -

I had some extra help this week, with CJ home, so I thought we would venture into the city with the Littles! We hadn't gone to the Children's Museum in over a year, so I thought that would be the perfect place to go. Looking back at those pics really hit me how much they have changed in the past year! Here are some fun shots from this trip -


KM was off with CJ most of the time, which great for her to not have to be tied to SC. GC was very content just looking at everything and playing with her dog/blankie in the stroller.
The next time we go it will be interesting to see what she will be getting into!

Update on the Littles

Our lesson schedule has changed around a bit lately so I realized - after quite a few emails - that I hadn't mentioned much about the Littles lately.

SC is doing very well - she is working on her alphabet, can count to 10 and is working her way through the teens at the moment and LOVES to color. She has started to color more of the actual picture - of course she still scribbles, but if you ask her color the pumpkin orange, she can - which is helping with her color recognition as well.

GC is really getting a hang of sitting, rolling and scooting. She has also started eating a bit here and there.

Our biggest challenge recently has been that GC is grabbing EVERYTHING which is causing SC to have to really learn to share more than ever! She loves her sister though and seems to be okay as long as she doesn't take her BINKY!!!

Blocks

KM left out her Jenga blocks the other night and SC was very excited to find them on the floor the next morning...

She played with them for nearly an HOUR!!! She built them up to 19 and then counted them when they fell! She made a track for Thomas, a pen for the crazy kitty and a sculpture of what she said was Turkey! I love when they can get creative with such simple things!

Cereal Necklace -

What do you get when you take...

and

and add your favorite cereal with a hole in it...
A very tasty treat!!!
SC was very proud of her Apple Jacks necklace!