Flip Flop Faces

Flip Flop Faces is one of my absolute FAVORITE games! It’s great for individual play, family play, even a great game to play at parties!

Flip Flop Faces comes with 6 target bowls in different colors with cute little funny faces on the bottom, and 6 matching colored bean bags. There are ATLEAST 3 different ways to play Flip Flop Faces, but remember, you and your child can come up with a multitude of other ways to utilize this game!

Version 1:

Send your child out of the room and out of site of where you are playing. Hide one or more of the bean bags under the “faces” and let your child guess which face the bean bag(s) are under. Keep track of the number of guesses for each player if you are playing with more than one person. The player with the fewest guesses is the winner!

Version 2:

Arrange the bowls face down on the floor. Decide where the standing line is, and stand behind it. Throw the bean bags toward the upside down faces. Aim at their rims to try to make the faces flip over and “eat” the bags. Points are scored as follows:
4 pts for a completely covered bag
2 pts for a partially covered bag
1 pt for flipping the face completely over but not covering the bag
0 pts for not flipping the face over.

**NOTE: this game is easiest played on carpet, sand, or grass. This makes it harder for the faces to slide as you are throwing the bags at them.

Version 3:

Arrange the faces face down on the floor. Select the standing line, and stand behind it. Try to throw AND MATCH the upside down face with the matching color of bean bag. Points are scored as follows:
4pts for a correctly matched covered bag
3 pts for any completely covered bag
2 pts for a correctly matched partially covered bag
1 pts for any partially covered bag
0 pts for not flipping the face over

This game is great if you have a child with an illness or condition that requires exercise every day! My almost 4 year old son has Juvenile Diabetes and needs exercise every day to help maintain his blood sugars and this game is one game he LOVES to play, and I love it because not only is it educational and fun… but it really helps me control his blood sugars! Great buy!!

To order, visit www.discoverytoyslink.com/dawnslearningtoys, click on “Pre-school” in the side menu bar. You will find it about halfway down on the second page.

Boomerings

Boomerings are one of Discovery Toys’ top selling toys! These rings are truely awsome. They grow with your child, from birth through toddler! You will find a Million uses for the Boomerings! You can attach them to your baby’s carseat, high chair, stroller, etc. As baby gets older, they will find excitement when they realize they can “reel” in their binky or toy all by themselves when they throw them out!

As your child grows into the toddler years, you can then use these toys as teaching aides to teach colors, counting, sorting and more!

Each box of Boomerings has 6 different colors. Red, yellow, green, blue, purple and orange. They are flexible, unbreakable, and are made of a very high-quality plastic.

For safety measures: when you link them as a chain to attach a binky, toy, etc., don’t make the chain any longer than 12 inches for children 3 months old and under.

Activities you can do with Boomerings:

1.)Create a 12 inch chain with the Boomerings. While you are out and about, shopping, etc., attach baby’s pacifier, favorite toy, etc. to one end of your Boomerings chain, and attach the other end to the stroller, car seat, shopping cart handle, etc. Viola! You now prevented having to bend over a million times to retreive what baby threw out!
2.) Lay your baby’s favorite quilt or blanket on the floor. Lay baby on the blanket and dangle a Boomerings chain (or two, or three, lol) with a few different toys attached to one end. Dangle these toys over baby and let her bat at them, cooing with enjoyment at the fun game Mommy created for her while she engages in learning about different textiles and colors.
3.) If your baby is about ready to start crawling, put baby on her belly, then get her to go into the crawling position. Take a link of Boomerings with a toy attached to the end and lay it a few inches away from baby, just barely out of reach, or hold it a few inches away from her and sway it a little to give it some movement. Encourage baby to crawl to the toy to play with the toy! This concept has worked for my children when they were learning to crawl… however, I used sippy cups instead of Boomerings and a toy. LOL.
4.) Around 3 months, babies have an increased sense of exploration and motor skills. This increase allows him to be able to test out his environment even more in a more active manner! Object permanence also begins to solidify in his mind around this time, and he starts to enjoy games which confirm his growing suspicion that out of sight, doesn’t always mean, out of mind. Allow him to test this out by experimenting with the Boomerings. While sitting at his high chair, waiting for dinner, attach a 12 inch Boomerings link to his high chair. Attach a toy at the other end. As he starts dropping it, show him how it “reappears” when he pulls on the chain! After a while, he will start to remember that he can always retreive his toy by pulling on the chain, and he will giggle with enjoyment as he retreives it again and again!
5.) Our busy busy toddlers. Aren’t they always on the move? Boomerings helps them to slow down some with many different activities. One activity you can do is have your child sort the Boomerings by color. Then, ask her to find other objects around the house that are the same color as one of her Boomerings. Reproducing patterns is a very important pre-reading skill. Classification skills are important in the development of logical thinking.

Remember, these are just a FEW activities you can do with Boomerings! As you and your child play together with them, you will discover a world of possibilities with them! More importantly, you will be building a greater bond… which is the greatest gift of all! Feel free to experiment with your Boomerings and discover what other games you and your child can come up with!

Don’t have Boomerings? You can get some today for only $7.99! CLICK HERE!

Contest Time!!!!

Ok, so it might be more like a Mystery Hostess event LOL. I have decided to that it was about time I hold some sort of a contest for all my viewers and readers. I will try to do some sort of a contest for you all atleast once a month.

Here’s how this will work.

Go to my Discovery Toys website by clicking HERE.

Once there, pick out some toys for your child(ren). Remember, we still have the Winter Sale going on!

Email me your orders to: dawnslearningtoys@gmail.com with the subject title: Blog Contest

Place a $10 order with me, receive 1 raffle ticket
Place a $20 order with me, receive 2 raffle tickets
Place a $50 order with me, receive 5 raffle tickets
Place a $100 order with me, receive 10 raffle tickets!

Now, you will have until January 30th to email me your orders, and paypal me the funds. I will give you my paypal address upon emailing me your orders.

What do you get for playing this game?

Well…… on January 30th, I will have my 3 year old son draw a name from a hat. The winner will receive the Hostess Rewards!

Now, the goal here is to reach $200 in sales by the end of the month. The more orders we collect, the more in sales we reach… the more FREE TOYS you have a chance to win!

What if we dont reach $200 in sales???

Well, if we can not reach $200 in sales by the end of January, the person my son draws as the winner will receive a SPECIAL DISCOUNT on their order! So you will still be able to win something!

How does this sound?

You win by purchasing high-quality, life-time guaranteed educational toys for your children… and have the ability to win MORE toys for FREE!!

Now, if you would like to join my team, receive over $400 in toys at a GREATLY DISCOUNTED PRICE and make money from home… OR if you just want to be a “kit-napper” and purchase our Success Start Kit, Email me and ask for an application! All new team members and “kit-nappers” will receive 12 raffle tickets! Our Success Start Kit has is retailed at over $400 but new team members only pay $99 (plus shipping and sales tax), has lots of our best selling toys and lots of business supplies for you to get your business off the ground. For those of you who just want to be “kit-nappers” this is an excellent price, and you will have the ability to get your $99 refunded back! Email me for more details on how you can get your very own Success Start Kit and 12 additional raffle tickets!

Summery of how to win the Mystery Hostess Drawing:

Visit my website by clicking HERE and email me your order with the subject title: Blog Contest

Place a $10 order, receive 1 raffle ticket
Place a $20 order, receive 2 raffle tickets
Place a $50 order, receive 5 raffle tickets
Place a $100 order, receive 10 raffle tickets
Email & ask me for the application for our Success Start Kit, and have it either faxed in or mailed in before our contest ends (I need to see your name in my back office showing me that you have already been put through the system and accepted in order to count & receive your tickets), receive 12 raffle tickets!

Good luck everyone! If you have any questions, don’t hesistate to shoot me an email!

Dawn’s Learning Toys Blog Received An Award!

I am happy to announce to you that Dawn’s Learning Toys Blog has received its very first Award! Pam Brechlin with Shaklee has awarded Dawn’s Learning Toys Blog with the “When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade” Award! Thanks so much Pam! Pam is a work-at-home-mom that enjoys taking pictures, living “green”, and just all around enjoys life! You can check out her blog by clicking here.

You can look to at the left sidebar to find the award button. If you click on it, it will direct you straight to Pam’s blog!

Now, the way the “When Life Gives You Lemons, make Lemonade” Award (or for short, many people call it the Lemonade Award) works is:

1) You must link back to the person you received the award from.
2) You have to nominate 10 bloggers who are deserving of this award!

Here are my nominations:

1. www.shescribes.com
2. www.mommybeewahm.blogspot.com
3. www.mommyexecutive.blogspot.com
4. www.kid-accessories-by-kidcessory-haven.blogspot.com
5. www.momcooksglutenfree.blogspot.com
6. www.imstillblessed.blogspot.com
7. www.atouchoftabitha.blogspot.com
8. www.snootybootydiapers.blogspot.com
9. www.sandyfleming.info
10. www.twoofakindworkingonafullhouse.blogspot.com

Congratulations ladies on having an AWSOME BLOG!

If you have any questions on how the award works, please feel free to email me at dawnslearningtoys.gmail.com

**Edited… I didnt realize www.lacyslife.wordpress.com already received the same award recently. Sorry!

School-Age Children love family time too (even if they don’t tell you)!

You know, thinking back to my childhood, my parents may not have had a ton of time to spend with us, but the times we did share together, I have always treasured. Even as an older child, like from ages 6-18, I still loved spending quality time with my folks. I may not have told them that, and they may still not truely realize it, but it is true.

You would be surprised at what kind of things your child will remember as they get older. They may not even admit that they enjoy your time and attention while they are still IN that phase of their life, but, I can bet that if you asked them when they get to be 20, 25, and so on, they will!

It is incredibly important for parents to take out time each day, even if it is only 30 minutes to an hour, to spend time with their children. Play a game with them. Watch their favorite movie or t.v. show with them. Even something as simple as sitting down at the dinner table can become something memoriable!

Discovery Toys has lots of options for you to help you build and grow your relationship with your children. And, once again, you are incorporating some education into the mix as well!

Take The Brain Game for example. The Brain Game is a great game for the entire family to play! It is a fast paced trivia game that will really get both your, and your children’s “wheels” turning as you try to answer the questions on the cards and ultimately win the game. Now, I can not speak from experience with many of the toys in our School Years section, simply because my children are just too young yet. But, I have heard many great things about this game, as well as many others in the School Years section from Discovery Toys. Take a look at The Brain Game by clicking here and share with me your thoughts, ideas, testimonies, and questions. Right now, The Brain Game is on sale too! Original price is $29.99, but it’s on sale for only $19.99! Get it while it’s still on sale!

Another great game for Family Nights is our UnJUMBLE game. This is a 2 game set with cute star shaped mixers and 2 score pads. This game is sure to get your brain thinking as you try to create words using the 7 letter cubes in the first mixer, and list computational combinations from the 2 black cubes in the second mixer. A definite brain teaser, and one the whole family is sure to love! UnJUMBLE is only $17.99… 2 games for one low price!

For more great family time favorites and individual playtime toys and games, please visit our School Years section on my Discovery Toys site!

CHALLENGE TIME!

I challenge each and every one of you to spend atleast 30 minutes a day with your children this week. Feel free to come back to this post and comment to tell me what you did, or what your family enjoys doing together as a family!

And, be sure to check back again soon! I have a contest in mind for you all!

Toddlers… What do they love? What can help them succeed?

Let’s talk about toddlers for a minute. Toddlers are so full of energy. Have a brain like a sponge. Have their “temper-tantrum” moments. But are so full of love and affection and… well… cuteness!

But, what really gets their motors running? What kind of things are they really interested in? What kind of things to they really love?

Well, as a mother of 2 toddlers (LOL Yes, I said TWO… although I guess you could call my son more of a “pre-school” age lol), and a woman who works in the Children’s Toys industry, I have learned a few things, tricks, and games.

Speaking from experience, my children LOVE the Discovery Toys Hammer Away! This item is found on my website listed under the Early Years section. How many times have you told your toddler over and over (and over lol) again NOT to bang their forks on the kitchen table? How many times have you sat through another kicking and screaming session because you told your toddler the dreaded “N” (no) word? Well, Hammer Away is a great solution! It is a great tool to use to help toddlers relieve their “stress” in a fun and safe way! They can hit the colored balls down the shoots and watch them twirl and whirl around the boat all the way to the bottom. They can learn their colors, some numbers (1-4), hand-eye coordination, and cause-and-effect concepts. Both my 3 1/2 year old son, and 2 year old daughter love this game and spend hours on it! I actually have to limit the amount of time my son spends on it just because of his medical condition (juvenile diabetes). I have to pull him away from it after he’s been playing with it for an hour to get him up and moving again to help maintain his blood sugars.

Another game both my kids love is the Busy Bugs Learning Set. This is another game that I literally have to pull my son away from after an hour of playing time due to his diabetes. He can play this game all day long! Each card asks the child to do different things. As the child progresses through the stack of cards, the requests get a little harder. To add to the fun and education, you can add a little bit of basic math skills like I have. As your child completes a card, you can remove a couple bugs, and ask him/her “You have 6 bugs, I take 2 away. How many bugs do you have left?” My son gets a kick out of this game when he plays it and jumps for joy when he answers me correctly. And, well, when he is wrong, I ask him a couple more times and if he still doesn’t get it right, I make a silly noise and tell him the correct answer. Then, hes back to jumping for joy again and goofing off because mommy made a silly noise (all while he is learning!). My daughter is learning her basic colors and learning what different bugs look like with this, along with matching colors, counting, etc. It’s an all around great game!

Flip Flop Faces has become a FAMILY favorite here in our house! With this game, you get 6 different colored bowls with silly faces on the under-side, and 6 matching colored bean bags. Now, keep in mind, there are MANY different ways to play with all of the toys from Discovery Toys, and with each toy you purchase, you get an instructions book with different ways to play with that one toy! With this game, we play the basic game in our house for now. What we do is we line up all the faces with the face side down. Then, we step away from them a bit of a distance, and toss the bean bags, trying to flip the faces over. We play this game on a daily basis, and always spend *atleast* an hour playing it (many times we play it longer lol). It is great for my son’s blood sugars, for both my kids to work on their hand-eye coordination, matching colors, and more! This is a great game to play at parties, family events & outings, or just for something fun to do as a family! I HIGHLY recommend this game if you have a child with a medical condition where exercise is important!

Are you working on teaching your child to write? Try these workbooks from Discovery Toys! ABC & 123 Wipe Clean Workbooks are an awsome tool to use! Whether you are working with your child at home,home-school, have a home-based daycare center, or are a teacher in a public or private school working with children everyday, these books are wonderful! I personally work with my 3 1/2 year old son with these workbooks and have noticed a significant improvement in his handwriting skills. Now, don’t get me wrong, he also works on writing while he is in Head Start, but this is great for me to re-inforce what he is learning at school while he is home!

For more ideas on some great games, toys, books, and more for your toddler, visit my website (www.discoverytoyslink.com/dawnslearningtoys). You can find them in either the Early Years or Pre-School sections, or you can go to the top toolbar and move your cursor over either the Toys tab, Books tab, or Games tab and click on the sub-category you are searching for specifically.

Stay tuned! I will be discussing School-Age children soon!

And, don’t forget, we have an awsome sale this month, ending February 6th. And, this month only, you can host a catalog party with me and earn the toys, books, and games on your wishlist for FREE (with a qualifying $200 party). Email me for more information, or if you have any questions or need help finding that perfect item for your precious child. dawnslearningtoys@gmail.com

Do you read to your child?

Let me ask you all something. Do you read to your kids?

Did you know that reading to your kids will help them in the long run? It will help their verbal skills, comprehension, imagination, early reading skills, and best of all… it is a GREAT bonding tool! Experts say that reading to your child at bedtime will help strengthen all of these areas. As a matter of fact, if you have read my earlier posts, you know that my son is having to go through some speech therapy through his school. One of the things that the therapist told us to do with him to help him strengthen his verbal skills was to read to him at bedtime. Although I did do this when he was younger, life seems to get so hectic I sometimes don’t get a chance to do it. However, since I strongly believe that this does help, I will be re-starting to do this myself! Here are some of the books I will be reading to both of my children:

Shiny Touchy Smelly

Shiny Touchy Smelly is a great book for children 6 months and up. As you read, your child will be delighted by the colorful photos and illustrations, coo at the different textures within each page, and be amazed at the scratch and sniff sections! The “Colors” book concentrates on both primary colors as well as black and white. The “First Words” book covers things like clothes, nature, and animals. They come in a set of 2, retailed at $15.99.

ROUGH & TOUGH Tractors & Trucks

ROUGH & TOUGH Tractors & Trucks is chock full of photos, fun facts, seek and find, and textures for your little one to learn about as you read through the pages. I am getting this book for both my son and daughter because they are both intrigued by trucks and tractors, and well, just about anything you find on a farm! Perfect for children 12 months through pre-school, retailed at only $6.99

If you have a child around 3 years to 5 years, here’s a few books he or she may enjoy. My son will be turning 4 years old in April, so here are a few books I plan to buy for him for his birthday:

THE RACE Rhyming Picture Storybook

Ok, I am sure most of you remember the story about the Tortoise and the Hare, right? Well, in this book the Tortoise and the Hare race around the world in different vehicles, including ships, planes, and even a hot air balloon! Appropriate for ages 4 and up. Retailed at $16.99, but ON SALE NOW for only $13.99! Sale ends February 6th, so get it while you still can!

BUILD A BOOK

Now, we already have a BUILD A BOOK, book. Both my daughter and my son love this book because they can create their own storyline! Switch out punch out pictures to change the storyline. Kids love to get involved in things, why not let them get involved in creating their very own story while spending some quality time with mommy and daddy? This book is retailed at $14.99, but ON SALE NOW for only $7.99. Great deal, but this sale won’t last forever, so hurry and get your copy today!

Now, after the age of 5, most of Discovery Toys books are more for the child to use. Books like our THINK-IT-THROUGH series of books and games are designed for childen over 5 years of age. They are great buys to help kids learn math, reading, spelling and words, and so much more. If you have a child over 5 years old and are looking for something to suit their needs, feel free to contact me and I will help you find the best thing for them.

Now, I would like to challenge you all.

I challenge you to read to your kids every night this week. See how much they will enjoy your company, your time. You will be surprised at how something so little will make your child so happy.

Have a comment about this post? Please feel free to post it! I love hearing people’s feedback!

Feel free to invite your friends to follow this blog as well. It is my personal goal to help children and families find good, quality educational toys that wont break the bank, as well as share great information with others!

Let’s take a moment to talk about babies!

I thought I would take a moment to talk about all the cute, adorable little babies out there! Ya know, from birth, they are learning TONS of new things on a daily basis! From learning how to breath on their own, learning how to feed from a bottle or breast, learning their mommy and daddys voice, to learning about things in their environment. There is so much for them to learn and explore! Many people may think that all babies do is sleep, eat, and go through a million diapers a day… but in acutallity, they are doing a lot more!

Do you know why babies put everything in their mouths?

Believe it or not, its not just to drive the parents nuts LOL. Their mouth is one of their BIGGEST tools for learning! They learn about how different things feel to the touch, how it tastes, in many cases, how it smells, they are learning and experiencing different textures, they are constantly learning!

Now, Discovery Toys has some great toys for babies to help them learn all these great new experiences!

Lets start with the Flutter Fun Teether

The Flutter Fun Teether is a cute little teething ring in the shape of a butterfly that will intice any baby. It rattles, stimulating their auditory skills, Its wings have different textures, stimulating their gums. Its belly turns and on its wings, it has rings, which both will intice and teach fine motor skills. And, it is brightly colored which will keep baby’s attention on the teether because, we all know, babies love brightly colored toys! And, as baby gets older, you can use this to start teaching your baby their colors! Originally priced at $7.99, but you can get it on sale for only $4.99!

The Elephant Fun Teether

The Elephant Fun Teether is similar to the Flutter Fun Teether. Like the Flutter Fun Teether, this cute teether has easy to grasp handles. Its ears are textured for teething needs. Inside its belly are peanuts to create a rattling sound. Babies love this toy! It helps with fine motor skills, and stimulates textile, visual, and auditory senses. Originally priced at $7.99, but you can get it on sale for only $4.99!

Find more toys your kids will love on my website. www.discoverytoyslink.com/dawnslearningtoys

And remember! All our toys are made SAFE, and have a Lifetime Guarentee on them! Can’t get that from Wal-Mart toys! What could be better?!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment or email me at dawnslearningtoys@gmail.com

Your child’s education and safety is most important to us here at Discovery Toys.

How important is education to you?

Is education for your children important to you? Do you believe that a child’s brain acts like a sponge for knowlegde around the ages of birth through 5 years old? Experts believe this, and so do I.

I have always been a big fan of educational toys for my kids. Since they were about 9 months old, I have been working with my kids with counting, the alphabet, and colors. My son knew all the alphabet, could count to 10, and knew all the basic colors since he was only 18 months old. He is ahead of his class in many areas in pre-school. As a matter of fact, now he can count up to 35, and hes only 3 1/2 years old. My daughter learns a little slower so we are still working with her, but her vocabulary is quite amazing. She has however made great progress over the last few months since I have introduced her to a few of the toys offered by Discovery Toys!

If you are a big fan of education, then you got to check out what Discovery Toys has to offer.

If you don’t have the funds to purchase the products you would like, leave a comment or shoot me an email (dawnslearningtoys@gmail.com) and I will explain how you can get your toys absolutely free to you!

Leave any questions or comments you may have in the comments area, with your email address, and I will contact you personally to help you in any way I can.

Remember, this month we have our Winter Sale! Up to 60% off on many toys! And Hostesses earn an additional 50% more in free toys with a qualifying catalog or home demo party! Book today, my calendar is filling up fast!

Do you have a child struggling in Math class?

Do you have a child struggling in math class? I know growing up, in school I had issues in math class. I just couldn’t catch on as fast as other kids in my class. For me, it really affected my self-esteem.

Discovery Toys can help your little one learn math in a fun way!

Take these toys for example.

Busy Bugs Learning Set

Busy Bugs is one of my son’s favorite games. His pre-school teacher also loves it because it is very educational and she sees how much fun he has with it! This is great for anyone who homeschools, has a daycare, or just loves educational toys! I have been teaching my 3 1/2 year old son basic addition and subtraction with this and he’s doing great with it!

Mini Motors

Mini Motors is an AWSOME teaching tool! Endless possibilities! You can teach addition, subtraction, even multiplication! This is great for the visual learners.

THINK-IT-THROUGH Early Math

This is an awsome and totally fun game to help teach your children math! This is only the booklet, the double sided tiles are sold seperately, but it is totally worth the money! I sat down and played with one just a couple of months ago and thought it was so cool, i loved playing with it and I cant wait til my kids get old enough to enjoy it too!

THINK-IT-THROUGH Basic Math

Another great game to teach basic math! Similar to the Early Math game above, but a little more difficult.

These are just a few of the things Discovery Toys has to offer parents, grandparents, guardians, and teachers to help their children in Math.

To find out more toys and games available to you, visit Discovery Toys

Stay tuned! I will be featuring more toys that will help with other children’s difficulties soon! Do you have a suggestion on something you would like to see us talk about? Have a child struggling with something and want to know if Discovery Toys can help? Leave me a comment and I’ll look into it for you!