Read to Me

*****
THE WINNER IS #12 SPENCER'S MOMMY
Thanks, all, for playing!!

*****

Some of you may be fairly new to this site and, if so, then welcome!

Others of you have been around awhile and what I have to say might be somewhat repetitious but hang tight if for no other reason that I have another giveaway. (Horrible bribes, I know.)

I like to read, (incredibly obvious statement) and I like to read to learn about the world around me. I like finding references in literature (fiction and non-fiction alike) and applying what I've read to everyday living. I also like the fact that my two year old son seems to be doing the same thing. Whenever we are out and about, he is noticing how things fit together and he references books we've read, stories we've told, conversations we've had with whatever it is that he is currently looking at. To that end, I'm on the constant prowl for things that will help foster a desire to read (and to be thoughtful about what we read!). (I come from a long line of bibliophiles and would like to continue the tradition!)

A company that I recently discovered which seems to help in this department is eeBoo. Some of you may have heard of them before and others not. They have produced a puzzle pairs "game" (it's a game to us) called Read to Me.



In this box you'll find 36 puzzle pairs. One half of the puzzle is a phrase and the other half is a picture that has to do with that phrase. The children then connect the dots and put the matching pairs together. What we do, since my son is two, is separate the cards and I hand him four pictures at a time. Then I read off the matching half of those four cards, and he puts the puzzles together. Not only is he learning to listen to a story but apply the correct image to it. He is also learning how to put puzzles together. At the same time he is playing a game and learning how to wait his turn and also follow directions.

For example: I'll give him the picture halves of a bee, a lion, a penguin and the goldfish in the bowl. One at a time I'll read the cards off.

"A goldfish lives in a bowl." I put the card on the ground, he takes the goldfish picture and snaps it into place completing the puzzle. More frequently than not, he associates the picture with a story we have read. "Goldfish like in Cat in the Hat." I'll read "The lion roars." He snaps the lion picture into place, completing that puzzle. "Lion, like Aslan." (And mommy's little heard swells with pride, yes.)

It's an awesome game and VERY well made. A lot of puzzle cards I've seen (and I've seen a lot as my husband and I use to own and operate a school supply store!) are rather flimsily made. eeBoo has made quality puzzle cards that are thick, snap together very tight and firm and yet somehow come apart very easily. They are wonderful for little hands to work with and I know that I could leave my 2 year old alone with them and not worry about the condition in which I'd find them.

I love these puzzle pairs and find that I have to keep them out of sight or else he will ask me to play them all the time. He loves them. I love them. And we hope you'll love them too. Eeboo has graciously offered to give away one Read to Me Puzzle Pair game to one of you readers. To win? Well, here's the catch.

#1 - If you are a regular reader/commenter on this site (and I know who you are!) just leave a comment. That's all.

#2 - If you are new to this site, I'd love for you to have a look around and get to know me and let me get to know you. So what I'd ask is that you browse around my reviews a bit, read one, and come back to this post and let me know which review you read and what you liked/didn't like about it. That's all! It's just a courtesy "get to know you" comment instead of the "enter me" comments.

~OR~

#3 - Browse eeBoo's site and see what they have to offer to your young readers-to-be and let me know what product you liked of theirs. They really are an awesome company and deserve a bit of recognition for their efforts in producing quality materials.

The contest is open to U.S. residents only. The winner will be selected on Friday, February 27th.

Thanks for stopping by and in the meantime, happy reading!