The Working Mom » product provided for review

Big G Hot Wheels Giveaway

Jennifer — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 23:42:13 +0000

My kids have an obsession with cereal. The would eat it three times a day if I let them. They would pick out new ones to try each week if I let them. I’ve put down a restriction, though, that they can pick out ONE box of cereal to have. When it’s gone, they can pick out another one. But we only do this one a time… well normally. Then General Mills and Hot Wheels®, through MyBlogSpark, sent me a great big gift pack with 5 different boxes of cereals. If that wasn’t enough to get my kids jumping for joy, starting back on January 24th, included in each participating cereal box (Cheerios® 14 oz, Cinnamon Toast Crunch® 17 oz, Lucky Charms® 16 oz, Reese’s Puffs® 18 oz, and Cookie Crisp® 15.6 oz), is a custom-designed collectible Hot Wheels® pullback racer. And, each car contains a code to unlock an exciting online racing game.

I thought at first, maybe we’d try to still maintain some order in the house, and open and finish one before opening the next. Yeah right. The fact that each one contained a Hot Wheels car pretty much trampled that idea. They were all opened within a few days of each other. Lucky Charms was the first to actually be consumed, and I think second place will be tied between Cheerios and Resse’s Puffs. Cookie Crisp has been eaten like it’s dessert, and cinnamon toast crunch, although still a favorite around here, will probably finish last.

Both Zach and Rachel have been having a great time with the cars too. Racing them across the downstairs (how nice that we have wood floors in this new house).

Giveaway

If you would like to receive a similar gift pack, simply leave a comment on this post and tell me which of the group is your favorite cereal (Mine is definitely the Reese’s Puff. How can you go wrong turning candy into breakfast!) For additional entries (up to 1 additional entry awarded per day) just tweet the following (and leave one comment on this post for each tweet)

GIVEAWAY: Win a Big G & Hot Wheels Gift Pack http://bit.ly/fnyG3a

Contest ends March 4th, 2011 at 10pm PST. There is no purchase necessary to enter the contest. I will be using random.org to choose the winner. I’ll contact the winner via email, and he/she will have 48 hours to respond. After 48 hours, if I don’t receive a response, another winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: General Mills and Hot Wheels® provided me with the free product, information, and giveaway through MyBlogSpark.

WorldCard Mobile for iPhone

Jennifer — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 04:34:55 +0000

Have you ever gotten a business card and then proceeded to enter in all the information from the card, manually, into your phone. This is the need that WorldCard Mobile seeks to fulfill. My husband recently started a new job, and with it, he began to receive handfuls of business cards of new contacts related to his job. When I was contacted about doing a review of this iPhone app, I figured he’d be the perfect guinea pig.

With WorldCard Mobile, when you get a business card that you need to capture the information from, just open the app, click on the camera button and take a picture of the business card. (You can save this image to your photo library if you choose.) The app will then translate what it reads on the card into a contact file that can be stored within the app and/or be sent to your iPhone contacts list. On average it worked pretty well especially with a standard business card layout. However, it did struggle a bit with more complicated business card layouts. However, if you are required to enter in a great deal of contacts from business cards, this will still save you time, as having to correct a field or two is still less time-consuming than entering in all the information.

WorldCard Mobile: $5.99*

*Price at time of this writing. I received a copy of this app for review purposes.

Maya’s Dress Up (for the iPhone and iPad)

Jennifer — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 09:03:30 +0000

My daughter has a passion for fashion. Like many typical girls, she loved to dress up her dolls when she was really little – but she’s 10years old now and has moved on to drawing dress ideas, and the like. Secretly, I think she would still play dress up with dolls if it didn’t involve a massive cleanup afterward. This is why we both love this game for the iPad and iPhone: Maya’s Dress Up.

In this game you can select from a number of different dolls to dress up: Maya herself, or one of her friends. You can change their hair style and color. There are hundreds of different clothing, shoes and accessories. You can change an item’s color or how they’re “layered” on your doll. You also have a number of different backgrounds to choose from. The selection is massive, really. And the publisher has plans to continually add new items.

You can save your favorite designs and send them to your friends.

Here’s a video so you can see how the game works. Or learn more about this game on the publishers website.

We’ve downloaded a few other free dress up games but none had the kind of selection this one does.

Maya’s Dress Up iPhone App: $2.99*

Maya’s Dress up HD iPad App: $4.99*

*Price at time of this writing. I received a copy of this app for review purposes.

Old El Paso Giveaway

Jennifer — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 06:58:36 +0000

During the week I just don’t have enough time to make several trips to the grocery store, so I try to plan our meals for the week, and make just one trip to the store on the weekend. The only problem with this plan is that I tend to use a few meals each week, which means we get sick of them pretty quickly. Some meals can withstand the test of repeated time – others, after having it every week for a month or two, I never want to eat it again. My new plan is to now plan *two* weeks in advance and to only double up on ONE meal I know we could stand to have each week. I’ll still go shopping each week – as some food won’t last the two week wait in the fridge, but planning out 14 different meals, I’m hoping we won’t get sick of them quite so often.

One meal that will surely be going up on the list of meals is taco night! Tacos are fun and easy to make and everyone in the family loves them. (Except Zach – he’s a helpless carboholic. He eats bread and cheese. That’s pretty much it. But that eating-issue is for another post). A few months ago MyBlogSpark sent me an Old El Paso family taco night prize pack complete with a packet of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning, a Cactus Chip & Dip Serving dish, a set of 3 Fiesta Chili Pepper serving dishes and a $10 gift card to purchase taco fixings.

If you’d like to try and change the usual sibling bickering during dinner, you could also try a game during dinner time: El Tacodor™, a family taco night game. Challenge each other with trivia, wordplan and pantomime. To play visit www.ElTacodor.com today to download instructions, a score card, and a challenge sheet for even more fun on family taco night!

Interested in trying some different kinds of tacos? Check out Old El Paso’s website for tips and recipes.

GIVEAWAY

If you’d like to win your own Old El Paso family taco night prize pack like mine, simply leave a comment on this post and tell me what your favorite taco topping or side-dish is. For additional entries (up to 1 additional entry awarded per day) just tweet the following (and leave a comment on this post for each tweet)

GIVEAWAY: Win an Old El Paso family taco night prize pack! http://bit.ly/dRp4EZ

Contest ends December 30th, 2010 at 10pm PST. There is no purchase necessary to enter the contest. I will be using random.org to choose the winner. I’ll contact the winner via email, and he/she will have 48 hours to respond. After 48 hours, if I don’t receive a response, another winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: Old El Paso provided me with the products, information, and giveaway through MyBlogSpark.

Merry Puzzles – iPhone & iPad game

Jennifer — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:45:06 +0000

Did you know there’s only like 9 days until Christmas? (We do both Hanukkah and Christmas in our house. Yes, there’s probably a reason for tweets like this one:

Heh. Truth be told, I haven’t finished shopping – so a note from Santa is still a possibility. But I’m sure they’ll be angels the day before just to make me feel guilty if I didn’t get them anything…

In any case, one present I got earlier this month was this Merry Puzzles app (available for both iPhone and the iPad). There’s a bunch of adorable illustrations, cut into random little squares that you have to put back together again. The illustrations have built in animations you’ll see once the puzzle is completed. There’s a few different levels. Zach has stuck to the easy level. I tried one at the “expert” level… yeah, I’m no expert for sure. So there’s definitely a huge range of challenges there!

Merry Puzzles iPhone App: $0.99*

Merry Puzzles iPad App: $1.99*

*Price at time of this writing. I received a copy of this app for review purposes.

Febreze Home Collection Wooden Wick Candles Giveaway

Jennifer — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 23:40:15 +0000

I am significantly behind on reviews/giveaways. This one has been sitting on my desk for awhile. Before we move to our house and all my materials get officially lost, I thought it would be a good idea to post the giveaway. I’ll include their product information below, but I will say that I really do like these candles from Febreze. Right before we sold the house, I had the chance to try them out and I was really surprised to hear/see that the “wooden wicks” in the candle really do crackle. It’s a very relaxing sound. And the candles smell really nice too. I’m looking forward to using them in our new house!

Here are the product details from the manufacturer:

No fireplace, no problem. Breathe a sigh of relief because the new Febreze Home Collection Wooden Wick candle has you covered. Bring the calming crackle of a burning fire into your home anytime of year with 80 hours of “ahhhhhhhh.”

Available in nine premium scents, these tranquil candles are specially designed with a wooden wick to recreate the ambiance and sound of a crackling fire indoors. Offering a brilliant range of everyday fragrances, Febreze Home Collection Wooden Wick candles can help inspire a scent and design transformation in your home.

Be sure to look for Febreze Home Collection Wooden Wick candles at your local Walmart in fragrances like Green Tea Citrus, Pomegranate Mango, Cranberry Pear, Orange Honeycomb, Rosewood Plum and Willow Blossom; as well as seasonal scents that include Anjou Pear Spice, Gingersnap Vanilla, and Yumberry Sangria.

Giveaway:

I have one Walmart gift card to giveaway with $15 on it so you can try out these candles too! All that’s required is that you leave a comment telling me which scent you’re most likely to try. For an additional entry (up to one additional entry per day awarded) tweet the following – and leave a comment here for each tweet you make:

Win a $15 Walmart gift card and try out a Febreze Home Collection Wooden Wick Candle! http://bit.ly/fLCGoV

Contest ends December 27th, 2010 at 10pm PST. There is no purchase necessary to enter the contest. I will be using random.org to choose the winner. I’ll contact the winner via email, and he/she will have 48 hours to respond. After 48 hours, if I don’t receive a response, another winner will be chosen.

Disclosure: Febreze provided me with the Febreze Wooden Wick Candle Kit, information, and the $15 Walmart gift card to giveaway through MyBlogSpark.

smarTouch Gloves Review and Giveaway

Jennifer — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:35:40 +0000

So as I posted earlier, for my birthday my husband, parents and siblings all chipped in to buy me an iPad. I can tell you that the iPad is the most awesomest thing ever, but that’s for another post. There is, of course, one problem having gotten an iPad for my birthday, and that my birthday comes in the fall – cold weather will soon be upon us. (Yes, even after I move to California, I’m sure I’ll need to wear gloves, because it does get cold there once in awhile) – and actually – what’s that saying “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco?” I’m the type of person that wears gloves the instant there’s any kind of chill in the air. Obviously gloves and iPads / iPhones don’t usually play nice. I’ve seen some versions of gloves that will work with these devices, but they usually have some sort of weird nubby thing that’s sure to fall off at some point.

Well, Isotoner has come out with a great pair of gloves that work with the iPhone and iPad but without the nubby thing. They’re called “smarTouch” gloves. (Although I’ve seen them in some stores listed as “Smart Touch”) They sent me a pair of gloves to try out and I can attest that they do in fact work. There’s a piece of conductive thread woven into the index finger and thumb that the iPhone and iPad does register. My one complaint is that it would be even better if this material were on ALL the fingers – especially for use with the iPad because I do use QWERTY typing on it quite often. But hunt-and-peck typing is better than having to release my hands to the elements just to type a few words!

One additional nice feature these gloves have is the non-slip palms so that hopefully I won’t drop my phone and crack the glass again. Ahem. Yeah, that wasn’t fun.

Giveaway!

Isotoner has reserved two pairs of these gloves for me to give away.

Required Entry: To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment on this post and tell me what your favorite winter activity is.

For an additional entry: Tweet the following (and leave a second comment telling me you did so):

Enter to win a free pair of smarTouch Isotoner gloves that work with the iPhone/iPad! >> @theworkingmom http://bit.ly/ddiX83

(click the link to tweet)

Contest ends October 18th, 2010 at 10pm MST. There is no purchase necessary to enter the contest. I will be using random.org to choose the winner. I’ll contact the winner via email, and he/she will have 48 hours to respond. After 48 hours, if I don’t receive a response, another winner will be chosen.

*Disclosure note: the smarTouch gloves were provided to me by Isotoner.

Mathomatix Number Sense HD iPad app review

Jennifer — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:19:16 +0000

I still have not purchased an iPad. I’m working myself up to buying one, I really am. I mean, I can only drool over everyone else’s for so long before I finally break down. In any case, I have an official iPad app tester: My mom! She makes the perfect iPad app tester for me because not only does she have an iPad (yes, my mom is cooler than me) but she is also a retired teacher and continues to be a “teacher’s teacher” today. (yes, my mom is a workaholic like me) So it’s great when I have an educational app to have her test out because not only does she review it from the standpoint of how much fun an app is – but also how well it teaches concepts. To make things even better, she has many grandchildren which happily offer their services as test subjects. Here is her review of Number Sense HD:

The creators of PunFlay’s Mathomatix Number Sense for the iPad, outdid themselves from a technical and educational standpoint. As a child works her way through the 5 different games included in the application, she is having fun while gaining number skills and concepts that build on each other in a natural and pedagogically appropriate way. I wonder how many other apps have been checked against the National and California Standards for teaching mathematics to kindergarteners. Very impressive!

Booster Balls focuses on counting from 1 to 30. The child collects 10 balls at a time and then feeds them to a cute little monster. A child’s voice gives clear and easy to follow instructions and provides a model for the child to count along with. The game is simple and fun. My six year old granddaughter, Kayla, liked catching the balls and feeding them to the monster even though the game was clearly no challenge. Five year old Joey and 3 year old Leah really enjoyed counting along, and with each repetition of the game became more confident.

Do the Dotty is a “connect the dots” game with sets of 10 numbers up to 30. Now we are upping the ante. Not only do you have to be able to count, you have to recognize what the number looks like and follow the instructions, connecting the numbers in sequence to create a picture. Kayla, of course, breezed through, repeating the game many times, changing the colors of the completed pictures. Joey declared the game really fun, but required some assistance as the numbers increased. After a few tries, he began to recognize the numbers on his own. I could tell that playing the game over a period of time would improve his skills. Leah loved creating the pictures, but needed a lot of help following the directions and recognizing the numbers.

Recognizing the numbers in sequence is one thing, but finding them in random groups is another challenge. Numberella provides this challenge. The players are asked to pick out a specific number floating in a cloud to create a rain shower. Easy for Kayla, not so easy for Joey and Leah, but entertaining enough not to discourage repetition which leads to learning.

Now we come to the really conceptual challenge, using an understanding of what the numbers stand for to manipulate objects. Fishoonka and Toot Toot Train accomplish that brilliantly. Fishoonka emphasizes the concepts of ‘more and less’ by having kids move fish back and forth to create the requested pattern. Toot Toot Train takes it to the next level by requiring the addition or subtraction of cars to create the desired train length. Joey needed guidance to achieve this but began to get the hang of it. Even Leah began to get the idea and was very pleased with herself.

All in all, I give this app 5 stars. As an educator, I appreciate the careful crafting of the games from the concrete to the conceptual. This is a real learning tool as well as an attractive and entertaining game, a bargain at $1.99. Bravo, PunFlay!

Number Sense HD: $1.99*

*Price at time of this writing

Disclosure: We received a free copy of this app for review purposes

The Big Brag and Yertle the Turtle – ebooks for the iPhone and iPad

Jennifer — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:07:18 +0000

Oceanhouse Media has recently released the next set of Dr. Seuss books as universal apps that work both on the iPhone and iPad. I’ve already expressed my love of Dr. Seuss books, so once again I’m thrilled to see the collection continue to expand. The Big Brag and Yertle the Turtle feature the ability to read the story yourself, have the story read to you (manually turning the pages), or auto play (pages turn automatically). Sound effects can be turned on or off.

In case you’re not familiar with these titles: in The Big Brag, a rabbit thinks outloud to himself about he thinks he’s the best animal of all, at which point a bear listening nearby disagrees with him and boasts that he is the best of all animals. So they put their skills to test against each other, the rabbit trying to hear as far away as possible, the bear trying to smell as far away as possible. They are then interrupted by a worm who says he can see so far, he sees around the world and back again to two fools who have nothing better to do than argue who is better than the other.

In Yertle the Turtle, Yertle is king of his pond, and all he can see, but he is greedy and wants to be king of more – to do so he needs to see more. So he orders his poor loyal turtle subjects to come and make his thrown higher and higher. They obey, but one turtle complains that it isn’t fair. Yertle ignores his pleas and continues to order more and still more turtles over so he can sit on them. Finally the complaining turtle sneezes and makes the huge turtle tower crumble to the ground, sending Yertle into the mud and freeing all the turtles.

I think you’ll love these stories as much as my kids and I do. Zach happily listens to the stories over and over again.

The Big Brag: $1.99*

Yertle the Turtle: $3.99*

*price at time of this writing
Disclosure: I received a free copy of these apps for review purposes

Highlights My First Hidden Pictures – iPhone Kids Game

Jennifer — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 06:16:06 +0000

It’s always so thrilling when something I treasured from my childhood still exists to become a treasure for my own kids. Highlights Magazine falls into that category. Of course, one of the best parts to the magazine was always the hidden pictures game. This game is now available on the iPhone with Highlights My First Hidden Pictures. The game is every bit of fun on the iPhone as it was in print, but with more bells and whistles. The pictures are in color – when you find an item, simply touch it and it’s marked as found. You can zoom into or out of the picture.

The game comes with 8 puzzles, and if you register, you get 2 bonus puzzles. More puzzles are available for purchase as an in-app purchase. One thing I really liked that they did was explain how to TURN OFF the ability to purchase items from within an application so if you don’t want this ability freely available to your child, it’s pretty easy to enable and disable.

When I played the game, the pictures were fairly easy to find – although I did struggle on a few. Zach also liked the game and found a few right away, but seemed to struggle on some of the items as well. I would have assumed that the game would have been easier than it was given it’s title, but I still thought it was well done. Also, features like the “hint” button help reduce any frustration a child might have from not finding the item more easily by zooming in closer and closer to the item, each time you lick the “hint” button, to help you find it.

The game is available for both iPhone and iPad (however, and iPad Optimized version is still in the works). Additional puzzle packs cost as little as $0.99. To see a video of the game click here.

Highlights My First Hidden Pictures: $1.99*

*Price at time of this writing.

Disclosure: I received a free copy of this app for review purposes.