Product Review Archives - JDaniel4s Mom

Robot Building Kit From Green Kids Craft – Love It

March 11, 2017 By Deirdre

This is a sponsored post.

JDaniel is supposed to build a robot as one of his Scout projects. When we had the opportunity to review a robot building kit from Green Kid Crafts, I jumped at the chance. The robot building kit came with directions and most of the supplies to create several different robots. (The supplies that didn’t come in the robot building kit were things that we had a home. ) We even used the box! These really are green kid crafts.

There are a number of other kits available on the Green Kids Crafts site. If your children are not into robots, I think you will find a theme that they are into. Each kit is about $25.00. I think it is totally worth it.

Robot Building Kit Activities

Let me walk you through each of the robots you can make if you get the robot building kit.

ArtBot

The Artbot activity features a cup, markers and a Hexbug. (JDaniel loves Hexbugs!) He loved putting the bot together and having it draw abstract pictures.

The bot actually drew its lines on a piece of paper placed in the bottom of the box. As I mentioned, the box ended up being used in each of the robot building kit activities.

Magnet Bot

JDaniel said this was the easiest of the bots to put together. He used the markers from the ArtBot to decorate the small wooden sticks that would become its arms. He really tried to use the materials that came with the kit. That was easy to do! Much of what he needed came with the kit.

After you create the Magnet Bot, you use a magnet to drag it from the beginning to the end of a maze that comes with the kit. JDaniel was better able to hold the magnet under the box and later a piece of cardboard when he started at the finish in the middle rather than the start.

GlideBot

You will use the remaining box parts to create the GlideBot. Cutting through the cardboard was a little tricky for JDaniel. I finally ended up cutting out the pieces for the robots arms, legs, head, and body. He decorated the robot’s body with stickers that came with the kit. Each of the brass fasteners holding the robot together was covered with one of the stickers.

We decided to use a hole punch to make the holes to put the brass fasteners through. The directions didn’t say to do that. It ended up being a mistake. We should have done what the directions told us too. We found the directions cards for each activity were always correct. All we had to do was follow each step on them.

The robot building kit would be a great birthday or end of school gift. If you have children that need to stay inside due to pollen, this kit would be wonderful for them.

Disclaimer: We were sent a Robot Workshop box to review.

Useful Grilling Gear and Outdoor Products Shared on WSPA

August 5, 2013 By Deirdre

Tomorrow morning I will be on WSPA again. You may remember that I was on WSPA a few weeks ago sharing baby and toddler products and I had a blast. I was given the opportunity to share some wonder grilling and outdoor products. I know what a wonderful opportunity! I am such a blessed lady.

We have really gotten into grilling at our house this summer. Everything from romaine lettuce for a grilled salad to hot dogs has appeared on our charcoal grill. There is just something wonderful about making dinner on the grill. JDaniel asks us grill burgers or hot dogs often and I love them grilled too.Along with sharing the products, I shared with you, I wanted to share information on how to find these wonderful products. Unlike last time I will not be offering a giveaway for these products. Why?! I know they all look great, but shipping is getting expensive and I wasn’t sure about sending some of them in the mail. I should know they are safe to send because they were all sent to me.

I know you still want to know about them so, here is the information on the grilling gear:

Fire Starters are packets of fire starting material that burns hot and clean without toxins. It will burn hot for about 10 minutes. That should be plenty of time to get your fire going. They are so simple to use. You simply place them under charcoal and light one of the packet’s corners. 18 Fire Starter packs retail for $8.99.

Flare Down is an all natural spray that brings down grease flare up. It contains no toxic chemicals and is safe to use near food. A bottle of Flare Down retails for $5.99.

Grate Chef Grill Wipes attach to the bristles of grill brush and contain a grilling oil that keeps your food from sticking. The wipes can be applied to a cold or hot grill. I love that it is no flammable and keeps little bits of food from sticking to the grill. Cleaning those little bits off it just not fun. 18 wipes retail for $8.99.

Trash-Ease is just wonderful. Many of our local state parks don’t have trash can out. I guess they don’t want animals getting into them. We end up putting all our trash in our lunch bags when we had out to have a picnic. Trash-Ease is a portable trash bag holder that attaches to your picnic table. When you are not using it, Trash -Ease is easily stored in your trunk. It is so easy to clean up a whole table of food or have people place their trash in it when they have finished. It uses standard 13 gallon and 33-gallon trash bags. That is another plus. Trash-Ease retails for $14.95 (13 gallons) to $17.95 (33 gallons) and it comes with two trash bags.

Thermacell Outdoor Lantern is something we use often. It is great for that night when the bugs come out in force and there is still a little outdoor playtime. It repels mosquitoes and other bugs and gives you some light to play by. This would be awesome on camping trips when you want to hang out in a bug-free zone before you head to sleep. It is non-toxic and is DEET – free. It retails for $31.99.

If you like camping or grilling or both, I hope you will check out these useful grilling gear and outdoor products.

What is your favorite grilling tool or product?

Netflix Provides Rainy Day Fun

July 15, 2013 By Deirdre

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Netflix.

You have heard me talk on and on about how much rain we have had here lately. Having Netflix as an option for your children on rainy days is wonderful! After you have danced in the rain and played together all over the house, it is wonderful to sit back and watch a movie or show together. It can be a relaxing way to have rainy day fun.

Netflix offers a television series as well as movies for children. Their Netflix.com/Families features several new categories including Family Movie Night, Are We There Yet and TV for Curious Kids. I loved scrolling through to find shows JDaniel would love to watch. There lists of movies and TV shows for all kinds of special summer moments and days of rainy day fun.

JDaniel noticed right away that they had movies he had seen before and enjoyed like the Lorax. He also saw that Curious George (the television show) was available too. A documentary called African Wild looked interesting to him too. We had fun checking out all the different options on their curated lists.

We had a trouble this summer finding G-rated movies at the library to check out or go to see at the movie theater. Netflix gives parents that are looking for G- rated shows for their children access to the entertainment you will feel comfortable with them seeing.

I love the pop-up boxes that come up with you click on something you would like to watch that share the program’s rating and a little information about the show. That information along with how others have rated it helps me to be an informed parent.I am not suggesting that you shouldn’t dance in the rain, play games, read books and pretend play. Each of those is important for children. When you have done all of those things and you are looking for something to sit down and watch together, Netflix offers you shows you will enjoy watching.

You don’t have to just watch them at home. Netflix would be great to have assessed to as you sit in waiting rooms or visiting relatives this summer on a tablet or smartphone. Cooling off after being at the pool on a scorching day or having a family movie night after a busy day is also great times to enjoy a Netflix entertainment option on your computer.

Netflix.com/Families is a new destination designed to meet your family’s summertime entertainment needs. On Netflix.com/Families, parents can find lists of movies and TV shows for all kinds of special summer moments and rainy day fun days.

Visit www.Netflix.com/Families for more information on the best ways to stream as well as videos from families using Netflix.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Netflix.

White Cloud Diapers and My Local Food Bank

April 30, 2013 By Deirdre

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of White Cloud Diapers.When I was asked to write a post about Walmart’s White Cloud Diapers, I thought I won’t qualify for this Walmart campaign. JDaniel has been potty trained for ages. Then I remembered our last visit to the Gold Strip Relief Center to drop off food at their food bank. When we were heading out the door, one of the food bank volunteers asked if we had any leftover daytime or overnight diapers at our house. “We could really use them,” he said.
White Cloud Diapers and My Local Food Bank

White Cloud Diapers and My Local Food Bank

I need to remember that I thought to myself as we walked down the path that leads to the parking lot. I usually remember everything, but I must have developed “Mom Brain” overload or something. No sooner did we get in the car than I forgot. Well, I forget until just this weekend when I finally remembered.

When it comes to diapers, I am really picky. There are some brands that just didn’t work for us. Name brands and store brands alike gave me conniptions. My son was a normal size, but not all of them fit him right. Many leaked like crazy. Others were hard to open to check if they were wet. Yes, I know you can using masking tape to retape them, but that meant searching for the tape. Still, others were really expensive and you know how frugal I am.
White Cloud Diapers and My Local Food Bank

The White Cloud diapers were designed to help address many of my diaper issues.

Here is how White Cloud diapers work:

They have a special absorbent core to keep babies dry. They have features found in many luxuries or more expensive diapers.

They have a stretchy side feature. I think this would have helped diapers fit my son’s form better.

A quilted inner liner can be found in the diaper. JDaniel would have been so comfortable with this feature. Most of the diapers we tried had a soft liner, but not all of them.

White Cloud diapers are also hypoallergenic and fragrance-free, designed to meet the needs of babies’ sensitive skin. So many of JDaniel’s friends had allergic reactions to the diapers there moms tried.

White Cloud diapers have a wetness indicator that changes color letting parents know a diaper is wet. That saves parents from opening up diapers when they don’t need to.

Finally, they are not expensive. Walmart has them priced so that parents on a budget or trying to stay on one can afford them.

I think the parents and grandparents stopping by the food bank that needs diapers will be so pleased that I selected White Cloud Diapers for them. The food bank volunteers will be so happy they have them to give out.

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of #WhiteCloudDiapers.

Bold Moms Break Rules with Whites

March 19, 2013 By Deirdre

I rarely ever have JDaniel wearing white. He can be a messy eater, crafter, and player. At the end of the day I can usually point to his shirt and know what he has had to eat and what he did during the day. There is usually a few magic marker spots, paints splotches, dirt streaks , grass stains, milk drips marks and food stains all over it. That is why I think bold moms break rules with whites. The rule with most boy mom’s I know it avoid white.

White clothing can just make the stains in his clothes stand out more. Seriously his clothes at least look better as he goes through the day if they have pattern or designs on them. At least I am not tempted to change them as often.

Last Thursday I decided to try to put the bottle of Tide Bright +White that I had been sent to the test. I dug through JDaniel’s shirts to find the one white t-shirt that he owns. It took a little bit of looking to find it. The shirt was at the very bottom of a pile of t-shirts. JDaniel was happy to wear it. He loves the dinosaur on the front of it.Once he was dressed, we started the test.

Bold Moms Spot Collecting Test Number One

This test was done while cleaning out the shed in our backyard. JDaniel loves to help sort through things and he jumped into this task with both feet. When we finished cleaning out shed , his shirt was spotless. I don’t know how he kept it clean. Well, it may be have protected a little by the hooded sweatshirt he had on. It was cold in the shed. I did unzip it so the shirt was at least partially exposed. Even that area stayed clean.

Bold Moms Spot Collecting Test Number Two

This test was done in the garage. We have several junk boxes on shelves in the garage. My husband strongly believes many of these items can be used later on , but some really just needed to be place in the giant garbage can in the garage. Our hands got really dusty and dirty doing this test. Usually JDaniel will wipe his hands on his shirt, but he didn’t this time. The shirt still remained clean.

Bold Moms Spot Collecting Test Number Three

Coloring with markers is a guaranteed way to add spots to a shirt. The markers didn’t let me down. Some how JDaniel got blue marker spots at the bottom of his shirt. I didn’t catch if he had swung his arms while holding marker or how they got there.

Bold Moms Spot Collecting Test Number Four

Jelly has always seemed to drop from the bread JDaniel is eating right onto his clothes. Apparently the grape jelly leapt from JDaniel’s bagel right onto the left side of his shirt this time. Once he noticed it there, he tried to wipe it off with his hand. That gave us spot number two.

Bold Moms Unplanned Spot Collecting

JDaniel had a bloody nose in the afternoon and tried to stop it with his hand. Rather than wipe his hand on a towel, napkin or tissue he rubbed a small amount of it on his shirt while I ran for the tissue he didn’t think he wanted or needed.

Spot Collecting Test Number Five

When I dug JDaniel’s shirt out in the morning, I noticed a few orange streaks on it. They look to have been left from an earlier spaghetti dinner. I decided to serve JDaniel spaghetti and see if he would create new tomato sauce stains on the t-shirt.He did just that. He ended up with a number of new stains on his shirt. JDaniel would have had more, but he decided to use a napkin to wipe his face instead of his shirt. That may have been due to the fact that his shirt has short sleeves. If it had long sleeves, he might have added stains to the sleeves.

Here is what the shirt looked like by the end of the day. It isn’t badly stained, but blood, marker and jelly stains can be tricky.

Bold Moms Stain Removal Test

Later that night I washed his now stained shirt with Tide Bright+White to see how it would do. It did a really good job. All the new stains were removed and the previous tomato sauce streaks had faded a little. The shirt actually looked a little brighter too.

I am not sure how often JDaniel will be wearing white clothes this spring, but I am thankful that I have a wonderful detergent to clean them with when he does.

Tide Vivid White + Bright keeps whites brighter longer allowing you to break the rules of white.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Tide. The opinions and text are all mine.

Making Cookies with My Little Valentine

February 13, 2013 By Deirdre

He has decided that when he retires from being microbiologist he is going to be a robot scientist. When he retires from that job he is going to be a chef or maybe just have fun making cookies. Baking has become a new passion for him I think he would like to bake cookies everyday. That may be because of the rolling pin I got for him for Red Envelope. It has his first initial and his middle name on it. I think he beliewes great chefs have their name on their tools. While I got a personalized rolling pin with my name on it too, I don’t think I have a job as a pastry chef in my future.

We both do love to roll out dough with them. They are small and easy for small hands to hold. JDaniel says he misses the pin actually rolling, but I think the fact that his has him name on it makes up for it. There was a larger version of the rolling pin available, but I thought it would be too big for the two of us. We both have small hands. His due to age and mine due to genetics. As I mentioned JDaniel’s favorite dough to roll out is cookie dough. He loves to eat it as much as he loves to roll it. I bet most kids do. For him that is half the fun of making cookies.

Just before Valentine’s Day we set out to make Valentine’s Day sugar cookies. We didn’t know who we would give them to we just pulled out a box of cookie mix and made them.

I set out a variety of heart shaped cutters of various shapes and sizes and JDaniel went to town. First he add a smattering of flour to the top of the dough. Then he rolled it out. Finally he pressed a cookie cutter in carefully into the dough. JDaniel rocked it from side to side to make sure the cookie was completely cut out of the dough.

Once he was sure it was cut out, he pulled the extra dough away from the cookie and placed it to the side. I think he would make a wonderful pastry chef someone day. Until then I think he is going to want to have a lot of practice sessions with his own personalized rolling pin.

Disclaimer: JDaniel and I were sent our personalized rolling pins by Red Envelope in exchange for this review. I had a hard time deciding what gift to select. The Red Envelope has many wonderful gift to choose from for men, women, and future pastry chefs.

Spot it ! Educational Games Review

September 6, 2012 By Deirdre

I was contacted a few weeks ago about reviewing to Spot it! games. Spot it! Basic English and Spot it! Numbers and Shapes. You may remember me mentioning how much JDaniel enjoys playing Spot! in a post I wrote in late July! JDaniel and I were both thrilled to get to review the games.

Why We Love Spot It !

JDaniel has loved the game Spot it! since he was given a sample pack of cards during our hunt for Where’s is Waldo’s in local businesses in July. The wonderful people at a game store named Boardwalk gave the pack to him.

We have taken the cards to restaurants and on the road to Nana’s house. Spot it ! reminds JDaniel of I Spy books as well as Where is Waldo?

There are many ways to play Spot It! The version we play goes like this JDaniel has to look for a symbol on his card that matches the card in the middle of the table. I have to do the same thing. Whoever finds a matching symbol first gets the center card. The player with the most cards at the end of the game wins. So far due to the length of time it takes me to find a match and help him find a match, he has won the games.

The Spot it! Basic English version requires that the players match pictures and their corresponding words. JDaniel is not reading many words yet so, this game has been a challenge. I think it would be wonderful for early readers or people learning to speak English to play.

The Spot it! Number and Shapes version of the game was right up JDaniel’s alley. He knows all of the shapes and numbers in this game. To win this game we have to match the right colored shape or number to one on the stack in the center.

Actually there is more than one way to play each of the Spot it! games. Each set of cards come with multiple ways to play. We are having a great time trying each and everyone of them. I bet your family would too.For more information on Spot it! please visit the Blue and Orange Games website.

Disclaimer: I was sent two Spot it! games to review. The thoughts and information in this review are my own.

Using Coinstar at Bi-Lo

March 19, 2012 By Deirdre

I am trying to help JDaniel learn more about money. When I had the opportunity to try a Coinstar at my local Bi-Lo, I decided it would be a great way to help JDaniel learn a little bit more about money. It is right beside the machine with the claw that picks up toys that JDAniel would love to try, but I had never used the Coinstar before. Using it meant paying a fee and I just didn’t what to pay it. Well, the Coinstar is now no-fee if you select a Bi-Lo gift card as the way to

When I explained to JDaniel that we would be shopping with a gift card after using the Coinstar, he was thrilled.

We have a coin jar that has been been sitting in the cabinet since he started potty training. The idea was he could earn money by remembering to use the pottty. It was a great idea, but not want ultimately helped him learn. It took a lot of time and practice.

The jar has just been sitting in the cabinet for months gathering dust. He reminded me that we could use those coins for this project.

We also looked under cushions and in my purse and found a little change.

Once we had all the coins gathered, we dumped out his jar. There were some stray items in his jar and we set them aside. When there were only coins left, we sorted them by type.

After exploring them, we put them in a plastic container and headed off to Bi-Lo. The Coinstar machine was right in the front of the store right near the games I try to avoid. When I asked JDaniel to find it, he knew right where it was.

JDaniel was eager to dump them right in the machine and start the coin conversion process, but we read all the directions before doing so.

It was so easy to follow the directions on the screen telling me how to use the Coinstar.

When I was done reading, JDaniel finally got to dump the coins in.

It took no time for the Coinstar to tell us what coins we had dumped in.

The receipt and gift card came out quickly.

JDaniel was ready to shop for the food items of his dreams. He ended up with a box of Trix and one of Vanilla Wafers. He was in heaven until he realized the cereal would have to wait until breakfast and the Vanilla Wafer had to wait until after dinner.

It was so easy to follow the steps in the coin conversion process by reading the messages on the screen. I will definitely use the Coinstar again even if it is near the “claw” machine.

Disclosure: I have been paid (at Coinstar’s request) to try and blog about Coinstar’s
products/services as part of a Collective Bias ( #CBias) shopper insights study . All
opinions are my own.”

Wilton’s Muffin Tin Meal Starter Kit Giveaway (3 winners)

September 11, 2011 By Deirdre

I have exciting news! I have been talking with a lovely lady from Wilton about offering a giveaway that would feature Muffin Tin Meal starter kits!

I mentioned that several of you expressed a desire to start muffin tin meals like the ones I feature on Mondays when I link to the Muffin Tin Monday on the Muffin Tin Mom’s site, but thought that is was cost prohibitive. She agreed to put together a few kits containing silicone cups, muffin tins and a box of cookie cutters. If you have been dying to start muffin tin meal, this is giveaway is for you.

I love Wilton products! In fact I have most of the products that are in the starter kit. The only items I don’t have a the green flower muffin tin and the teddy bear silicone cups.

Why?

Wilton products last well! We put a lot of wear and tear on the cookie cutter sets we have and the muffin tins. The cookie cutters have been used for playing with playdough, cookie dough, shape sorting, letter arranging and more.

They have survived not only our playtimes, but also the constant washing they need have we have played with them.

Would you like to become a Muffin Tin Meal family too?

Would you like to win the Mini Heart Silicone Mold, the Mini Flower Silicone Mold, the Mini Star Silicone Mold, the Bear Silicone Baking Cups, and a set of ABC and 123 Cookie Cutter Set? I have two sets to giveaway. I am even giving the ABC and 123 Cookie Cutter Set, the Mini Star Silicone Mold, and the Mini Heart Silicone Mold that I received in my reviewers package as a second prize. I already have them and would love to have one of you have them too.

That means two people with win the complete set (A $50 value) and one of you will win a partial set ( A $30 value). Three winners!

Here is how?

-Visit the Wilton site and tell me what else you love there.( 1 entry)

For additional entries you can do any or all of the following:

* Leave a comment on the Wilton Facebook page and tell me where you placed it. ( 2 entries)

*Tell me your favorite Wilton recipe off their webiste. ( 2 entries)

*Follow me on Pinterest. ( 2 entries)

*Leave a comment on any post or on one of my Facebook messages. ( 1 entry)

*Tweet about this giveaway. ( 5 tweets per day with 1 entry for each tweet.)

*Place my button on your blog or my blog on your blogroll. (3 entries for each)

*Stumble any non-giveaway post. ( 3 entries per Stumble)

*Follow the Muffin Tin Mom via Google Friends Connect.

This giveaway starts September 11 and ends September 27 at 11:59 p.m. EST. There are 13 different ways to enter. The winners will be randomly selected using Random.com.

Disclaimer: I was sent a package of Wilton products to review. I am only keeping the the Bear Silicone Baking Cups and the Mini Flower Silicone Mold. All other review products are being passed on to one of you as a second place prize. All opinions on their products are my own.

Red Ted Art: Time on your hands?! Review

February 5, 2011 By Deirdre

I really enjoy reading the Red Ted Art Blog every week and am super grateful that she often links to Read.Explore.Learn on this blog. The craft ideas she comes up with and the book tie-ins she frequently creates to crafts keep me hunting for great books and ways to share the ideas with JDaniel.

I was recently asked to review her new e-book Time on your hands?! 14 Fab ideas to keep you and your little ones busy throughout the whole year….. This book shows fun and creative ways to reuse cardboard tubes. She has selected crafts that would be perfect for key holidays and summer fun.

Each craft page has an overview of the holiday or season that craft was designed to celebrate along with fun tidbits about it. There is also material list, step by step directions on constructing the craft along with color photos that demonstrate how to construct it.

This book is filled with cute crafts. I love cute crafts that have an ahh factor. I don’t often come up with them on my own. This well-done book will leave you excited about crafting and comfortable about creating crafts. The step by step directions helped me to feel more confident that I could successfully complete them and the picture helped me make sure I was on the right track.

The fact that many of the materials used in the crafts are things that are recycled is another plus for me. I love being able to craft with things we already have at home. Being able to reuse in crafts is a great way for me to show JDaniel how to save things and use them again and again.

Here is a link to the e-book section of Red Ted’s Art Blog if you are interested in purchasing the book.