FREEBIES: Admission at MN State Parks TODAY & Prisma App

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving with your family. I know I did. And on this Black Friday I wanted to tell you about two different things.

The first is that today, on Black Friday there is free admission at all of the Minnesota state parks. This picture I actually took when I was on the Sakatah State trail. That trail is free to use any time, but if you wanted to go to the Sakatah state park you could get in free today, or any other MN State Park you wanted to go check out and explore.

The second thing I wanted to tell you about is the app that I used to transform this image into three different looks by using the filters in the Prisma app. It is a free app to download on your phone. It is available for both Android and iPhone. I first learned about this app when I started doing Instagram Yoga challenges and one of the most often used this app to transform their pictures. I think it is pretty fun to use.

GIVEAWAY and Review: Monster Time App (3 WINNERS!) & FREE Demo

The timing (pun intended!) for this review was perfect as I had recently had my daughter's teacher conference and she told me that they would be working on learning to tell time and that would be something I could start working with her on to help make the learning easier in school. (I am a firm believer in teaching our own kids in ways that complement what they are learning it school. It does take a village!)

The app is created to allow a child to experience learning time with five different monsters at three different levels and in two different modes (digital and analog.)

I was impressed how quickly my daughter caught on to figuring out how to tell time when we had never done it before. She responded well to earning "monster photos" as an incentive for giving correct answers. We started on the Easy level and I sat alongside her to help coach her through what the terms meant and make sure she was understanding how to move the clock hands. The next day she progressed to working on the Medium Level and is continuing to work at that level a bit to make sure she gets it before moving on to the Hard Level.

The only thing that can be mildly frustrating is making sure you get the clock hands exactly on the time. If you move the hand to the time on the clock and release you finger just slightly too early you will get an incorrect answer, but you can keep trying. It just take a couple times with easy monster ti determine how the arms line up. It is really something you need to play to see what I am talking about, so try out the FREE VERSION in mention below.

My daughter has been very excited every time she gets an answer right and earns her "monster photo". She can 't wait until she has filled her whole "album". I think she has surprised herself with how quickly she is learning how to tell time.

You also have the opportunity to try out Monster Time before using it by checking out Monster Time Free, which allows you to try out one of the five monsters.

TEACH YOUR LITTLE MONSTERS TO TELL THE TIME!

'Monster Time' is an educational app designed to teach little monsters how to tell the time in a fun, interactive and rewarding way! 

Ages 4-10. Currently $1.99 USD / Free Lite Version also available

Language support: English, French, Spanish (About to be released), German (Coming Soon)

You can find out more information about the Monster Time App on:

Website

Facebook

Twitter

iTunes

THREE LUCKY READERS WILL BE GIVEN A MONSTER TIME APP PROMO CODE!!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I was given a promo code for this app for the purpose for reviewing it to my readers. No monetary compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions posted are my own.

GIVEAWAY and Review: Elfishki and the Unwelcome Guest App

I had the opportunity to review (with my daughter) the app Elfishki and the Unwelcome Guest that is part of a series of Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends of Elfishki. I admit that of the four of us in our family, I use the iPad the least. Each of the kids had dedicated pages with their apps (in fact, they may even each have a couple pages). But my kids don't need me to figure out how to use most apps, they can figure it out themselves, which was the case with Elfishki and the Unwelcome Guest.

The app features vibrant artwork that is interactive. You can see in the picture to the right of a picture of some of the artwork, as it appeared on our iPad.

My daughter's favorite feature of this app is the search & find matching game, which helps promote reading skills as time there are similar items, but you need to read the description to know the exact item to find.

The app includes a storybook that has three questions on each page to help your child comprehend the story better, come up with predictions and encourage development of their imagination.

Another benefit of this app, is that the storybook is original. You will not find this story anywhere else, so it will help encourage your child's conscious reading skills.

Description from Elfishki and the Unwelcome Guest:
Once upon a time, on the beautiful Rainbow Island in the middle of the Sparkling Sea lived magical little people called Elfishki.

Some of them could fly like butterflies and some could swim like mermaids. They shared the island with animals who could speak and trees who did not talk, but understood everything. All in all, this was a place where miracles happened every day.

One morning, an ice cream seller named Vince and his friend, a dragon named Brungildo, went to their garage for the freezer boxes. But they couldn't get inside. Vince kept putting his key into the keyhole, but it would just fall out—as if somebody pushed it back. Vince peeked into the keyhole and was dumbfounded—inside the lock was a tiny blue person with a tail.

You can buy the App for $2.99 (in 3 languages!!!!) HERE.

You can get a FREE Pdf version of the storybook by making a single tweet or post.

Check out this short YouTube promo video:

ONE LUCKY READER WILL WIN A PROMO CODE TO GET THIS APP FOR FREE!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Review: Guess Moo! iPad/iPhone App

Guess Moo! is a game that provides an introduction to twelve animals: cats, dogs, cows, chickens, horses, roosters, goats, ducks, sheep, pigs, geese and donkeys.

My (almost) 3 year old son had a fun time helping me with this review of Guess Moo! app for the iPad (also for the iPhone.)

The app starts out with the child being able to choose one of twelve animals and it will say a couple sentences about the animal and make the animal sound.

The child can listen to each animal and then has the opportunity to play a game where they are asked to identify the animals by it's sound.

My son loves animals, as I suppose most children his age do, so he really enjoyed making the app make animals sounds. I know the app says it is for 2-7, but I would probably say it is more appropriate for ages 1-4. At 18 months, my son had a pretty good idea of how to use the iPad. But I understand that the American Pediatric Association frowns on any screen time before age 2, so they probably couldn't put a younger age.

The app is for sale on iTunes for $2.99

Check out this Promo Video about Guess MOO! to see it in action!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.