Mom Central: GameStop

When the folks at GameStop and Mom Central asked if I would like to do a review for them my first thought was “How fun!” and my second thought was, “Heck yeah!”. Once that was out of the way I was ready to do business (or at least pretend I was).

When I received the GameStop gift card I decided that instead of dragging all three children out and listening to them fight, Hubby and I would just go looking for a new game together instead. To be honest, I’m glad I did it that way because it gave me a chance to focus on finding a game that everyone could enjoy.

As we walked into the store the manager greeted us and asked if we needed any help finding anything in particular. I told her “not at the moment but thank you” and we went to browse the shelves. There was a nice selection of games to choose from but I did notice that the prices are somewhat high for used games. Either that or I’m just becoming a major cheapskate in my old age. I do however like the fact that if you buy a used game from GameStop and decide it’s not really what you wanted, you can return it within a week for a refund.

So with my gift card in hand, I decided on Mario vs. Sonic at the Olympic Games because it was something the kids would have to get off their keisters to play. After I chose my game, I went to pay for it and had a nice conversation with the manager as she completed my purchase. I’ve been to this particular GameStop a few times and I will say that each time she tries to be very nice and helpful to people. The store itself is always kept clean and all the games are categorized in a way (by game system, accessory, etc) that makes finding things easy.

Much to my 17 year old’s chagrin, Mario vs. Sonic doesn’t include blowing anything up and my 13 year old doesn’t get to feed or raise animals but there are A LOT of games to choose from. You are sure to get a workout and build up a little muscle in your arms while playing this game so the heathens aren’t complaining too much. The five year old loves Sonic the Hedgehog so you’ll hear nothing negative from him at all.

Thank you GameStop and Mom Central for giving my family the opportunity to have more fun together.

MomCentral- Cranium Bloom

I'm always interested in finding new games and activities to use with my 5 year old during homeschooling so there was no way I could pass up MomCentral when they asked if we would like to give Cranium Bloom’s Let's Play Count & Cook Game and Let's Go To The Zoo Seek & Learn Puzzle a try. Both were a huge hit with my youngest son and I'm so glad we said "yes".

The Let's Go To The Zoo Seek & Learn Puzzle has large pieces that are easy to put together and a lot to look at once the puzzle is finished. That isn’t the coolest part though. This puzzle also comes with two sets of cards (Beginner and Advanced) and a dry erase marker that you can use for an awesome learning game. You show your child a card and ask them to find that number or kind of thing on the puzzle and circle them.

My son breezed through the Beginner cards and made short work of the Advanced as well because he was having so much fun! He especially loved the fact that he was allowed to draw on a puzzle without getting in trouble for it. This has become one of his new favorite learning games.

The Let's Play Count & Cook Game was equally as fun to play. This game comes with Little Chef shaped game pieces, a die, a “cookbook” with recipes that you have to make (plus there are great cooking tips and facts on each page), and round pieces that have different ingredients on them such as tomatoes, cheese, and chocolate chips. The object of the game is to choose a recipe, roll the die, and everytime you land on one of the needed ingredients you put that round piece on the recipe book. The person who collects the last ingredient is the Top Chef and gets to check out the “hidden secret” for the recipe. This game teaches kids turn taking, matching, counting, pretend play, how to work with others on things, and how to have a lot of fun.

My son absolutely loved the "cute" Little Chef game pieces as well as racing Mommy to try to get the last needed ingredient. He also liked knowing some of the ingredients in his favorite foods which led to some fun discussions about cooking.

Since I do so many reviews, my son has a lot of games to choose from but Let's Go To The Zoo Seek & Learn and Let's Play Count & Cook are definitely among his favorites. I can’t even count how many times we’ve played both games over the last two weeks and considering that he is learning and having fun, well you won’t hear me complaining.

Cranium has done a very good job with their Bloom series of products and I’m glad we had a chance to play with and review both games. Thank you Cranium and MomCentral.

Card Game Review: Bella Sara

When it comes to trading cards my kids have been through most of them. Pokemon? Two boys hooked. Yu-Gi-Oh? All three kids are into those even now. Digimon cards? Yep, we’ve done that too. While my daughter goes with the flow and plays the cards with the boys, I’ve never really found any exciting girl's (or neutral gender yet including the girls more) trading card games. That is until now.

Bella Sara trading cards were created for a girl named Sara by her amazingly talented mother. How great is that? From what I’ve read, Sara, is a horse fanatic and this was her mother’s way of giving her something new and wonderful having to do with horses.

What impressed me almost as much though was this sentence from their About page, "Bella Sara is an imaginative, joyful world of horses, where every girl is special and uniquely beautiful"! WOW, that is so nice to hear in this day and age of BRATZ and ads that aren't exactly healthy for our girls.

Each pack of cards comes with 5 cards and 1 game card. Immediately after opening the card packs sent by Bella Sara they were gone. My daughter is that fast? No, actually it was her and my four year old son who came in and out like tornadoes grabbing the cards! Yes, the youngest boy is immensely hooked on the cards as well.

Bella Sara cards feature horses in all forms- regular horses, magical horses, winged, and even horse hybrids. Not only that but they actually learn about horses as they use the cards. Even better still is the fact that Bella Sara has incorporated their cards into their website in a really neat way!

After buying a pack of the cards (easy to find at Wal-Mart, Target, etc) you can go online to register your horse in your very own virtual stable. Each card has it’s very own authentication code at the bottom that you type in giving you access to the horse and it's fantastic stable. After registering the card you can go to your horse’s stable and do so many things like feed, water, groom, give an apple to, and change the hay for your horse which my kids found to be their favorite parts.

Once you have taken care of your horse it will be ready to play games and explore it’s world. You can play games, read the first chapter of the online Storybook, print Coloring Pages, and tons more! We still haven’t made it through everything on the site and every time we think we’re getting close they add something new!

Since receiving the Bella Sara cards to review I have had to buy four more packs for Sis and MonkeyBoy because they just couldn't wait to have more! Considering that the packs sell here for $1.89 per pack, I'm not complaining.

So if you have a little girl or even a little boy, visit Bella Sara's website and also look for their cards in stores. You won't be sorry and the sparkle these cards put in your child's eye is priceless.

*I have not been paid monetarily by Bella Sara to give this review. My only compensation is being allowed to keep the cards*