My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas

Disclosure: The My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas was provided to me to help facilitate my review. All opinions are my own and honest. I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC Guidelines. Please see “Disclose” tab for more information.
My Little Pony

Celebrate the Holidays with a My Little Pony Classic Movie! My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas Returns to DVD on October 8, 2013.

About My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas:

This movie was originally released in 2005. This was the first film to be released from Shout! Factory’s new My Little Pony Classic Movies reissue program, which will make favorite titles available to fans once again.

The “Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane” is an important part of Ponyville – it’s the beacon that shows jolly old Santa Claus the way to the town as he makes his holiday rounds each year. But when Minty accidentally breaks it, uh-oh! It looks like Ponyville is destined to have a bleak holiday season. Minty is determined to do anything to save Christmas for her Pony friends while they, in turn, band together to try to cheer up their despondent four-legged friend. Together, they all discover that Christmas can come anyway, wrapped in the love of good friends and the oversized heart of one little clumsy, minty-green Pony!

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Hot Wheels World’s Best Driver Video Game

Disclosure- The products below were provided to me in order to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own and honest. I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC Guidelines. Please see “Disclose” tab for more information.

Hot Wheels are known for their small cars and big fun.  With creativity, any location can become a road and or track for your little ones.  So now instead of having tiny tire tracks on the TV, Hot Wheels has made World’s Best Driver, a video game.

kids video game

Family Video Game

The game starts out with selecting a team, each team specializes in a certain driving style, red is for tricks, green is for speed, blue is for drifting and yellow is for off roading.   The interesting aspect of this game is when hopping from team to team, there is a clear difference in vehicles which can be felt in their handling and speed as well as vehicle types.  Multiplayer takes a ‘hand off the controller’ type competition where each player takes turns, which can be frustrating to little ones, but to older players can teach them by example on ho to master the more difficult challenges.  Little Man’s favorite team to play was yellow, yet when watching Daddy play his favorite to watch was blue.  The bright colors and futuristic feel of the cars were quite appealing, but the drifting was a bit beyond his driving skill at this point in time.
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I’d Know You Anywhere, My Love (new kid’s book)

Children love to dream. Their imaginations can take them on wild adventures; transporting them to far-off places and allowing them to envision grand scenes.  But, ultimately, no matter where their dreams lead them, their parents are there every step of the way. In I’d Know You Anywhere, My Love, best-selling author Nancy Tillman underscores parents’ steadfast devotion, while celebrating the dreamers.

 bedtime books

Inspired by her own children who often pretended to be different animals, I’d Know You Anywhere, My Love is written from the point of view of a mother whose child becomes a bear cub, a rhino, a ringtail raccoon, among other animals.  Filled with affirmation, I’d Know You Anywhere, My Love teaches children to dream big and remain confident that, whatever they aspire to be, they will be recognized and loved.

Getting Kids To Sleep

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Let’s Rhyme With Time (Kids Educational)

Has your child ever asked you what time it was when there was a large clock hanging nearby? Author Carmine Dapice believes that children are losing the ability to tell time on round clocks rather than digital.  A retired schoolteacher, Dapice wrote “Let’s Rhyme With Time” designed to teach children in school, at home or independently.

Dapice has created a book and included workbook with pages that contain catchy rhymes and illustrations synonymous with the Letter People – things children are already using in kindergarten.  So Carmine, do you have time for a little chat?

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Samantha- What inspired you to write the book?

Carmine Dapice- The writing of this long poem came by way of inspiration to write down my thoughts in poetic form, which I had already been doing for several years. It was later that the realization came to me that many kids were unable to tell time on regular, round clocks and it proved to be a problem for many since their orientation was toward digital clocks. The lively animated numbers and poetic form – hopefully – would attract their interest to numbered clocks that are still found in many areas of life.

S- Why do you feel children are losing this skill?

CD- Simply, ask several children in the age bracket of 5 years and up – even in later years to give the time from an analog numbered clock and you might be shocked with some of the results. My granddaughter was asked to give the time and even though an analog clock was present in that room, she had to walk into the next room to give the time from a digital clock. Now if that isn’t a strong motivation that a learning tool for analog clocks is necessary, what else would be! At the time, she was ten years old. It was sort of shocking to me.
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Celebrate a New York Halloween Tradition

Come visit THE Halloween destination for Metro New York families and one of New York’s favorite Halloween celebrations! Boo at the Zoo at the Bronx Zoo is a fun-filled, animal-themed, kid-friendly, not-so scary, Halloween experience. This celebration combines this fun holiday with the Bronx Zoo’s mission of connecting people to nature. October weekends at the zoo feature hay mazes, costume parades, musical theater, magic, and more. Don’t forget to embark on a trip back in time as you ride our Dinosaur Safari!

Live Music

Gigi and the Lend Me a Hand Band is back due to popular demand and will lead zoo audiences on a zany, rollicking, good time with Gigi’s Dino-mite Prehistoric Party. Roar through the globe on the “T-Rex Express” and rock to a NEW, even more rockin’ version of the prehistoric favorite, “Tyrana.” Come participate in animal-themed musical performances, songs, and dances that are knee-slapping fun and celebrate the animals of the wild.

Presented by IKEA and New York Presbyterian Hospital

Location: by Bears

11:30am, 1pm, 3pm

Magic Shows

Join internationally acclaimed magician David Levitan for a special brand of magic that has won the heart of audiences worldwide. Be amazed as Levitan combines his magical expertise with his terrific sense of humor and encourages audience participation as a part of his spooktacular magic shows.

Presented by IKEA and New York Presbyterian Hospital

Location: by Bears

12pm, 2pm, 4pm

Costume Parade

March with mythical creatures and dinosaur creations from the Alice Farley Dance Company and the Puppet Kitchen in a fantastical Dinosaur and Dragon Creature Parade! Come see a large-scale Komodo dragon puppet, a flying Quetzalcoatlus, a Triceratops, and a zany paleontologist as they lead you on an exciting adventure around the zoo.

Presented by IKEA and New York Presbyterian Hospital

Parade: 12pm & 2pm (Zoo Center)

Photo Op: 3:30pm (Dancing Crane Plaza)

Children’s Theater

Beasts of the Magical World, a puppet musical

This BOOtacular puppetry musical tells stories of elves and sorcerers, snakes and Komodo dragons, and best of all, magic! Created by acclaimed puppeteer Noel MacNeal of Sesame Street and Nickelodeon.
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Disney Infinity – A Family Video Game

Disclosure- The products below were provided to me in order to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own and honest. I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC Guidelines. Please see “Disclose” tab for more information.

Disney Infinity is the latest in Disney’s every growing library of video games.  This entry is a mashup of a bit of another toy/video game cross over,with some clever Disney characters and designs, sprinkled in with some Disney magic and player creativity.  The result is a fun family friendly game that child and parent can enjoy.

Disney Infinity is at its core a toy box.  This toy box has as few or as many pieces in it as you may like.  Starting with three characters and three play sets the fun begins.

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Each play set revolved around a popular Disney film included in the starter set are: Pirates of the Caribbean, Monsters University and The Incredibles.  The characters included are Sully from Monsters University, Captain Jack from Pirates and Mr Incredible from The Incredibles.  With character and setting in place the player can pick to play in the play set.  Lets say you’d like to play Pirates.  Grab Captain Jack and put him on the Inifinity base along with your play set then hop into the game.  As Captain Jack you explore a location from the film, Tortuga.  While there Jack finds himself rescuing, battling and exploring the battle ravaged city.  As Sully you explore the campus of Monsters U find tons of hidden items and a plethora of fun missions to clean up the campus after a rival Fear Tech trash it.  Last but not least we have Mr Incredible battling his way through the city of Metroville, protecting its citizens from the Omnidroids.    All three play sets are a blast to play in and are wonderfully more fun with a second player in co-operative play mode.  The second player having the ability to drop in and out of the game as they please, prefect for a younger sibling or a busy parent.  The biggest drawback of the play sets though is only characters from the play set can be used in it.  Sorry no Captain Jack visits to Monsters University.  This can be a pain on the first playing of the game with siblings, but is easily remedied with the addition of additional characters available everywhere the game itself is sold.
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Want to Lose Weight? Take the Baby for a Walk

It can be hard to lose that pregnancy weight after you have the baby.  However, it’s really important for new moms to get moving. Stroller walks can be a routine moms can employ to regain their health and pre-baby weight.

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Stroller walking is a wonderful way for mom to begin focusing on her health once the new baby arrives, and you can spend time with the little one and introduce them to the great outdoors.  Here are the great reasons for mom to start a stroller walking routine:

Helps new moms’ mental and physical well-being
Combats post baby blues
Gets mom out of the house so she won’t feel so isolated with their baby
Encourages her to meet other new moms and form playgroups
Helps mom to implement an easy exercise routine
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