Recently, I wrote about ways to enrich your bilingual child’s vocabulary over at our sister site, SpanglishBaby, and one of the tips was to try to make everything into a topic of conversation. Coincidentally, the same day, I got the product pictured above which is a table game about exactly that: questions – from the thought-provoking to the trivial – to get a conversation going.

I’ve always been a fan of board games. I used to spend endless hours playing Monopoly with my older sister (just don’t ask her what I did if I lost – yes, I’m a sore loser!). So, I can’t wait until both my kids are old enough to play them with me. I’ve always been a fan of asking questions, too – hence my choice in careers: I’m a journalist – so as soon as I found out about Table Topics, I wanted to get my hands on it.

You see, Table Topics is a game of 135 cards – which come in a cool acrylic cube – with all kinds of questions to get a conversation started. There are several different themes including: Teen, Couples, Girls Night Out and Right or Wrong. And the best part is that they have two bilingual editions, Family and Original. Since the questions come in both English and Spanish they are great no matter which is your native tongue. The Family edition has questions suitable for any age. The Original is geared toward children over the age of 12.

Here are some sample questions from the Family version so you can get an idea as what to expect:

• Which three objects would you save first if your house caught fire?
• What’s the funniest story you’ve heard for why someone couldn’t turn in their homework?
• Why would you rather be a girl or a boy?
• If you could speak another language which would you choose?

Imagine all the new vocabulary your kids can be exposed to just by answering some of these questions. And, remember the best thing to do is to keep the conversation going by continuing to ask questions from whatever answers they give. Definitely a great time to learn while having fun and spending some quality time together!

I think these are perfect especially this time of year when so many of us gather with family and friends to celebrate the holidays.

A Giveaway!!

This giveaway is now closed. CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNERS #6 JULIE and #16 AMY!!!

You have a chance to win one Family and one Original cube from Table Topics. All you have to do is go to to Table Topics and tell us which theme of all their cubes is your favorite and why.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends Sunday, November 22nd at midnight EST.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of our weekly Finds, special discounts and more awesome giveaways.}

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

One of the biggest challenges of raising a preschooler is to get their focus and attention for at least five minutes.  Well, that´s the case in my house.  I mean, we´re finally getting to the stage where storytime doesn´t mean ripping and biting books!  That´s why I felt we passed a milestone yesterday when my girl and I peacefully sat down to name the colorful objects in Eeboo´s Spanish Flash Cards.  What I thought was going to turn into a room of cards flying wildly was actually a very sweet moment of communication between mom and daughter, and one where mamá was very proud at the many objects her hija knows the words for.

I was immediately attracted to the beautiful aesthetic design of all the Eeboo products.  They specialize in educational games for multicultural kids.  They have several games to develop Spanish vocabulary.  These flash cards are completely bilingual.  On one side they have a gorgeous illustration of an object with its corresponding name in Spanish and a sentence using the word.  On the other side of the card is the same illustration with the word in English and the translated sentence.  The cards are geniously grouped into seven different categories:  Animals, Clothing, Colors, The Market, Nature, The Room and Vehicles.

The recommended age is 5 and up, but we had so much fun just recognizing the objects she´s already so familiar with.  As she grows up, she´s two now, we can  make up so many cool games with these cards that will keep our imagination rolling. If nothing else, I can use them as wall art to decorate her room!

Also, if you don´t speak Spanish, but want to teach some words to your kids and learn along the way, they´ve included a phonetic pronunciation guide to get you started.

Check it out in La Tiendita.

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

Our little Dora moved to the city, grew long hair, replaced her furry friends for new Explorer Girls BFFs and now wears a hot pink dress and bedazzling jewelry.  Ay, our niña is all grown up.  Next, she´ll be wanting a Quinceañera!

The much discussed arrival of Mattel´s new Dora the Explorer franchise aimed at girls ages 5-8 is finally here after some eight months of waiting and guessing what kind of girl Dora would grow up to be.

Well, from the press release I received yesterday (haven´t played with the real thing yet)  announcing the arrival of Dora Links as part of the new Explorer Girls line, I can tell you she´s pretty trendy, techie, green and still very bilingual.

Your tween will get a new group of interactive friends who live in an imaginary Puerte Verde which, by the way, is full of Latino neighbors.  The Dora doll connects interactively to this city via USB to your computer.  Once you set up a private account for you child on DoraLinks she can start going on her own adventures with the Explorer Girls.

What has amazed me the most about this whole new interactive doll concept is the way your child can make changes to Dora on-screen and then see them happening to the actual doll.  So, let´s say she changes the color of her eyes to blue on the site, then look at the Dora doll and her eyes will now be blue.  You can even make her hair shorter!  How cool is that?

Dora Links retails at $59.99 and is now available at  major retail and online stores.  Of course, your best bet is to get it through La Tiendita and pay only $50.46!

{We´re working hard to get a Dora Links doll to give away to a lucky reader, so make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified when it happens.}

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

Diego’s adventures in one little pack is what you can find in this toy- Extreme Launch and Rescue Pack.  It´s nice that it´s made of hard plastic so with the push of a button, you open the backpack and it stands up by itself turning into the Rescue Station. I also find that being made in this material it´s going to last a long time, it has already fallen several times but it´s survived just fine.

It comes with a set of pretend binoculars, three signal flares, a pretend walkie-talkie and a rhino figure to rescue. My boy enjoys launching the Signal Flares the most.  It comes with 3 and it has a special string for him to launch them while he has the pack on his back.

The station shows the map where the missions are located and Diego guides us to the next rescue mission with his voice. As for the Spanish, there is not much to expect in here, we have just heard a couple of words.

One of the things I love about “Go Diego Go” is how my boy gets more interested in animals. The pretend binoculars help him find out more about animals in real life. He took them out to the yard the other day when we spotted a squirrel, he wanted to look thru them and see what the squirrel was doing and let Diego know thru the walkie talkie! He even tried to find more animals through the binoculars!  He´s definitely equipped for his own backyard adventures now.

Today´s Find was reviewed by fabulous graphic designer + mamá Dariela and her adorable boy Adrián. You can keep up with them thru Nuestra Vida con Adrián and Folklore Eye.

A Giveaway!!

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to our winner #125:  Amy Delong!

We’re giving away a Fisher Price Go Diego Go Extreme Launch and Rescue Pack (retail value $49.99) to one very lucky winner!  For a chance to win leave us a comment telling us who this toy is for and what type of adventures he/she would go on.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends Friday, October 2nd at midnight EST.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of our weekly Finds, special discounts and more awesome giveaways.}

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

As soon as my son got his hands on Manny´s Repair Shop I was amazed at how he started hammering and using the screwdriver correctly and easily without my help. I didn’t explain how to use it, the parts are big enough and easy enough for him to do it himself.

The toy comes with many parts to build lots of projects. It has six main project blueprints that Manny helps you go through step by step and it also comes with another big sheet with many more ideas of simple or complex projects to build which we have made many of already. One time we made a toolbox and he put some other tools in there and took it with him when we went out; so the projects he builds are other toys he can play with by themselves.

My son is always imitating Daddy if he is fixing something around the house so with this repair shop he invites Daddy to fix something with him, he loves to use the power saw and the power drill that come with it too, they really feel like they are drilling and sawing.

I love that it has music included and when the music comes he gets excited and dances with it. The only complaint I have is that there are not many Spanish words included as in other Handy Manny’s toys, but, as usual, when we play we speak in Spanish, so he says: “Mami, voy a arreglar esto con Handy Manny! Mami, voy a hacer un carrito!”

Find Manny’s Repair Shop in La Tiendita, powered by Amazon.

Today´s Find was reviewed by fabulous graphic designer + mamá Dariela and her adorable boy Adrián. You can keep up with them thru Nuestra Vida con Adrián and Folklore Eye.

A Giveaway!!

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to the winner:  Liz (#60)!!

We’re giving away a Fix it Right Manny´s Repair shop (retail value $100) to one very lucky winner!  For a chance to win leave us a comment telling us who this toy is for and why he/she would love it.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends Friday, September 25th, at midnight EST.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of our weekly Finds, special discounts and more awesome giveaways.}

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

My girl’s favorite phrase lately (said in a very dictator-like tone) is “¡A bailar!”  She manages to get us all dancing on cue and on the spot.  So you can imagine her bliss when she opened the huge Fisher Price box to discover her sorpresa:  a brand new Dance With Me Dora!  Her glee turned into euphoria as soon as she pressed the crystal on Dora’s necklace and the first words out of the doll’s mouth were “¡Vamos a bailar!”

What happened next was that Dora magically and interactively led us into an improvised dance party in our kitchen.  We danced to the música que trae por dentro, literally, and tried our best to follow her choreographed dance moves and bilingual leads.  She spins, she walks on her tippy toes, she guides you in Spanish and English, she lifts her arms up to the sky.  My daughter does too.  I did (had) to, as well.  What’s a mom to do?

After the fiesta in the kitchen, we decided to pamper Dora by brushing her hair, putting on her barette and admiring her new dress.  She’s sporting the threads she wears in “Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom”, her new TV film to be released later this month and the inspiration for this glittering, twirling musical doll.

I would, however, warn you from letting her dance on the table.  My girl’s now decided she likes to watch her dance and caer to the wooden floors.  Not sure how long that can last.

Find Dance with me Dora via La Tiendita, powered by Amazon.

A Giveaway!!

This giveaway is now closed.  Congrtulations to our winner:  Beth Shepherd!!!

We’re giving away one Dance With Me Dora (Retail value of $59.99) to a lucky winner!  For a chance to win it tell us who the doll is for and why she/he would love it.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends Friday, September 18th, at midnight EST.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of our weekly Finds, special discounts and more awesome giveaways.}

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

When the time comes I will need all-the-help-I-can-get to introduce my girl to numbers and math concepts.  There´s a reason why I chose to write and communicate as a profession and why  I need a calculator to figure out tips.

I really don´t want to pass along that fear of numbers to her.  Ingenio´s Math-o-matic manages to make learning numbers fun by disguising it as a colorful puzzle/game.

You can start out using it just to teach your kid numbers from 1-20 using the individual cards.  They´re all two-sided and bilingual.  On one side there´s just a large, colorful number.  On the flip side is the word for that number in both English and Spanish as well as objects to count.

Once your child is ready to start learning basic math concepts you can introduce the 22 math cards which are basically a rectangle with an equation that´s missing one number or sign.  Your child needs to use her budding math skills to “fill in the blank.”  In the process, she’ll be learning number sequencing, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  Just like that.

Y mamá?  Well, she gets a little, and much-needed, brain boost along the way.

All of Ingenio´s bilingual toys are available only via Amazon for now.  Of course, the best way to get them is via La Tiendita.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner:  Christa Marteny!!

Ingenio, the first educational bilingual toys and games brand in the U.S., has chosen you to be the first to get a chance to win every single one of their ten toys.  Today is the last day of the Ingenio giveaways.  You can enter to win Math-o-matic, awarded the Creative Child Magazine 2009 Seal of Excellence, simply by leaving a comment telling us which of the 10 bilingual Ingenio toys we reviewed these last two weeks is your favorite and why. You can find them all here.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends tonight, Friday, September 4th, at midnight EST.

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of our weekly Finds, special discounts and awesome giveaways.}

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

Another big hit during the playgroup I recently hosted to review Ingenio’s toys, in one word, the North American Map Puzzle, is STURDY!  I know we’ve been using this word a lot these past few days when describing this bilingual toy company’s products, but it’s the truth and nothing is more important than a toy well-built when it is to be handed to little hands which like to destroy as they explore.

Vanessa L-O-V-E-S puzzles, she calls them “copezas,” and she also finds maps intriguing. I have a big world map in my home office with pins that identify the places I’ve been lucky enough to visit or live in and she always wants to know more about it.

The pieces of this puzzle are BIG! Perfect for my daughter’s little hands and although she’s still too young to put it together on her own, we’ve had a lot of fun doing it together. I loved that I was able to show her where she was born and that because of the image of the Rocky Mountains on the piece that belongs to her birth state, Colorado, she was able to remember it when we put it together again a few days later. Each state and/or country has an image that somehow represents it. I like that a lot!

I also liked that I was also able to tell her where her big brother was born (Florida), where her Papi was born (Puerto Rico) and where part of her family on my side lives (Mexico). Unfortunately, I couldn’t show her where I was born (Peru) because as the box clearly states, the map only depicts North America. I do wish that Ingenio would either have one of South America or just add another one that includes both continents.

One of the mamis that brought her daughter to the playgroup teaches Spanish to both adults and children and she was really impressed by Ingenio’s toys. She told me all of them would be of great help in teaching kids and that she always had a difficult time finding bilingual toys that were both fun and educational!

All of Ingenio´s bilingual toys are available only via Amazon for now.  Of course, the best way to get them is via La Tiendita.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to our winner:  Kathy Pease!

Ingenio, the first educational bilingual toys and games brand in the U.S., has chosen you to be the first to get a chance to win every single one of their ten toys.  Today you can enter to win Alphabet Learning Puzzle simply by leaving a comment telling us why you would like to win this.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends tonight, Thursday, September 3rd, at midnight EST.

Remember, tomorrow’s the last day of our two-week-long giveaway of Ingenio’s toys + games! So don’t forget to come back!

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of the giveaway of one Ingenio bilingual toy every day this week and of the many, many more finds to come.}

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

The first thing that captured my attention on this Ingenio Animals Learning Puzzle was that it says “Two puzzles in one” on the box. I didn’t quite get it because there is just one big puzzle and it has animals with their names written in both Spanish in English. But when I gave it to my almost 3 y/o son to play with, the way he started putting it together made me “get it”.

He first built each animal or tree or mountain and then he put together those pieces which made the big puzzle. This way it makes it easier to put together. It’s like having many little puzzles of each animal and then with those having to build a big one. He had one piece of the Lion, for example, and all he did was look for the other piece: “Dónde está otro león mami? Ah, aquí está!!”

I love the fact that the words are written in Spanish, because it’s hard to find toys that have Spanish in them. What I usually do is translate the words in Spanish when they are written in English. My son doesn’t know how to read yet, but when it’s time I think he’ll be a little bit more prepared by already observing written words in Spanish.  Plus, it helps me remember some animal names in español I sometimes forget!

I’m looking forward to playing with the other Ingenio bilingual games when he’s older.  I can’t believe they have everything in both languages-LOVE IT!

All of Ingenio´s bilingual toys are available via Amazon.  Of course, the best way to get them is via La Tiendita.

Today´s Find was reviewed by fabulous graphic designer + mamá Dariela and her adorable boy Adrián. You can keep up with them thru Nuestra Vida con Adrián and Folklore Eye.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to our winner:  Jaclyn Reynolds!

Ingenio, the first educational bilingual toys and games brand in the U.S., has chosen you to be the first to get a chance to win every single one of their ten toys.  Today you can enter to win an Animals Learning Puzzle, which received a Creative Child Magazine´s Preferred Choice Award for 2009, simply by leaving a comment telling us why you would like to win this.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends tonight, Wednesday, September 2nd, at midnight EST.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of the giveaway of one Ingenio bilingual toy every day this week and of the many, many more finds to come.}

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

Today´s Find was reviewed by fabulous graphic designer + mamá Dariela and her adorable boy Adrián. You can keep up with them thru Nuestra Vida con Adrián and Folklore Eye.

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "

These cards are similar to the ones Ana Lilian reviewed here, except that instead of opposites, they illustrate the English alphabet on one side and the Spanish one on the other.

The Alphabet Learning Cards was the first toy we opened when we got the box from Ingenio and my daughter, Vanessa, had no problem calling out the name of whatever picture she saw on them. She did it all in Spanish and I’m happy to share she recognized most of the images except for “I for iglesia,” “M for manta” (we call it frazada), “Ñ for ñu,” (my bad, I had no idea it´s an animal, we´ve all learned!), “O for ovillo,” (she just called it bola), “W for walkie-talkie,” (I guess there are not too many words that start with W in Spanish) and “Y for yate” (she just called it bote).

She did have a little bit of a problem flipping back and forth through the cards and I’m not sure if that’s just because it’s a brand new toy. Again, it’s pretty sturdy, and maybe with time and usage, it’ll become easier to flip the cards over.

On a funny note, all of the images were colorful and easy to identify except for the one used for “nariz” which was kind of strange-looking. “¿Es un hueso? ¿Una cuchara?” Vanessa wanted to know. Also, it would be nice if the font used for the letters on the cards was a little bit bigger and if the Spanish alphabet included the “Ch” and the “Ll”–especially since Vanessa has such a hard time pronouncing the former!

I’ve been thinking a lot about starting to be more consistent about teaching Vanessa the alphabet and the numbers in Spanish. After reviewing all these bilingual educational toys, I believe I’m completely equipped to do so and that makes me happy! Thanks, Ingenio!

All of Ingenio´s bilingual toys are available via Amazon.  Of course, the best way to get them is via La Tiendita.

The Giveaway!

This giveaway is now closed.  Congratulations to the winner-Valerie R.!

Ingenio, the first educational bilingual toys and games brand in the U.S., has chosen you to be the first to get a chance to win every single one of their ten toys.  Today you can enter to win Alphabet Learning Cards, which received Creative Child Magazine´s Seal of Excellence 2009, simply by leaving a comment telling us why you would like to win this.

That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway.  If you want to up your chances at winning, then click here to learn how to get additional entries.

This giveaway ends tonight, Tuesday, September 1st, at midnight EST.

{Make sure you’re subscribed to the SBFinds feed via email or RSS so that you can be notified of the giveaway of one Ingenio bilingual toy every day this week and of the many, many more finds to come.}

For the part that nobody likes, but we’ve gotta have, check out the Giveaway Rules.

Secret Phrase: "One of the greatest feats of human development is the acquisition of language. "