Ubisoft is having a big spring sale on downloadable games right now! They have some great family friendly games Like Rayman and Sims. But the sale only goes through March 31, 2013!
Ubisoft Spring Sale
March 26, 2013 By Leave a Comment
A Glimpse at the Microsoft Surface RT
March 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment
I know that I am not the only geek that had been waiting for the Surface tablet to come out. I love my Windows 8 phone so you can imagine my excitement as I opened the box from Microsoft!!! As a Windows Champion I was blessed to receive the opportunity to review the Surface!
(Continue Reading at Geek for the Real Girl)
8 Video Games to Keep Your Kids Moving
January 28, 2013 By 2 Comments
My girls shaking it to Smurfs Dance Party!
It is winter and around here that means rain and cold. But my kids are all still kids and they are homeschooled so that means I am stuck with the wiggles and all that energy. So what is a parent to do??? One of my answers is video games (or if they are really honery they get to do jumping jacks). There are some great activity based video games out there right now for all platforms. I only have experience with the Kinect and Wii platforms but I have hear the the Playstation Move system is pretty good too. But not all types of movement based games work for everyone so here are 8 games (separated out by game type) to keep your kids moving. Better yet, go join them and get some exercise too!!!
Sports Themed:
1)Wii Sports: This was kind of the original motion game that came with a lot of Wii systems, at least it came with ours;).
2)Wii Get Moving Family Fitness: This is made by Jumpstart and a ton of fun! We have played for hours and still haven’t tried everything! (Read move of my thoughts here)
3)Kinect Sports Ultimate Collection: This is a huge collection of sports all using the fabulous Kinect!!!
4)Your Shape Fitness Evolved 2012 : This is a real trainer system for honest to goodness workouts. It can totally fill in for the gym but the kids enjoy the activities too! (Read some of NerdDad’s thoughts)
Adventure Themed:
5)Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth: Once of my favorites! It gives your kids all the thrill of fighting each other without touching! It is also quite a workout!!!
6)Kinect Party Base Game: It is free and is a download from the Xbox Live Arcade. There are paid add ons but my kids really enjoy the base game. It has things to hit like Fruit Ninja. In one scenario your are King Kong in the city with buildings to step on and airplanes to swat at!
Dance Themed: I am conservative as to the dance games both on moves and lyrics but these 2 I love for all ages!
7)Just Dance Disney Party: This is a great game with both old and new Disney songs!
8)Smurf Dance Party: Great songs with fun dance moves! It is only available on the Wii and DS so no Kinect on this one. (Read more of our thoughts here)
Here are 8 great options to keep everyone moving when the weather doesn’t want to work with you;). Here in Fresno we also need this list when it is 100 outside so don’t limit yourself to the winter;).
A Basic Look at Pinterest
October 22, 2012 By 1 Comment
Pinterest has over 11.7 million users and it is a social bookmarking and sharing site that is all the rage. I get quite a few questions on what Pinterest is and how it works but it is super easy and more fun than it should be. The 1 warning, set time limits or you may do nothing else with your life;).
*Once you sign up (through twitter, facebook or just a login) you set up boards or set them up as you find material for them!
*You can see what all your friends (or people you follow)pinned and re-pin those items
*You can also pin things you find in 2 ways.
-By a link. You just click Add Link right on the Pinterest page
-From discovering something on a blog and from there you can also usually follow the blog owner’s Pinterest boards too!
* It is a great way to find just about everything! Ways to cook, clean, learn and even just for inspiration!
You can follow me on Pinterest too!
Gamesville Reel Cash Critters
September 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Ok, I admit it. My name is Jacqueline and I have a internet game problem. The problem is that I love them and if I am not careful I only play them instead of doing everything else;). So as to further my addiction I was introduced to Gamesville 
.
Gamesville has a ton of fun games that don’t inherently take a ton of time. Your desire to sit there and play all day is a while separate issue;). But there is a free membership and a gold membership option. The Gold membership means no more ads!!! And you get/buy GV tokens to play with and win. (If you sign up through the links on this post you will get 10,000 to start with!)
One of the games I looked at was Reel Cash Critters. It a fun slots game with some twists. To start with you can actually win real, cash money in addition to GV’s! Like a normal slots game you choose your bet and of course the higher the bet the higher the payout. But you also choose how many rows to play. You can choose diagonals, v-shape, etc. And that definitely adds another dimension. Something else I like is that you can choose awesome and normal modes. The awesome mode just has brighter colors and it is nice to be able to turn that off if you are on a laptop battery instead of wall power.
There are a ton of other games on Gamesville too! I am a huge Big Money fan! There are all kinds of poker games, solitaire and so much more. There are also a bunch of cool puzzle games that I wasn’t familiar with too!
I will be spending many, many hours in the future on Gamesville .
This review was made possible by Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own. I received a Gamesville Gold Membership and compensation for my time investment and work on this campaign.
The Avengers Are Out on DVD!!!!
September 27, 2012 By 2 Comments
Did you realize that Marvel’s The Avengers came out on dvd this week? Well I did! And I bought it! I think this seals it, I am an awesome mom;). Ok, this wasn’t really about the kids but they are benefiting from NerdDad’s and my geekness.
Now my kids had already been introduced to the awesomeness that is The Avengers when we all went to see it in the theater. We all immediately agreed that this would be a movie we would have to own. As the commercials started up the talk continued.
Then I heard that Walmart had this awesome app that had augmented reality in it so of course that meant we had to go to Walmart;). Since we knew our Walmart wasn’t going to be one of the ones with special Avengers Character appearances on Saturday Sept 29th. So we went after a long day of choir and science. The kids were so stoked! We went in with the plan to find the 6 character cardboard cut outs with the codes on it. You scan it with your phone and then you get 3 questions on each one that help you find out which Avenger you are.
The first thing we did was go to find our dvd set! The kids wanted to grab the first set that they saw. But I took them around to the other side of the display. The kids didn’t realize that there would be the option of a comic book. They were excited to say the least. But in full disclosure… they still haven’t gotten their mitts on it yet. NerdDad isn’t done with it yet;).
We went off in search of the character displays and quickly found out that our Walmart didn’t have the displays. The kids and I were disappointed because we wanted to see the cool stuff but we found other fun;). We decided to wander around and check out the toys. I think the Hulk hands were the big hit. I still am wondering if they would fit me;). I mean, I can be angry for Halloween.
Tuesday is my long day. So getting pizza for the kids was just as much a treat for me as it was for them. They were excited to get to pizza to begin with. They were even more excited to get to pick out one with an Avenger hero on the box! Ironman won 2 to 1 and 1;). One kid wanted the Thor all meat and one wanted the Captain America pepperoni.
The kids didn’t know that the augmented reality app worked with the pizza box! You scan it with you phone or tablet and you can see a scene from the movie. You can move and see it from all angles as long as you keep it in focus. The characters don’t move a lot but it is the bomb! the kids are chuckled in delight and I obviously found it worth documenting;).
We settled in to eat dinner and watch the movie! Have I mentioned that I love Black Widow in The Avengers? Joss Whedon did a phenomenal job with her as he does with all his female characters;).
We even had a special Avengers themed dessert. True I bought a flat pack of premade Jello that I used in them but did I mention that Tuesday is my long and crazy day;). I paid $2.58 for 12 cups of Jello so I had some left over. It was a great night!
I bought a movie that I love for me and my kids think that I am a rock star. What could be better;)?
Are you interested in Marvel or The Avengers? Then you can check out the Marvel site, follow them on Twitter or like the Marvel Facebook page! You can also check out the exclusive DVD/Blu-Ray/Graphic Novel pack at Walmart.
You can also see my full shopping experience over on Google+!
(I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Marvel. #MarvelAvengersWMT #CBias #SocialFabric They may have picked the subject but all the thoughts are mine!)
Dora Let’s Play Backpack for iPad Giveaway
September 14, 2012 By 6 Comments
It is shocking but even when you have 4 kids you still can get 1 that is left out. At this point the one who can get left out the most is my baby, NerdPud. The older kids will all be in science classes or have homework. Since she is in Kindergarten all of her schooling is one on one and all fun. Which is great but it means I need to find ways to engage her while the older kids are busy! I also need to get this kid to read!!! She has been sort of doing it since she was 4 but she doesn’t have any interest in reading fluently.
Enter in Dora Let’s Play Backpack! It is a great new iPad accessory from Discovery Bay Games. It is in their Duo line of iPad games and accessories. You buy the backpack and then download the free app from iTunes. The backpack itself sits over the iPad and interactively with the app. There are 4 different types of adventures: ‘Let’s Listen,’ ‘Let’s Pack,’ ‘Let’s Match,’ and ‘Say It Two Ways’. Both players have tokens and place them on the spot that corresponds with their answer. The correct answer’s spot will open and the tokens will go into the backpack. The first person out of tokens wins!
I need to declare something up front. My kids are NOT allowed free access to my iPad. But they can earn access or when I am waiting for some kids, I use it as a bonding activity with them. That is where the Dora’s Let’s Play Backpack comes into the picture. Not only is it giving me a way to engage with her and have that valuable bonding time but it also serves as a great reward for reading. She doesn’t even notice that she is actually learning;). She loves it so much that she asks if she can read to me so she can play with Dora’s Backpack;).
The one and only problem I have had (everything can’t be hearts and flowers people) is using it outside. The first time I was using it she and I were outside under shade. We couldn’t get the backpack to interact with the app. But as soon as we went inside it worked perfectly!
You can pick up a Dora Let’s Play Backpack from Amazon for $39.99 or win one here for free!!!! Discovery Bay Games has graciously offered to give 1 away to one of my readers (In the US only, sorry)!
Mandatory Entry:
Leave a comment on this post answering this question from the NerdPud(yes, it really is what she wanted to know;): “How old were you when you learned how to read?”
Extra Entries (leave a comment for each thing you do):
-Subscribe to my rss feed
-Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway!
-Subscribe to my site by email
-Post about this giveaway
This giveaway will close October 1, 2012!
(Disclosure: I was given a Dora Let’s Play Backpack to review by Discovery Bay Games)
House M.D.: Critical Cases
June 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
One of the most addicting aspects of Facebook has to be the games. I mean, I am not the only one right? I fall into the copious amounts of free, fun games that are all over Facebook. But with so many games you really only hear about the ones your friends play and there are so many more to choose from. The developers of these Facebook games have gone beyond developers that only develop for Facebook and apps. Now real game companies like Ubisoft are designing these Facebook games!
One such game is House M.D.: Critical Cases! This is based on the ever popular show House M.D., which I have loved for years! You come in as an intern and become part of House’s team. That means you will get all the dirty work! Be it searching through garbage, wheeling patients to tests or running a code blue! There are speed tests and logic games as tasks to help get information to help heal your patient. You earn money to pay for the treatments and gain experience to climb the ranks.
It is one of those great games that you can play for just a little bit or play for quite a while. I must admit, it is a bit addicting… The graphics are cute but detailed and the game play is very smooth. Everything you need to know is on one screen and it even has a map set up on screen that you maneuver through. All and all it is a neat little game. I haven’t played for hours yet but it does seem to be missing the most annoying part of many Facebook games, you don’t need to get or give gifts to your friends in order to play!!!
So what are you doing here still reading? Go, play House M.D.: Critical Cases and relax!!!
Thank you to Ubisoft for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about Ubisoft. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own. #UbiChamps #CleverMD
Ruckus Reader Giveaway
June 15, 2012 By
Ok, we all know how much I love my tech with my tablets and apps. Well, I can’t be totally selfish. I occasionally will share with my kids. And if I am going to share my toys they will be learning something (homeschooling mantra;)! But I haven’t found a lot of the reading apps to be very educational. But I love Ruckus Media and their apps so I was very stoked to get a chance to review the Ruckus Reader Apps for iPad with my 5 year old (as of yesterday), NerdPud.
As I said, I am a bit of a reading app cynic. I tend to find them to be extremely easy or extremely hard and neither is something that will actually help my last child to learn how to fluently read. But I thought if nothing else she would have fun. Well, I am very happy to have been wrong. She loves it and she is learning!!!!
The first time we cracked open any of the Ruckus Reader apps was at the dentist. We opened up the My Little Pony level 1 book while we were waiting for the other kids to get done with their cleanings. She starts giggling in anticipation and frankly, who doesn’t love that giggle;)? We chose to have it read to her but she still got an opportunity to do word recognition and a reading too. The art is great and book choices are phenomenal! There are just enough activities for the kids to do within the story so that they never become bored and tune out. And every time we are using any of the Ruckus Reader apps her older siblings (who all read well) want to come watch instead of reading their own books they picked out.
The fact you can choose either to have the app read the story to you or not really helps make this a very versatile app. My 6 year old really enjoyed reading and playing the Transformers level 3 book but didn’t need it to read it to him. I also love the fact that you can record some one else reading the story. I would do more of that if I actually left my iPad when I traveled (but alas, I am not that nice;).
Of course part of the perks of reviewing an app is that I usually get all the paid features. And there are some good ones that come with the paid iLibrary subscription. I really like the Reading Meter reports that I get emailed to me! It means that I can allow the kids to play with the app without having to completely hover over them to see how much they get right or understand. It gives them a little space but leaves me in the position to be fully aware, the best of both worlds. I also like having access to all the books. And both those things come with the paid iLibrary subscription.
A review wouldn’t be balanced without some cons. The one I really see it that I wish there was some books that are a little more simple, like bob books. Because these are all character driven some of the names are hard and even the level 1 books are challenging to a new reader. It isn’t a horrible thing but something I feel the apps could use. Since NerdPud has been reading the Bob books I thought she would do a little better with the level 1 books but with the Transformers and the like, she didn’t do very well in reading along. She did ok at the activities but I was hoping for the actually reading to be easier. It isn’t a deal breaker but not everything can be perfect;).
On the whole if you are looking for a premium app for reading I would definitely recommend Ruckus Reader. And on that note…..
I have some subscriptions to giveaway!!!! The folks over at Ruckus Media have graciously decided to giveaway 1 six month iLibrary subscription and 2 one month iLibrary subscriptions!
To enter you must register for free with Ruckus Reader then come back and let me know that you have done it by leaving me a comment! Make sure you leave your email so I can contact you if you win.
After you register there are some things you can do for extra entries! Leave a separate comment for each one that you do.
- Follow Me (@NerdMom) on Twitter
- Follow @RuckusReader on Twitter
- Mention this giveaway and @NerdMom and @RuckusReader on Twitter
- Subscribe to NerdFamily Things in a RSS Reader
This giveaway will close on June 26, 2012 and the winners will have 24 hours to respond.
(Disclosure: I did receive the Ruckus Reader app and iLbrary subscription from Ruckus Media to review. All opinions and words are mine and mine alone!)
Beamz & Beaming Kids
June 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment
A great surprise in the mail!
My kids love getting surprise boxes in the mail!!! (ok, so I knew it was coming;) I first saw Beamz at CES back in January this year and thought was great! Beamz is a light based interface that lets you play musical instruments along with a song on a computer. I was stoked when I got a chance to review one with my kids.
Just take it out of the box and you are almost ready to go!
It is super easy to set up and play! You take Beams out of the box and plug it into your PC via a mini usb cable. Then pop in the cd, click to install and then add the libraries to your computer. You are ready to play!
On board controls
You can change songs, switch instruments, start and stop songs, etc very easily. You can control it on the computer using a mouse or using the on board controls. The kids found it very easy to control using the on board controls. And you don’t have to figure out what they are because you get a legend with the Beamz.
There are so many song choices in Beamz and there are new ones being added all the time! You can go through and chose songs by genre, including a kids genre with Old MacDonald. There are also multiple instruments that you can play with each song. It just takes a button push to change instruments and tempo. The kids also like recording their creation and then dancing to it on play back!
So much fun!!!!
It is so much fun that they can play it together! What you don’t see it their 2 sisters dancing;).
(“This product has been provided as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. While they provided the subject, all opinions are purely mine! #CBias)
