Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Eebee's Adventures DVDs {Review & Giveaway}



 I cannot tell you about how Eebee's Adventures without telling  you a little bit about life before watching Eebee's Adventures! 


My Dilemma:How do I Interact with my child?
The pressure of learning ABCs and 123s got me trying to cram it down her 10 month old brain.  We bought building blocks for her to play with.  Here I was as a first time mom sitting down on the floor trying to show her the alphabet and the numbers on the blocks.  I was trying to “play” with her and show her these things!  My heart was thinking:
I do not want her to be the only one who does not know the alphabet or know her numbers!  So we best start early!
After ten minutes of failing, I succumbed to having her throw around the blocks.  I even stacked up the blocks to show her how to “build”.  My focus was on trying to have her “Build” and was not even catching on to the fact that she was experiencing a different level of Playing and Learning that I did not even notice or understand.  

By far the only time I really had her attention was when I was reading a certain book that contained things to touch, and for me—animals to breath life into.  What I mean is she was able to touch and feel different textures and I was able to “Moo” and “Quack” and “Pock Pock Pock—Cock a Doodle Doo”.  She gravitated to this book and we had hours of fun.  To her this was her play and learning time.  She interacted and all was great. But one can sit down and read a book for so long before both of you gets tired of quacking and mooing. Little did I know that "touching" and "sounds" were a gateway to her learning!

  • My dilemma was How do I interact with my child? 
  She gets bored with toys and throws them around and does not exactly play with them.  I simply did not know what she was capable of doing.  Or how to go about "playing" with her.  We'd do a couple of things here and there, but in reality I was at a loss.  I had some experience babysitting, but as far as something on a daily basis?  I was at a loss!
  • Another question I had was "What can I expect from my little one? "
  Of course I play with her, but sometimes even it’s like I am reaching to the edges of my brain to figure out “HOW” to incorporate learning into all the playing that is age appropiate?  Playing with my daughter on a daily basis gets difficult for me.  As a first time mom I run out of fresh ideas easily.  I needed inspiration! 


My Inspiration:
The answers came to me when I searched through Netflix to find a children’s show for her to watch while I did some of my own errands around the house.  Eebee's Adventures?  Never heard of it, but it was worth a shot since some of the other children’s shows never really got her attention and was not age appropriate for her. 

One short episode was all it took for my daughter to be hooked.  My daughter was encaptivated by all the different ways to make “music and sound”.  To be honest the activities you do during the show gives any mom simple and fun ideas.  And yes, I mean activities YOU as a parent will do during the show.  I find it ever so hard NOT to participate along with my daughter!  I run to the kitchen to grab pots and pans and lid and dish cloths so that we can play along.  


We were super excited to be able to Review Three Dvds of Eebees Adventures! 


All in a Day's Play was Sophie's favorite out of the three.  I believe it is our favorite because it features playing with laundry and the kitchen pots and pans--we do this almost daily!  There is never day without a basket full of laundry to whirl around and play peekaboo in.  She also just gravitated towards the song, "It's all in your hands".   

Shadow Puppets!
Figuring Things Out.  Sophie gravitated towards the light switch and learned how to go through things.  I made a couple of things to go with this DVD like these Shadow Puppets!  You turn on a flashlight and your child can see a shadow  in the shape of something.  Either way she's noticing her shadow now when we walk outside and her shadow appears on the ground.  Also she has learned to "go through" things too!  After watching this adventure with Eebee a couple of times, I found her playing in the tunnel one day!  She went through the tunnel and stacked her toys in it.  It's our Cats' tunnel that is attached to the scratching post.  It's big enough for her to go through without being stuck so I was okay with it for a day or two before moving it out of our play area.   

Exploring Real Stuff  was great too!  We just bought a box of Cherrios for us to eat...and play around with.  We have made it "rain" with cherrios and am working on picking up some off of the floor.  I recommend getting a tub to do this activity!  She has had a blast playing with paper as Eebee does in this episode!  I think this episode has a lot of great ideas for us to do hands on with ordinary things that lie around the house.  The only thing is it left quite a display on our floor having paper all over!  It was fun watching her play with the paper!  

Eebee’s Adventures taught me how to engage my daughter in active playing and learning.  There was no pressure to learn and memorize ABCs or 123s.   Together we discovered loud and soft sounds, light and dark, our hands, gravity and so much more.  We focused on discovering the world and I learned that that that is what I need to expect from her--to be a little explorer.


One thing we did was Discover Sound as a result of Eebee's Adventures DVDs: 
One of our favorite activities that we did along with Eebee was discovering sounds.  What makes a loud sound?  How do I make a loud sound?  I pulled out our pots and pans and ladles and started making “loud” music.  Put a dish towel on top and the sound was “Soft and Quiet”.  I loved it!  Loved it so much because she was learning about soft and loud sounds.  No pressure too! 


Here’s another fun activity involving sound discovered by my daughter:  Eebee was playing with shakers and shaking them to make a “Chhh…Chh… Chhh…” sound.  We had our Building blocks scattered on the floor.  Sophie held a block in each hand and struck them together.  It did not make the “Chh” sound it made a “Tap! Tap! Tap!” sound.  She came up to me with delight!  Tap Tapping those blocks together.  I took blocks in my hand and said the words “Tap! Tap! Tap!”.  She was so excited I wished I could have had a video camera recording this!  She discovered this not me.  Silly me thought these were Building ABC Blocks.  These are definitely “Tap-Tapping Sound Blocks”.    
Tap Tap Tap!
  


Eebee's Adventures encourages Conceptual Learning:
A light bulb switched in my brain, “Babies learn by doing and experiencing”. 
They are creative discoverers of the world.  I have to say that it takes a child’s viewpoint to see that pots and pans as musical instruments.  It is the every day, ordinary, little things that my daughter does that encourage me to capture that moment and make it into a learning experience.

For example she gets into an outdated newspaper.  She does this a lot.  I usually say “No” but this time I remember something from watching Eebees DVD and allow her to play with it under my supervision.  Crinkle crinkle  Rrriiippp!! Do you hear that Sophie?  Again she plays around with it. Crinkle crinkle  Rrriiippp!!  What’s that sound?  She rips it into tiny pieces but that’s okay.  Let’s count how many pieces you got!  Wow you made TWO pieces of paper! 

Conclusion and Two Video clips:
Alright so you know I am such a big fan of Eebees Adventures.  I love that the DVDs really inspire me in ways I can play with my daughter.  Eebees Adventures is just rich and stock full of good things for your child.  It is interactive and engaging.  She loves the music and has learned a lot from watching Eebee.  For me as a parent I find it an invaluable tool for learning how to play with my daughter and a rich source for project playtime ideas for my child.  

I know that it does take some time getting used to Eebee Baby.  It is very different because Eebee is a baby too!  He coos and talks like a baby and has an eye catching colorful hair do.  I know my 16 year old sister in law does think Eebee is weird, but that’s just because she has not yet had a baby!  I think her whole outlook will change once she gets kids of her own!  I am pretty sure that she will be asking to borrow these Dvds when she starts having kids. 

Eebees Adventures is something I recommend for any household with little babies.  I recommend this especially for first time parents too!  
 *********************

By watching Eebee she has learned how to Peek a boo!  I was video taping this for you all and she did it! :)  I apologize in advance for the dark video I hope you can see it! Also the off key singing--I get into it at times....


  This is her favorite Song from "All in a Day's Play" DVD.  So thankful that in the DVD bonus section there is a Music Category!  I can easily access this song for her to clap to:  



Where to get Eebees Adventures and Stay Connected:
You can purchase Dvds on Eebee's Website They offer an Espanol Version too!



Giveaway:
With much thanks to everyone at Eeebee Baby, I am so delighted I can host a giveaway of Eebees Adventures!  One truly lucky family will be chosen at Random to receive the same Dvds I received to review!  Please use the Rafflecopter Form to enter into this Giveaway. 


7 comments:

  1. We do a lot of letter practice, using whipped cream, pudding etc. She is strengthening her fine motor skills, learning her letters and learning how to spell her name. She also draws in the goo, and if she puts her hands in her month, not biggie

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  2. We do a lot of light play using a clear tote, push lights and anything we have around the house.

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  3. My kids are older and we play traditional games, but when they were young we did "messy play" like finger painting with pudding, etc. (Corey Olomon)(olomon@hotmail.com)

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  4. Kids are like sponges and if we do stuff like the zoo or the museum I try to do a craft or read a book related to wherever it is that we are going/went. For instance when we go to the museum of art we do an art project where we end up framing it with construction paper and show it off to daddy and whoever else stops by. Then we usually read a book relating to what ever area of the museum we visited. Or at the zoo my kids all have loved the hatching chicks exhibit so we will make a chick craft or do something with egg cartons. Next time you go to the park pick up some leaves and bring them home to do a craft with whether its just leaf rubbings or something more elaborate the next time you go you will notice that they are looking for more leaves and then you can either use the opportunity to do more advanced crafts or explain the seasons using the tree as an example or really the possibilities are endless.
    thanks for letting me ramble
    ticklemetiffy at gmail dot com

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  5. we love to play pretend with our play kitchen. she loves cooking up dinner and serving us "dinner". So fun. Also have found tons of great ideas on Pinterest!

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  6. Sidewalk chalk and bubbles keep my kiddos occupied for hours! (Except the 9 yr old...he could care less about anything unless it's a video game)

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  7. My daughter has a great imagination and she has me play store with her. I'm the cashier with her little play cash register and she's the customer with pretend money.

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