Easter Gift Guide - Pencil Grip Review & Giveaway

Writing is one of the most critical aspects of academic development, impacting all levels of communication and the learning process. An improper grip can yield illegible writing but more importantly, can interrupt cognitive flow. A child’s level of concentration and ability to process and generate content can be halted or slowed. This is easily corrected.  And, The Pencil Grip, Inc. is addressing this problem with the Original Pencil Grip, Crossover Pencil Grip and the Pinch Grip.

This Pencil Grip guides children and adults in proper hand positioning, promoting good penmanship and expression while reducing hand cramps, stressed muscles and sore fingers.  The set of three grips make up the number one family of grips recommended to help improve handwriting for all ages. Starting with theCrossover Grip, transitioning to the Pinch Grip and graduating to the Original Grip will address different challenges and help achieve a lifetime of comfort and control while writing, drawing and even coloring.

"Starting with theCrossover Grip, transitioning to the Pinch Grip and graduating to the Original Grip will address different challenges and help achieve a lifetime of comfort and control while writing, drawing and even coloring."

Our Thoughts


I am a homeschooling mom and one of the most important things to teach children aside from reading, is how to write, correctly! My youngest daughter has excellent penmanship but my oldest daughter struggles with neat writing so the Pencil Grip was a sure-fired way to teach her proper hand holding techniques.

The packages came with a very informative sheet that had multiple pictures of correct and incorrect hand holding techniques. It also explained the proper way to put the pencil grip onto the pencil for optimal hand writing techniques.

At first when I put it on, she wasn't a fan, but she just wasn't used to it. I could tell immediately that the strength in which she holds a utensil was already better. It took her a few days to get used to writing with help from the grip but there was a noticeable improvement. I suspect she'll be using these for a while but it's excellent for kids who need added help with writing.

They come in so many fun colors too, whether you prefer girl or boy colors, or a little added glitter, there's something for each child! They are very rubbery feeling and thick too so it's not something that I see being broken easily like a little rubber toy, they are pretty sturdy.

If your child has difficulty writing (or even adults!) this is a great product to use to help you get better at it.


The Giveaway

One lucky winner is going to receive a Pencil Grip! To enter, just fill in the Giveaway Tools form below. This giveaway will end on 03/05/16. Open to the US only. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Thanks again to the sponsor for offering this fantastic prize.

Entry-Form

Buy yours here and don't forget to check them out on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!  

Sky Pony Swedish Fairy Tales Book Review

Every child loves a good fairy tale story, now you can have more than one with the Swedish Fairy Tales by Skyhorse Publishing!

These are stories filled with wicked magicians, troublesome trolls, teasing magpies, and solemn tomtar. In Swedish fairy tales, frogs become beautiful fairy girls, troll girls marry troll princes, kings transform into woodcutters, and little boys go searching for adventure in the forest. This collection of twenty-one marvelous tales includes:

The Seven Wishes

The Trolls and the Youngest Tomte

The Changelings

Leap the Elk and Little Princess Cottongrass

The Queen

And many more

These stories are clever and fun, full of adventure and magic. A world of wonder and mystery is brought to life by the spellbinding art of one of the world’s greatest illustrators of fairy tales, John Bauer. His big-nosed, good-natured trolls are sure to delight, while his heroes and heroines shine brightly, bringing hope and goodness to dark places.

Our Thoughts

Reading fairy tale stories is one of my favorite things to do as an adult, and I love that I can share that love with both of my daughters. Reading is clearly important to our learning capabilities and it's well known now that reading fairy tales are great for children's minds.

Each story takes about 15-20 minutes for my kids to get through so it works well for reading time during our homeschooling sessions. It's also cute to see my oldest sit and read the stories out loud to my youngest daughter too.

All the stories are great but The Queen is their favorite. It captivates them and they become completely lost in the story. It sparks their imagination and when they are playing I can tell that they have definitely used the Swedish Fairy Tales as inspiration for their make-believe!

There are many kid books out there and not all of them are interesting, but as a parent I feel it's my duty to do reading time with my daughter. I am so thankful I enjoy these stories as much as the children do!

The illustrations are also beautifully creepy. I say that because it has kind of a dark look to the pictures, but they aren't inappropriate for children, just very unique looking. I personally love that style a lot!!

Buy yours here  or on Amazon and don't forget to check them out on Facebook and Twitter!


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Reviewed by Jackie

Little Passports Review

Holiday time is all about family, traditions, parties, and according to kids … presents! Subscription services – the gifts that keeps on giving – are perfect options for kids, especially when the service provides fun, educational deliveries each month. This year, teach the children in your life about the world around them and instill a love of travel in them with Little Passports. 

Little Passports subscribers receive destination-specific, age-appropriate packages in the mail each month filled with letters, souvenirs, activities, and more. Each kit allows kids ages 3-12 to explore geography, history, culture, and language in fun, engaging, and memorable ways: 

·      The Early Explorers kit encourages children aged 3-5 to explore ongoing themes such as animals, music, and more!

·      The World Edition kit enables kids aged 6-10 to discover a new country every month.

·      The USA Edition kit teaches young people aged 7-12 about all 50 states.

Little Passports also offers some fun kits and products that can be purchased separately including some new items available just in time for the holidays! Kids can learn about climates around the world through at-home simulations with The Weather Lab Activity Kit; explore prehistoric times with the Dinosaur Backpack filled with toys, pictures, and fun fossil facts; and follow Little Passports' characters, Max, Mia, and Toby on their global outings with an Interactive Picture Book.

Our Thoughts

The package arrived in one box, and when I opened it up the suitcase was packed in another smaller box and the papers were packaged in an envelope. It all looked like it came all fancy in the mail right to my kid, it was adorable! She really enjoyed opening it up, her first "special" package in the mail.

The suitcase is cardboard made but is well built and doesn't look cheap at all. The fastener on it works great, it doesn't pop open and spill all the contents out. There are a lot of items in this that makes it fun for my daughter to open up. There's a map, stickers, little postcards and more. Always something new for her to look at that keeps her excitedly digging through the box. 

As a homeschooling mom, I love gizmos and gadgets to go along with our learning. This is perfect for our history and social studies! A gift that keeps on giving with each package that arrives. Each one is colorful, creative and most importantly, educational. I've never seen my daughter more excited to learn about the world because it is done in such a creative process. Little Passports makes her feel special and she loves to tell her younger sister all the cool stuff she learns!

This is something homeschooling parents should look into or just to get as a great gift or supplementation to a child's schooling curriculum. Little Passports keeps learning fun!

Buy yours here and don't forget to check them out on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!

Reviewed by Jackie