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Let it Go. Let it Go! Have you heard that delightful song as much as I have this year? My daughter loves Frozen and so do her cousins! When we went to Walt Disney World, her cousin was lucky enough to score an Anna dress to take to the Bibbidi Boppity Boutique! Isn’t she a darling Anna? Something tells me that these costumes are going to be hot for Halloween this year! Excited to share some Frozen Hair Tutorials at the bottom of this post (skip to them if you just can’t wait) and also let you know about a FABULOUS sale on 8/28 on zulily that you cannot miss if you have a little Elsa or Anna wannabe! But first … these shoes.

Seriously. Adorable.

My sister-in-law and I did some shopping before our big trip to help keep the costs down. One of my favorite places to score deals on Disney merchandise is zulily. I scored this adorable swimsuit and cover-up for under $25! The savings for the Frozen sale are just as amazing – up to 60 percent off! Save those extra pennies for my next Disney vacation! (PS – if you are getting ready to book your 2016 Southern California vacations – check out Get Away Today for amazing deals! Use my special code – KMFWM – to get $10 off your vacation package!)

Let’s get a closer look at the adorableness. I also picked up swimwear for my boys as well from zulily.

Love saving on adorable vacation wear! So here are the details for the zulily Frozen sale TOMORROW (Thursday, August 28). We’ve got 8 weeks until Halloween so it is time to get shopping! Not to mention perfect the goodies from this Frozen sale are perfect for Christmas presents or getting ahead of time for your trips. The sale will have apparel, toys, and gear – everything on your little princesses list! So click on this link and get to shopping! To get you and your little one in the spirit of the sale, zulily has put together some special tutorials on how to create the magical updos and braids of Anna and Elsa. Better get practicing so you have it perfected by the time the dresses arrive!

Happy Braiding!  

Who do your children want to be for Halloween this year?

Are you dressing up? Who are you going to be?

Tell the truth, how much of your Christmas shopping do you have done?

The post Frozen Hair Tutorials + a Frozen Sale! appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

It’s Christmas break, but learning hasn’t stopped at the Parker House! While my children were playing with their toys from last night’s Christmas party, I casually slipped Lily’s Hot Bots math set onto the table. Within five minutes, all three children were taking turns with the interactive pen and math problems (some with more success than others!)

The Hot Dots Let’s Master set from Educational Insights has been a hit at our house since we received it just after Thanksgiving. Lily’s math book set is full of important skills she needs to master for second grade next year. The interactive pen was simple to use and Lily figured it out easily on her own.

The math questions are multiple choice and she clicks on her answer with the interactive pen. If she is correct, it lights up in green and congratulates her. If it is the wrong answer, it flashes red and encourages her to try again. Since she is at a first grade level, I stay nearby to help with any questions she has, but I am sure she would breeze through the first grade set easily on her own.

The Hot Dot Let’s master sets are for grade levels Pre-K to Grade 3 – perfect for my preschooler and first grader. There are reading sets and math sets. We will be continuing to use the math set set over the summer to help prep Lily for second grade math. The books contain 100 lessons with plenty of variety to keep your child interested. The colorful illustrations add an element of fun, especially for my little artist.

Each set is $24.99 and is currently available exclusively at Educational Insights. If you are a mom who is set up keeping learning fun – you are going to love their web-site like a kid in a candy store. It is full of award-winning toys that will engage AND entertain your child. Genius! We loved reviewing the Hot Dots math set. It makes a great addition to our educational library. The math homework Lily  brings home is typically a work sheet so it is nice to spice up her math learning with a fun tech toy.

Be sure to connect with Educational Insights on Facebook. You can also sign up for their newsletter here.

I am giving away a set to one of my lucky United States readers! Enter in the contest widget below!

What are your favorite education toys for children?

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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During the summer we had loads of fun with balloon reading games and outdoor reading games, but now that we are further into the school year I am wanting something fresh and fun for my first grader. Lily’s latest love is anything Disney princess or fairy-related as evidenced by her Halloween costume this year.

I took this action shot while I was volunteering doing math assessments on Halloween. Lily refused to pause for a picture telling me, “I’m supposed to be doing math right now, Mom!” That’s my girl! This picture inspired me to rethink our learning strategies at home. Everything is more enjoyable with a princess theme, right?

Lily’s first grade class does a fly swatter game where they practice word recognition. When I peeked into Lily’s classroom she seemed to be enjoying it so I decided to try a similar concept at home. I had a princess paddle ball board that I almost threw away because the string and ball had broke. We repurposed it to be our word swatter. The game is simple – lay out flash cards in front of your child and have your child sound out the words. Once they have read all the words, call them out and have them swat them. Easy peasy! I am thinking that we may even need some new princess-themed flash cards. We have have played this game several times and Lily hasn’t tired of it yet.

This is one simple way to incorporate what your child loves into their learning using on-hand household items. There are so many more! I would love to hear your ideas.

To celebrate all our little princesses, I am teaming up with several generous sponsors to giveaway a Disney Princess Ultimate Dream Castle, and Disney Magic Mirror app (compatible with iPad, iPhone, iPod, and iPod Touch).

The 3-story castle is over 3 feet tall, and comes furnished with more than 30 accessories and furniture pieces. Rapunzel and Ariel have joined the castle, adding a spiraling ‘elevator’ of hair and a sea-themed bathroom. Cinderella, Princess Aurora, and Snow White also return to the castle with themed rooms of their own. Disney Princess dolls sold separately.

To add a bit of magic, the castle has been designed to work with an app called Disney Magic Mirror [$3.99]. Download the app free when you purchase the castle. By way of the app your child will see a princess activity, castle event, special visit and more on their device when they align it with one of many special trigger points throughout the castle. How fun is that?

Enter to win on the Rafflecopter Widget:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A special thanks to all the sponsors:

Be sure to check out co-sponsor’s Allison’s gorgeous Disney cupcakes complete with printable Princess toppers!

The post Princess Learning Activities and a Disney Princess Castle Giveaway! appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

My little girl is just like her dad – she loves technology. At six-years-old she can whip through apps much faster than I can. As much as she loves art projects, playing outside, and dressing up as a princess, some days she can’t wait to get on the computer and play. As a mom, I want her computer time to be simultaneously fun and educational.

That’s why I was so excited to try out PowerMyLearning. PowerMyLearning is a free, web-based K-12 learning platform. It has taken thousands of free learning activities from across the web and placed them in one easy to navigate site. The site is sub-divided by grade and by major subjects including:

Math
Language Arts
Science
Social Studies
Art & Music
Technology
World Languages
Your Life

I created an account for myself and my daughter – they are linked so I can track what activities she completes. The cool part is that the account can be linked up to her school class as well. I am looking forward to talking to her teacher to see if they use PowerMyLearning.

Lily and I selected first grade activities and she was thrilled to see some of her favorite games pop up like Curious George from PBS Kids and Who am I from Starfall. I love that PowerMyLearning has done the work for me and has put many of our favorite sites in one place. It is uber convenient that my daughter does not have to type in web addresses when she wants to move from sites like PBS Kids to Starfall. One mistyped word and she could end up on a site inappropriate for her or simply be frustrated because she can’t get to where she wants. With PowerMyLearning it was easy to click in and out of games.

The organization of the site is superb. It took me seconds to locate a first grade level geography game to compliment what she learned at school this week. PowerMyLearning has basically just simplified many of the online learning activities we were already participating in. There is enough high quality content that I don’t have to worry about googling sites to meet more of my daughter’s educational needs.

Lily gave the site two thumbs up. She spent a half hour on the site the first day and begged for more. She even told me that a math game was fun – that’s a big win for this mom!

I am excited to use this program on those days that my daughter asks to “play on the computer.” Now she can play away and I can have the peace of mind that she is participating in age-appropriate educational activities!

Do yourself a favor and check out PowerMyLearning for your school-age child. You can also find them on the following social media sites:

Facebook PowerMyLearning

Twitter @PowerMyLearning

Pinterest PowerMyLearning

This is a sponsored post. While I received compensation, all opinions are my own (and Lily’s!) I only write about products that my family personally uses and loves! 

What are your favorite online educational sites? 

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During the summer, I am planning learning activities for my children as many days I can.    I view summer learning as a fun way to reinforce skills and concepts learned during the school year. This sneaky mom doesn’t want the kiddos to catch on that they are actually still learning!

Last week I may have blown up over 30 balloons for Lily’s sixth birthday. Those balloons have been bopped, kicked, and chased all over the house. This week my goal was to introduce our new Alphabet Flash Cards from Educational Toys Planet. I needed an activity for my emerging reader, six-year old Lily, and my pre-reader, three-year old Cortland.

Enter in the balloons and the flash cards – such a fun combination! I took the word from each flash card and wrote it on one of my balloons so that each card matched a balloon. Put 26 balloons in one room and you are bound to have fun! I gave each child a card and sent them on a treasure hunt to find the right balloon. My daughter matched the words while my son matched the first letter. When they found a match they tossed the balloons on the bed until they had matched all the pairs. My children loved this activity and have asked to do it several times.

After we made all the matches, we played several games that were outlined in the card pack. We mixed up all the letters and then sang the ABC song to put the cards back in order. Once they were in order we matched the pictures from the lower case letter cards to the right upper case letter card. I love that ABC Flash card set came with both upper and lower case letters! The cards were colorful and my kids thought the pictures were fun.

The best part of this activity was the smile on my daughter’s face when she found a match. Success – fun and learning! I am so excited for the rest of our summer learning activities. Stay tuned for a fun 4th of July reading activity as well! Until then I am going to be trying out a great idea from my sister who blogs over at Live to be Inspired. Shooting site words with a nerf gun – pretty sure my kids can get into that!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Linking up to Tot School!

The post Simple Ways to Make Reading Fun appeared first on KeepMovingForwardWithMe.

Top: Kohls

Pants: Kohls

Shoes: Zulily

Hairbow: Etsy

I’ve been loving the summer sales at Kohls.com and Zulily. Sparkly flip flops and sassy chevron pants – yes, please! During the school year Miss Lily’s clothing options are limited by her charter school’s dress code, but during the summer her little personality comes out. Lily put this outfit together herself and is rocking it!

Where are your favorite places to shop for little girl clothing?

This post includes my zulily affiliate link! Score some deals and I’ll score, too. I’ve saved by shopping with them and I hope you do, too.

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