Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Magic School Bus Presents: Revving Up and In a Pickle

· by · 128 Comments

This post on The Magic School bus may contain affiliate links. Thanks to Scholastic for providing DVD copies for review purposes. 

Beep Beep! The Magic School Bus is ready to leave on some more great adventures. So hop on the bus and I’ll tell you all about them!

As I have mentioned before in previous Magic School Bus reviews, I was just a little too old to personally enjoy this show as a child, but I loved watching it later on while babysitting, and now I’m thoroughly enjoying it with Darah. I’m (re)learning a lot of great information (especially on STEM-related subjects) and Darah and I are having very animated conversations about what we learn in each episode. You cannot go wrong to get a little Magic School Bus action in your home, for sure!

magic school bus revving up

Scholastic just released two new DVDs. First up is The Magic School Bus: Revving Up. This is a 3 disc set that includes “Under Construction,” “Getting Energized” and “Cracks a Yolk.” Each DVD has 3 episodes, and each also includes a bonus episode, which means the set has over 4 1/2 hours of great educational entertainment! It retails for $24.95 (and is even on sale right now!). To get so many episodes for the price is a great bargain!

magic school bus in a pickle

You can also now pick up The Magic School Bus: In a Pickle. You’ll find 4 episodes about microbes, smell and decomposition. Stinky, but fascinating stuff to young minds, I promise! This DVD retails for $12.95 (and is currently 45% off on Amazon!).

The Magic School Bus has made my list of fantastic gift ideas for kids, and I recommend these and their other already released DVDs for personal and school libraries. They are fantastic!

Win it!: TWO lucky Stuff Parents Need readers will be winners! The first winner drawn will win Revving Up, and the second winner drawn will win In a Pickle!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Magic School Bus: The Complete Series GIVEAWAY (ARV $79.95)!!!

· by · 154 Comments

Do you remember The Magic School bus books, which of course launched the wildly popular tv series? Get ready to feel old, because The Magic School Bus is celebrating its 25th anniversary! The books actually first were published by Scholastic in 1986. The tv series premiered in 1994. I remember watching The Magic School bus with kids I would babysit. Even as a teenager, I always learned something when I watched an episode!

If you aren’t familiar with the series, you are in for a treat! It’s all about the world’s coolest teacher, Ms. Freizzle, who takes her students on AMAZING travels all over the world in her magic school bus. Each episode is chock-full of educational content that captivates children, as they are learning in the mist of a major adventure!

Scholastic Video is pleased to announce the release of The Magic School Bus: The Complete Series. This set has every single episode from the series available for your viewing (and learning!) pleasure. You probably already know from experience that this show is awesome, but if you need some convincing, just know that it has won the following awards:

  • Daytime Emmy®
  • Six CINE Golden Eagles
  • National Educational Media Network Gold Apple
  • Parents’ Choice Gold Medal for Excellence in Children’s Programming

The complete series has 8 dvds with 52 episodes, and extensive guides for parents and kids that help enhance the learning experience with more experiments and other ideas you can do together. There are also some fun activity sheets you can download right now! Click here and scroll down to middle part of the right section of the page. This set is so popular that it is currently on backorder! It will ship as soon as new stock is in, and it is listed at $79.95.

There are also two 3 packs (each featuring 12 episodes) for $24.95 as well as four single episode dvds for $12.95. But c’mon, don’t you really just want to have them all?!?

Here’s your chance!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win The Magic School Bus: The Complete Series! EEEE!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received complimentary products for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. 

My First Collection Volume 3 Featuring Chicken Little: Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

· by · 82 Comments

I am LOVING the My First Collection series from Scholastic Video. If you aren’t familiar with it, these are stories designed for toddlers and preschoolers. The stories are short and sweet, and also age appropriate. They have a lot of great stories that were previously unfamiliar to me, so that’s made watching them with Darah all the more fun.

But in Volume 3 of their My First Collection series, Scholastic does have a very familiar charcter: Chicken Little. Darah thinks he is an absolute riot!

Volume 3 actually contains 3 dvds. One is all about zany animal stories. Another is all about funny animal stories (Scardy Squirrel being our personal favorite). The third DVD is all about dogs. Darah especially loves the Angus film, which is not a cartoon but a live action film with an adorable and mischievous Scottie dog.

The entire set contains 12 different stories, along with bonus interview footage and read-along subtitles to help promote word recognition and literacy skills. The set is $24.95 and is a great value, in my opinion! Scholastic has yet to disappoint us with a DVD, and once again, they have produced an excellent collection that is right on target for the suggested age range!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win My First Collection Volume 3 from Scholastic!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary product for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own. 

Mo Willems Collection Now Available on DVD! (GIVEAWAY!!!)

· by · 64 Comments

Mo Willems is a celebrated children’s author. He is the brains behind that grumpy pigeon we all know and love from Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog. He also has written some other gems that were unknown to me until seeing them on this Scholastic video, Mo Willems’ Pigeon and Pals. Knuffle Bunny is much loved by Darah, perhaps because her best friend is also a stuffed bunny. And he’s got a hilarious story about a naked mole rat who wants to wear clothes. Shocking!

This 6 story, 2 DVD set is now available for $19.95, and also includes some really terrific bonus footage all about Mo Willems and how he does his work. And of course, this dvd set contains the read along function that you can set up, so that the words of the story appear and are highlighted as the story is being read to the child. This helps with reading skills!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Scholastic videos are a true treasure. The stories are excellent (which is definitely NOT something you can say about all children’s programming) and they prompt some great discussions between you and your child. The videos also stay very true to the books upon which they are based, which I appreciate very much. You can’t go wrong by picking up this DVD set, or any other from the Scholastic line!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a copy of Mo Willems’ Pigeon and Pals!

[Read more…]

Stellaluna DVD Review and GIVEAWAY!!!

· by · 73 Comments

Recently Darah has been enjoying a really cute Scholastic DVD based on the award winning book, Stellaluna.

It’s about a young fruit bat who is separated from her mother and adopted by a family of birds. Try as she might to fit in, there are just some things that birds can do that she can’t and vice versa. But Stellaluna does make an amazing discovery that helps her see the value in not always being just like everyone else.

The dvd is very fun to watch and has music and excitement. It has been a really fun way to introduce Darah to bats, which she seems quite curious about, and it provides a great starting point for conversations about how we all have different gifts and abilities.

This dvd runs 41 minutes in length and comes with a Stellaluna activity booklet and has an ARV of $12.95. Want a sneak peek? Here’s a link to a clip from the movie!  http://www.newvideo.com/images/Clips/Q2/Stellaluna_Clip1_Flying.mp4

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win a copy of Stellaluna!

[Read more…]

Scholastic’s Caldecott Favorites Review and GIVEAWAY

· by · 85 Comments

The Caldecott Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. It is a BIG deal to win this award! The books that win are pretty much a sure bet to be excellent, and that’s why I think it is so cool that Scholastic has put out a 3-disc set full of Caldecott winners!

The collection is called Caldecott Favorites, and it has 3 separate discs. Two of the discs we have had the pleasure of seeing before, and they are really great. First is Make Way for Ducklings and More Delightful Duck Tales and then Antarctic Antics and More Hilarious Animal Stories. So the entire collection is heavy on animal stories, which is just fine with Darah, who LOVES to talk about and learn about animals of all sorts.

There’s also a new DVD in the collection, called The Ezra Jack Keats Collection. This is real gem! It is full of winning books from this author. The books have a bit of a 1970s vibe to them, and they chronicle Peter, a child living in a big city, and all his adventures, from learning to whistle to getting a new baby sister to taking part in a pet show. Darah and I watched every episode from this DVD in just one sitting, because we really enjoyed that Peter would be featured each time!

This collection is jam-packed with excellent books that have been brought to life. It actually has 199 minutes of video, so that makes for a whole lot of great entertainment for a great price, just $24.95.  I highly recommend it! Scholastic Storybook Treasures scores yet again!

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader is going to win the Caldecott Favorites 3-disc set!

[Read more…]

Two New Titles from Scholastic: Review and GIVEWAY!!!

· by · 75 Comments

We are continuing to enjoy our My First Collection DVD set from Scholastic that came out earlier this year. It is aimed at a younger audience (those who are pre-reading and just starting to learn how to read). I’m happy to report that they have just released volume 2 in the series, and it is a big hit with Darah! My First Collection Volume 2 Featuring Spoon has the most adorable story from which its title derives. It’s all about a spoon who is bummed out that he can’t have the same experiences as his super cool friends, fork and knife. But what he realizes is that his friends wish they could to the things that only a spoon could do! He realizes that his gifts and talents are special and worthy of appreciation, even if there are things that he can’t do. What a great lesson! The series has 3 DVDS and 13 total stories, including ones that have won a Caldecott Honor, an ALA Notable Video and an American Film Festival Blue Ribbon Award. This is a great set to purchase, and it is value priced at $24.95.

The second new release from Scholastic is called Chrysanthemum…and Other Stories about Mischievous Mice and Adorable Animals. It is also a wonderful addition to our video collection. In addition to the title story, which is about an adorable mouse, we were pleased to see, “Is Your Mama a Llama?” in this set. We’ve heard such great things about this story, but have never owned it. Now we know it by heart! As a grown-up, you’ll also enjoy getting to hear great celebrity narrators on this set. Look for Meryl Streep, Sarah Jessica Parker and Danny Glover, just to name a few! This set has 17 stories in the 3 DVD set, and includes stories that have won the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children’s Video and the  Caldecott Honor. It is also available for $24.95.

If you don’t yet own any Scholastic DVDs, I cannot say enough wonderful things about them. They area sure to become treasures to your children, and you won’t tire of watching them, either, as they are so wonderfully presented and narrated. Scholastic does a great job of bringing stories that are already amazing to life in a whole new way. We love Scholastic!

Win it!: Two lucky Stuff Parents Need readers are going to win one DVD set each! Yay!

[Read more…]

Scholastic’s Curious George and The Man Who Walked Between the Towers

· by · Leave a Comment

It’s a new month, and that means it is time for some new releases from Scholastic! Woo hoo! I ALWAYS get excited when I get an email about what is coming out, and this month was no exception.

First, as we all know, we are commemorating the 10th anniversary of the September 11 tragedy this month. As adults, we all remember where we were on that fateful day. I was a senior in college. I can actually see that day on campus very clearly still, because it is so burned in memory. But how do we explain the event to our children who weren’t even alive at the time? Scholastic has released a Caldecott Award winning book by Mordecai Gerstin that can help children understand what the World  Trade Towers looked like, and that highlights a really memorable story from their history. It is the story of Pehilippe Petit, a French man who walked a tightrope between the towers in 1974, at a time when they were the world’s tallest buildings, and it is called, The Man Who Walked Between the Towers. It is narrated by Jake Gyllenhaal, and offers a great way to share a positive memory about the towers and the bravery of a single man. What a great story to reference when teaching your children about September 11th later on, and the bravery of all of those people inside the buildings. This disc has 4 stories of inspiration and retails for $14.95.

The second release this month tips its hat to National Hispanic Heritage Month, which is September. It features Curious George, also known as Jorge El Curioso! The title is Jorge El Monito Ciclista. This set has 19 stories in 3 DVDs, and they are all in Spanish as well as English. This is an excellent choice for any child who is working on learning Spanish, as you can hear it in Spanish with Spanish subtitles, Spanish with English subtitles, or English with Spanish subtitles. Yes, you can even watch it in English with English subtitles, which also makes it an excellent choice for any children who are Spanish speakers but are learning English. This set is available for $24.95.

Buy it!: Both sets are available for purchase now on the New Kideo website!

Win it!: Two lucky Stuff Parents Need readers will each win one of the titles I reviewed today! Yay! New to Rafflecopter? Click here for a tutorial! [Read more…]