Category: Education

Education, Toy Reviews

Codi the Educational Robot for Kids

Erin Sluka
Codi the Educational Robot for Kids

Looking for screen-free, educational toys? They are hard to find these days. Codi the educational robot is an educational robot that plays songs, tells stories, teaches habits, sends messages and answers questions. Also, Codi helps put your kids to bed at night and at nap time!

codi robot

Below is a video showing all of his best features and how when you load the free Codi Parent app you can do so much more. The app is available in Google Play and Apple store. Just download, connect Codi and he will be at his full potential.

Codi comes with a blue and white outfit, but there are more additional outfits you can buy separately to personalize Codi.

codi outfits

I love how customizable Codi is for parents!

  • Control what you want or do not want your child to listen to
  • See what your child has been playing
  • Set volume controls
  • Set guided routines when it’s time to clean up, brush their teeth, etc.

See more about Codi on the Pillar website and he is also available from Amazon.

Children's Books, Education, Kids

2 Special Educational Needs (SEN) Children’s Books – ADHD and Dyslexia

Erin Sluka

There is a new series called SEN Superpowers. The series celebrates the positive traits associated with a range of common SEN (Special Education Needs) specialties, boosting the confidence and strength-awareness of children with those conditions, while also allowing for better understanding and positivity among their peers. This series is by Quarto.

Someone has been stealing food from Snowball, the classroom pet bunny! Can Izzy use her SEN Superpowers to track down the culprit and save the day? SEN Superpowers: The Classroom Mystery explores the topic of ADHD.

When I was younger they called it ‘spacing out’, ‘rude’ or ‘unable to pay attention’. We know ADHD to be a superpower now and in this series the focus on one task helps a classroom pet.

When Sammy’s group loses their map on a camping trip, can he use his SEN Superpowers to save the day and lead them safely back to the campsite? SEN Superpowers: The Map Challenge explores the topic of dyslexia.

Words are only a part of a story. There are challenges and advantages to dyslexia and this story shines on both for Sammy.

These 2 books are available now on Amazon and more information and locations for purchase at Quarto!

Education, Kids, Non-seasonal, STEM Learning

Build and Code Your Own Tablet with Kano

Erin Sluka

What projects do you have planned with the kids this summer? We are building and coding a tablet! That’s right, we will build our very own tablet that will be touchscreen and download apps and play on it with or without a keyboard. With Kano, making your own tablet is easier than you think.

The booklet comes with easy-to-follow illustrated instructions and the parts are sturdy and brightly colored to match the illustrations as you move along and build and code your own tablet. My son had his box opened and was connecting pieces in minutes.

The best part is that they get to touch the pieces, connect the board, buttons and bits. They learn how a tablet works because they understood the reasoning to each step.

If you get stuck they have a great help section with solutions to any problem no matter how small or big.

Once the tablet is built there are a few things you can do. You can code your own games, music and art in Playground Mode. You can even hack Minecraft and do more advanced coding with real Javascript or Python.

The Story Mode app brings an in-depth look at how his computer works with challenges to complete and level up. The apps have hundreds of hours’ worth of coding challenges and games. Also, you can also download apps from the Kano app store like you would with any tablet.

To really turn their tablet into something spectacular, try the Harry Potter Coding Kit where you can build a wand, learn to code and make magic in the Harry Potter app. Available in the Kano store.

The Pixel Kit is fun as well because you get to make and code dazzling lights as well as build art and animation on a pixel box using a Kano app for help.

Get your Kano Computer Kit Touch today
Easter, Education, Healthy Living, Kids, Parenting, Tips and Tricks

Zendoway Cubes: Relaxation and Stress Management Tools

Erin Sluka

These 14 soft and colorful cubes provide simple suggestions for kids and adults to nourish the mind and body throughout the day.   They also squeeze for stress management and release! 

Zendoway Cubes: Relaxation and Stress Management Tools

The themes of these cubes include:

  • Happy (Gold Cube)
  • Gratitude (Orange Cube)
  • Positivity (Light Blue Cube)
  • Affirmations (Red Cube)
  • Breathing (Blue Cube)
  • Coping Strategies (Purple Cube)
  • Feelings (White/Blue Cube)
  • Nourishment (Yellow Cube)
  • Play (Earth Pattern)
  • Principles (Green Cube)
  • Questions (Black Cube)
  • Yoga Poses White/Orange Cube)
  • Chakra (Multi-Color Cube)
  • Stressed Out (Light Green Cube)

These make excellent Teacher and Counselor gifts for your child’s school. Sometimes kids just need simple release. Like adults, kids can benefit from calm activities that just help them refocus and reorganize their thoughts.

With my son I always keep that in mind. At 10 years old he is very well adjusted and is an excellent friend and student. We always read before bed every night since he was an infant. He goes in and out of phases being an independent reader, but I mainly have kept reading before bed as a traditional me-time and a way to de-escalate at night.

I also give him days off! For sports season and school he gets a certain number of free passes ( 1 per semester at school and 1 per sport season). His free pass can be used at anytime he wants which means he gets to wake up and for no real reason say “not today”. He does not abuse it and has learned through the years to SAVE his free days when he looks ahead and realizes an event may happen where he wants or needs that day. Why? Because sometimes we just need to self care and to call in a day but not in ways that it becomes bad habits. I gave them to his step brothers when they were younger too and they remember it. Both older boys are excellent employees today and this ‘time off’ did not create bad habits for them but they learned to ‘slow down’ and ‘take a day’.

These Zendoway Cubes are excellent tools and every home and classroom should give them a try.

Buy Zendoway Cubes

Comment: I was sent sets of the Cubes for feature. All opinions are my own