Giveaway: Sid the Science Kid & Dive Olly Dive on DVD – 3 Chances To Win!

Category : Family entertainment, Featured Reviews

SidBugClub DVDDive Olly Dive Ship Shape Sub DVD

I am a huge advocate of PBS kids – in my opinion, there is just no substitute for quality educational shows that are entertaining and always appropriate for my preschooler. We’ve been watching PBS since he was barely walking and I am fairly certain that it was shows like Sesame Street, Word World and Super Why which played a big part in his learning the alphabet as well as colors, numbers and more. I love that there are no commercials or inappropriate shows to dodge – and he loves having all his favorite characters in one place.

The next best thing to watching PBS is having some of our favorite PBS shows on DVD – being able to pop in one of these discs is a lifesaver when I need to get something done around the house and it’s not a weekday morning or afternoon. I recently had the opportunity to review two new Sid the Science Kid DVDs, Change Happens and The Bug Club as well as a new DVD for PBS Sprout show Dive Olly Dive called Ship Shape Sub.

My son is a long standing fan of Sid the Science Kid and he loved being able to watch a mini marathon of some of his favorite episodes like The Dirt On Dirt and My Shrinking Shoes. I am also a big fan of Sid – I’ve always liked the many different things the show manages to teach and the music that Teacher Susie sings in each episode is always so catchy! The kids in the show are cute and interesting and I think the shows provide a good preview for my son about the idea of school and what it will be like.

Dive Olly Dive, on the other hand, was completely new to us as we don’t have PBS Sprout in our area. I was pretty instantly smitten with the show which stars two adorable submarines-in-training, Olly and Beth, whose stories provide fun facts about the ocean as well as great life-skills. This show was educational in a way that is different from the majority of PBS Kids shows – rather than incorporating the alphabet, counting, science, etc. into the shows, it focuses on behavior and life – you’ll find lessons like learning from your mistakes, not judging a book by it’s cover and listening to others – oh so important! Both DVDs are now being highly requested in our household.

One other big thing of mention is that both Sid DVDs come with a bonus disc containing over two hours of great PBS Kids and Sprout shows. The DVDs include full stories from Sid The Science Kid, Word World, Dive Olly Dive, Hurray for Huckle!, Tiny Planets, Will & Dewitt, Animal Atlas, Hermie and Freinds, Pocoyo and Hopia. Almost all of these shows were new to us and it was fun to see some of the different Sprout shows that we’ve been missing out on.

Here’s a synopsis of what’s on each of the DVDs:

“Sid the Science Kid: Change Happens” and “Sid the Science Kid: The Bug Club”

Featuring the delightfully inquisitive Sid the Science Kid and his precocious pals, both DVDs celebrate and explore the great outdoors, tackling such questions as why bees live in hives and ants live in anthills, and observing such phenomena as how the heat from the sun can change matter.  Episodes include:

“Change Happens” DVD

  • My Mushy Banana
  • My Shrinking Shoes
  • My Ice Pops
  • The Perfect Pancake

“The Bug Club” DVD

  • Hello Doggie
  • Home Tweet Home
  • The Dirt on Dirt
  • Don’t Forget the Leaves

“Dive Olly Dive!: Ship Shape Sub”

This 3D-animated DVD for preschoolers features five episodes from the Dive Olly Dive! series, which explores the many interesting facets of ocean life in an entertaining and educational way.  With exciting underwater adventures featured throughout, this lively DVD is a perfect way to cap off a fun-filled day at the beach! Episodes include:

  • Haunted Ship Prank
  • Less is More
  • Navigation Consternation
  • Follow that Lobster
  • Don’t Tell Beth

All three DVDs are distributed by NCircle Entertainment and carry a suggested retail price of $12.99 each.

We’re giving away all three of these great DVDs – one DVD each will be chosen at random for three lucky winners. Here’s how you can to enter to win:

  1. Tell us which PBS Kids or PBS Sprout show is your favorite. If you’ve never seen any of them, tell us which show you think your child would like the most. This is mandatory – if not done, all other entries will be null and void.
  2. For a second entry you can tweet about this giveaway. Need some tweet-spiration? “Cure summertime boredom! @mommasreview is giving away copies of Sid the Science Kid and Dive Olly Dive on DVD! www.mommasreview.com”
  3. For a third entry, post about it on your blog and leave a comment here with the URL of your post.
  4. For a final entry, subscribe to our RSS feed, leaving a comment here to tell us you’ve done so. We’ll be posting more giveaways on Momma’s Review soon so subscribing will be a great way for you to stay informed about all the great things you can win in the days and weeks to come.

This giveaway will close at 12:00 p.m. EST on August 14th 2009.

Top 5 Reasons You Should Be Watching ‘Raising The Bar’

Category : Family entertainment, Featured Reviews

So nobody told me that Zack Morris was on tv again. Then I started hearing these rumors about the actor who played him, Mark Paul Gosselaar, talking about blondes vs. brunettes and I was like, “Hmm, that’s weird.” Then I got a copy of season one of Raising The Bar, a legal drama on TNT, to review and after a couple seconds I nearly dropped my glass of root beer because, “OMG Zack is a brunette and he’s on this show!”

Jerry Kellerman is the new Zack Morris

Evidence : Photographic Proof – It’s Really Him!

This realization was pretty cool but nowhere near as cool as the show itself. It does however lead into my Top 5 Reasons You Should Be Watching ‘Raising The Bar’…

  1. If you were a fellow Zack Morris fan like myself, you now have an opportunity to get that Zack-fix you’ve been waiting for. Even better, you can enjoy that fix with your husband right next to you – and he’ll be too busy enjoying the actual show to make fun of you. If you can get past the hair, you should be set for an enjoyable evening. At first – the hair was a bit much for me and I couldn’t quite find the Zack we all knew and loved. But after an episode or two (you know the first episode of any new series is always the worst) he really gets into his groove with this new character, Jerry Kellerman, a brass public defender who always seems to be ruffling feathers as he fights for his latest cause.
  2. The other characters, yeah they are pretty good, too! Michelle Emhard, played by Melissa Sagemiller, is the quite suddenly off-again flame of Kellerman’s and also one of his rivals in the world of law. She is almost always on the other side of his cases – something which rarely interfered with their personal relationship until it really did, big time – and now (at the time that I’m watching mid-way through season one) there is that whole relationship dynamic – love thrown off the tracks – that is oh so fun to watch. And she’s pretty. So your husband will be thrilled.

    Emhardt vs. Kellerman - the usual scene

    You really shouldn’t mix love and work – but it does make for good tv!

  3. The plot line is actually really excellent. My husband actually called the pilot, “the best pilot for a show he’d ever seen.” He is seriously hooked and I’ve got to say, I am, too. I love how they really present all sides of a story (or twelve) with no real good guys or bad guys at the end of the day. Everyone is human – mistakes are made on all ends – and the result you hope for throughout the show may or may not be the best result. Even when the “good guy wins” it’s not always a good thing – and the good guy doesn’t always win. It’s very down to earth in that regard and it’s exciting but it’s also realistic.
  4. The actors and actresses who are not Michelle and Jerry are also terrific. You’ll recognize Judge Trudy Kessler, played by Jane Kaczmarek from the hit tv series Malcom In The Middle. She is excellent, in that you really can’t stand her half the time, even though you almost understand where she is coming from, except – who can be so cruel to the adorable Jerry on such a frequent basis? And she’s just another of many, many fabulous faces in this legal drama which has officially become a favorite in our household.
  5. Okay now for the “relevant to you here and NOW” part. Tonight at 10pm ET the newest episode from Season 2 (catch up on Season One now on DVD – or the first few episodes of Season 2 online) is one I think any mother blogger would be interested in. The episode is entitled, “No Child Left Behind (see a sneak preview here)” and reviews for this episode have been all over the net. You can read a great review by 5 Minutes For Mom here. The basic plot line is this: A man is arrested when an innocent bath time photo of his son online is picked up by a pervy website. See? This is a topic we all deal with frequently as mom bloggers – and according to 5 Minutes For Mom it’s really well done. I’m planning to record it on my DVR to watch asap (and hope I don’t get too many relationship spoilers from it!)

So – there you go – a great new legal drama for you to enjoy now with a fix of Zack Morris ogling and a topic relevant to you as a mom blogger. No need to thank me – unless you really, really want to. :)

Why I like Max & Ruby…

Category : Momma's Say

max_and_ruby_

There has been some discussion lately over children’s shows that parent’s don’t like to watch. Of course, as a Momma, I have shows that annoy me to no end. They include but aren’t limited to: Hi 5, Boohbah, and Barney (of course). I don’t like to watch them because they are just plain irritating. Unfortunately, my kids love the high spirits, songs and joy that the shows bring.

I heard during a virtual conversation that one of the highly disliked shows was Max and Ruby. The reasoning for the dislike is the lack of parents for the adorable rabbit brother (Max) and sister (Ruby). At no point in the show do the parents show up to help out. In one episode you can get a glimpse of the parents in a family portrait on the wall, but this is the only note of their existance. It does seem odd that the young Ruby cares solely for Max, but I love that Max teaches Ruby lessons with his naivety and honesty.

Of course, I’ve wondered where their parents are… though all it took was a google search and a little digging and I had my answer. The reason there are no parents is the very reason I like Max and Ruby. Associated Content clarified this issue in February 2009:

“Well, sometimes kids have to work things out on their own. Rosemary Wells tells Nick Jr. that “As in most other classic stories, we don’t see Max & Ruby’s parents. I believe that kids resolve their issues and conflicts differently when they are on their own.” – Associated Content

Ms. Wells, you may be on to something here.  My two children are constantly at each others throats. They fight over everything. It makes me lose my mind. Example:

  1. “CAYLEIGH!!! LET ME SIT IN THE BASKET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (slap)(kick)
  2. “Mooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmm Gabrielle is looking at me funny and I’m trying to watch tv”
  3. “Cayleigh, give me back my horse!” (slap)(Kick)
  4. “I hate you!”

That’s a normal five minutes of my life. No matter what I do they do not get along. I’ve started to take advice from Max and Ruby and step out of the picture. Each time my children battle it is constantly brought to me as a wall to beat the issue onto. I began the task today and when I was yelled at one more time I said to them:

Me: “Girls, resolve this on your own”

Them: “What does resolve mean?”

Me: “That means fix things on your own.”

Them: ….. (crickets chirping)

Holy cow, it worked. There was silence and they didn’t bug me again about this one small battle. Thank you Rosemary Wells, why didn’t I think this earlier? This did not stop the next issue from coming to me but it was a start.

Do you have any tips on how to get your children to get along?

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