In case you’d like to join in, I’m hosting a Christmas Ornament Show & Tell on our family blog, No Ordinary Moments starting this Wednesday, December 8th.

Read more here…

We love Melissa & Doug toys and today Amazon’s Deal of the Day is a variety Melissa and Doug products!!! They have 50% off a big selection of their toys, so I wanted to pass along some of the deals

Our boys have loved the Jumbo Coloring Pads…

The Wooden Shape Sorting Clock…

And Wooden Animal Magnets too!

They have a variety of other deals on preschool toys too, so be sure to check out the full page of on sale items here!!

Last week, I signed up for a FREE trial of Amazon Prime and I am in love! Get 2 day shipping for FREE – perfect for all of your holiday shopping. Get more info on Amazon Prime here.

Just wanted to share the deals with you!!

My hubby is on vacation this week and at the moment I am curled up in bed and trying to avoid some discomfort, namely a nasty kidney stone that seems to have taken residence in my body and now wants to get out.

Resting for me takes on many forms, one of them being ‘creative’ ~ so I figured I’d ask you all if there were any specific printables that you are looking for. While I may not be able to make them all, it will help me get my mind off the present. :)

So…leave a comment and let me know! Preschool or not ~ is there a printable that you are looking for?

One of the ‘staples’ on my ipod and in our van is the Seeds Family Worship cds. I can’t tell you how much it has helped me personally put Scripture to memory ~ and not want to go crazy with kid-style music!

In addition to the five albums that Seeds currently offers, they are now taking pre-orders for their sixth album, Seeds of Character!!! Seeds of Character is about the character of Christ and how God’s Word tells us we need to be more like Him.

And yep, I’ve already pre-ordered my copy!

The first five cds have over 58 portions of Scripture set to contemporary music for you and your kids to enjoy and learn Scripture and I have no doubt that the newest album will be just as fabulous. One of the best features of their albums is when you purchase a cd from Seeds, each package actually comes with TWO cds ~ one for you and one to share with a friend. You simply tear the packaging along the perforation and share.

If you pre-order the Seeds of Character album now, you will receive:

• a Christmas card with a download card that has 6 Seeds songs (beginning to ship November 15 – cards are live December 1)
• the FULL Seeds album by Easter 2011 (shipped April 1). This includes the famous Seeds buy-one/give-one packaging–two identical CDs providing you an extra to share with friends near or far.

Seeds has also provided a FREE SHIPPING code for my readers, so if you are looking for a little something as a stocking stuffer, now is a great time to order it! You can order directly from the preorder Seeds page on my blog. The free shipping code is located directly below the ‘add to cart’ button. This special is only valid until December 15th and guarantees delivery prior to Christmas.

If you don’t have any of the other 5 Seeds Family Worship albums, don’t forget that you can use the code HOMESCHOOLCREATIONS during your checkout on the Seeds Family Store site and receive 20% off your order. Coupon code is not valid on pre-orders of the new cd {sorry!}.

Finding great learning toys that can be used in different ways is something that I am always trying to do. The Animal Train Sort and Match from Guidecraft was a toy that our kids have had much fun playing with ~ and finding creative ways to use it too!

When you slide the top of the wooden storage box off, inside you find 43 brightly colored plastic animal and train pieces ready for sorting, patterning, sequencing and more. The Animal Train Sort and Match includes a magnetic building board that props up inside the back of the box and has pegs to help hold the train pieces in place.

There are six double sided pattern cards that your child can use to imitate and build animal trains, or they can create their own train. The animals are all magnetic, so they can be used on any other surface in your house that will hold magnets.

Our Thoughts

Kaleb has really enjoyed imitating the pattern cards and our other kids have had fun finding different ways to play with the toy. He also liked sorting the animals by kind…

Working on simple ABAB patterns…

…and also lacing through the noses or eyes of many of the animals using laces from another one of our toys.

We also built houses using our Rainbow Blocks and put animals that matched the colors in the different blocks.

Overall, I’m impressed with the quality of the toy too. The pattern cards are very durable and thick {I would have a difficult time bending them intentionally}. The magnets are enclosed inside each of the animals also, so there is no need to worry about them falling out around the house for little hands to pick up and stick in a mouth.

Find Out More

The Animal Train Sort and Match is available through the Guidecraft website and also available from Amazon. We also have the Construction Truck Sort and Match and love it too!

Carissa at My Life on a Taffy Pull is hosting a giveaway for an Animal Train Sort and Match from Nov 10th til the 14th, so be sure to visit and enter to win one for your little ones!

As a Guidecraft Mom blogger, I was provided this product to review. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed in this post are mine…or my kids.

Congrats to the following two ladies for winning Homepreschool and Beyond by Susan Lemons. Looking forward to hearing from you ladies!