Between the Bookends: 8 Books We Read in March 2019
Reading Time: 9 minutes
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Author: Sophie Brown
Game Preview: ‘Dual Bet Poker Plus’
Dual Bet Poker Plus is a new, family-friendly, strategic game from Ku Per Nik Enterprises based around Texas Hold’em style poker. [Sponsored]
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Build Your Own Wizarding World With Wrebbit 3D Puzzles
Reading Time: 5 minutes
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Toniebox: A Child-Friendly Audio System That Comes at a Cost
Reading Time: 6 minutes Tonies, Image: Sophie Brown (Logo: Tonies) What Is Toniebox? Toniebox is a child-friendly audio system that allows kids to listen to music and stories using their own portable speaker called a Toniebox which is operated using colorful figures called Tonies. A headphone jack also allows the Toniebox to be used at […]
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Spinlight: 3 Apps to Help With Math and Logic Skills
Reading Time: 5 minutes Spinlight Apps, Image: Sophie Brown via Little 10 Robot Recently taken over by Little 10 Robot—one of my favorite app companies—Spinlight creates educational apps that kids and parents will both enjoy. My nine-year-old son and I have spent the last few months playing with three more apps from Spinlight: Winky Think […]
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‘Cobra Paw’: Develop Your Ninja Skills in This Tile Grabbing Game
Reading Time: 3 minutes Cobra Paw, Image: Bananagrams What is Cobra Paw? Cobra Paw is a fast-paced game from the team behind Bananagrams in which players compete to be the first to spot the tile with the correct symbols on it. Components: Two “Catnippon” Dice 21 Tiles (“Clawfuku Stones”) Instructions How Do You Play Cobra […]
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‘Jurassic World Evolution’: Dino Park Management With Stunning Visuals
Reading Time: 4 minutes Jurassic World Evolution, Image: Frontier Games What Is Jurassic World Evolution? Jurassic World Evolution is a business simulation style game where players get to construct their own dinosaur theme park, managing attractions, research, and park development while keeping their guests and star attractions happy. What Rating Is Jurassic World Evolution? Jurassic […]
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‘Show and Tile:’ The Game of Abstract Tangram Artistry
Reading Time: 4 minutes Show and Tile, Image Jellybean What Is Show and Tile? Show and Tile is a creative party game for three to six players aged eight and up which asks you to create pictures from colored tangram tiles. Other players must then guess what you have created while you must guess their […]
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Dictionary of Dinosaurs: Dive Into a Deluge of Dino Data
Reading Time: 3 minutes Dictionary of Dinosaurs, Image: Wide Eyed Editions Dictionary of Dinosaurs: An Illustrated A-Z of Every Dinosaur Ever Discovered does exactly what it says on the cover. The book is nearly 200 pages long, contains over 300 dinosaur profiles, and is packed full of illustrations and facts about every dinosaur you’ve ever […]
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8 Halloween Reads to Make Your October Spooktacular
Reading Time: 12 minutes Halloween Reads for All Ages, Image: Sophie Brown In this collection of Halloween reads there’s something for kids, teens, and adults, whether you prefer your October filled with silliness, spooks, or full-on scares. I’ve had a lot of fun reading these books (and spooked myself by reading some of them alone […]
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Between the Bookends: 8 Books We Read in September 2018
Reading Time: 9 minutes Between the Bookends, Image: Sophie Brown With our children back in school for a new year of learning, Sophie, Kay, Lisa, and Rebecca share some of their latest reads. With a new, feminine take on an ancient Greek classic, a girl detective for the new generation, the first Deadpool prose novel, […]
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4 Literacy Games and Activities That Help Make Learning Fun
Reading Time: 7 minutes Literacy Games, Images: Green Board Game Company, The Creativity Hub, Bananagrams Back in April, I shared 5 games and activities that can help with math skills and homework. Today I’m bringing you 4 more games and activities for your family, this time focusing on literacy games which will help with language […]
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‘MYnd Kraft’: 7 Programming-Based Card Games in 1
Reading Time: 6 minutes MYnd Kraft, Image: Tharini Rajamohan This post was sponsored by Mynd Kraft. MYnd Kraft is a card game based on programming principles. It is suitable for kids age seven and up, and there are seven different games you can play with the cards. The game is currently funding on Kickstarter. New […]
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The Saga Continues: ‘Thrawn: Alliances’ by Timothy Zahn
Reading Time: 6 minutes The Saga Continues Thrawn: Alliances, Image: Sophie Brown/Penguin Random House The Saga Continues is a post series that explores the Star Wars new canon. Thrawn: Alliances is the second Grand Admiral Thrawn novel in the new canon and is authored by Timothy Zahn, who also introduced the character in the Legends […]
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Between the Bookends: 7 Books We Read in July 2018
Reading Time: 8 minutes Between the Bookends, Image: Sophie Brown In this month’s Between the Bookends, Nivi, Rebecca, K, and Sophie share their favorite books from July, including picture books, middle-grade novels, and Minecraft experiments to share with your kids, steamy romance (you probably shouldn’t share that one with your kids), and several novels dealing […]
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Kickstarter Alert: ‘So Cards,’ Questions for Deeper Discussion
Reading Time: 3 minutes So Cards, Image: Sophie Brown What Is So Cards? So Cards is a deck of cards that act as conversation starters, encouraging deeper discussions between you and your friends. https://ksr-video.imgix.net/projects/3369904/video-890788-h264_high.mp4 Components The So Cards deck contains 52 cards, each with one question printed on it. There’s also a card that lists […]
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Jigsaws: Piecing Together a Box Filled With Traditional Fun
Reading Time: 4 minutes Completed Jigsaw, Image: Sophie Brown These days it’s tempting to focus on flashy toys when we’re out purchasing items for our children. Kids seem to be naturally drawn to anything with screens, buttons, and sound effects – and there’s nothing wrong with any of that. However, there are still plenty of […]
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Smart Games: Single-Player Puzzle Games to Get You Thinking
Reading Time: 8 minutes Dinosaurs Mystic Islands, IQ Stars, and Asteroid Escape Puzzle Games, Images: Smart Games Single-player puzzle games from Smart Games are designed to challenge kids and adults alike. We recently played with three different puzzle games from their current range, Dinosaurs: Mystic Islands, Asteroid Escape, and IQ Stars, and thoroughly enjoyed each […]
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‘National Parks of the USA’ Will Make You Want to Explore America
Reading Time: 3 minutes National Parks of The USA, Image: Wide Eyed Editions The United States has some of the most spectacular scenery and wonderful wildlife on the planet, and nowhere is that more evident than in its national parks. National Parks of the USA by Kate Siber explores each of the country’s 59 parks one […]
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Why You Should Buy a ‘Pokemon Trading Card Game’ Trainer Kit
Reading Time: 5 minutes Pokemon TCG Alolan Sandslash and Alolan Ninetails Trainer Kit, Image: The Pokemon Company With last week’s release of new Alolan Pokemon into Pokemon Go (for some players anyway), this is a great time to talk about the latest Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) Trainer Kit which features Alolan Sandslash and Alolan Ninetails. […]
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Escape From Isla Nublar With ‘Jurassic Park: Danger’
Reading Time: 12 minutes Jurassic Park: Danger, Image: Ravensburger What is Jurassic Park: Danger? Jurassic Park: Danger is a semi-cooperative board game by Ravensburger available exclusively from Target and which is based on the original Jurassic Park movie. In order for the Human Players to win they must accomplish their goals, activate the locations, and […]
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How Powerline Adapters Could Banish Your Wi-Fi Woes
Reading Time: 6 minutes TP-Link Powerline Adapters, Images TP-Link TP-Link Powerline Adapters allow you to extend your home network through your existing electrical wiring, increasing speeds and reducing dropouts. We gave the system a try to see if it would really improve things as much as the box claimed. How Do Powerline Adapters Work? Our […]
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‘Star Wars: Destiny Legacies’ Expansion and Storage Binders
Reading Time: 5 minutes Star Wars Destiny Legacies and Storage Binders, Images: Fantasy Flight Games and Lucasfilm Last year I started playing Star Wars: Destiny, a two-player collectible dice and card game from Fantasy Flight Games. For 2018, the game has a new expansion: Legacies, which consists of a 160-card booster set and two new […]
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The Saga Continues: ‘Last Shot’ by Daniel José Older
Reading Time: 5 minutes The Saga Continues… Image: Sophie Brown With Infinity War finally behind us, geek eyes the world over are now turning to this summer’s next big movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story. While the young Han movie is still a few weeks away from release, the tie-in novel Star Wars: Last Shot […]
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Between the Bookends: 12 Books We Read in April 2018
Reading Time: 15 minutes Between the Bookends, Image: Sophie Brown Welcome to this month’s bumper Between the Bookends. If it’s felt like a while since our last post, that’s because we’ve switched dates; Between the Bookends will now be appearing on the first of every month to bring you our latest reading discoveries. In the […]
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‘Pokemon Sun and Moon: Ultra Prism’ Cards + Giveaway
Reading Time: 5 minutes Pokemon Ultra Prism, Images: The Pokemon Company When my son started to become obsessed with Pokemon GO, I made myself a promise: we would not get into collecting Pokemon cards. They were a bottomless pit of money, storage, and time. So, naturally, we now own several hundred of them. The latest […]
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Kickstarter Tabletop Alert: ‘Kicking Class’
Reading Time: 9 minutes Kicking Class, Image: Sophie Brown/RAAM Games This post was sponsored by RAAM Games. Who will come out on top over four years of high school? Whether your goal is straight As or being the most popular kid in class, Kicking Class will have you competing for the scholarship of your dreams. […]
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5 Math Games and Activities That Help Make Learning Fun
Reading Time: 7 minutes Math Games, Images: Green Board Game Company, Wildcard Games, Happy Puzzle Company No kid wants to do homework after school, but math games help to make it that bit more enjoyable. My family has been using these math games and activities recently when my son is asked to practice his math […]
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Stack Overflow: 5 Revolutionary Reads
I had the opportunity to finally watch ‘Hamilton’ in London a few days ago, and have been preparing for this by devouring books about the man himself, the musical based on his life, and the era in which he lived.
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Explore and Learn About Ancient Egypt With ‘Egyptians’
Reading Time: 5 minutes Egyptians, Image: Green Board Games Co. Egyptians is a part-roll-and-move, part-trivia board game that is designed to teach you and your family about Ancient Egypt in a fun and engaging manner. The aim of the game is to collect a complete set of Pharaoh cards and place them safely inside your […]
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