Liken the Scriptures: Nephi and Laban

The first movie in the Liken the Scriptures Gold Series, and in fact the first movie they made, tells us about Spencer, a little boy who’s having a really hard time sitting still in church. Instead of listening to the Sharing Time presentation about Nephi and his family, Spencer would rather play with his toy car. His Primary teacher takes him out into the hall and challenges him to use his imagination to make the story come to life in his mind, and Spencer takes her up on it. Before he knows it, he’s seeing the story in living color, … Continue reading →

Liken the Scriptures

“Liken the Scriptures” is a company that is taking the family entertainment industry by storm. The first time I ever saw a movie produced by Liken, I admit I wasn’t quite sure what to think. Characters from the scriptures doing the Charleston? A little too weird for my tastes. But after I watched the whole movie, my opinion was changed. The “Liken the Scriptures” movies are created to help children understand the scriptures in a way they never did before, in the hopes that those children will then turn to the scriptures for themselves and read what’s found there for … Continue reading →

Blue’s Clues: Shapes and Colors

We are gonna play Blue’s Clues ’cause it’s a really great game, yeah! My daughter has a small collection of “Blue’s Clues” videos, which will probably grow steadily as her birthday arrives this month and the holidays approach. However, I am sharing with you, dear readers, my opinions on the videos that we do have. “Shapes and Colors!” is one of the DVDs that we own and it has been instrumental in helping Ciera learn her shapes and colors. Shape Searchers Joe, Blue, and their friends form a group called the Shape Searchers. Their goal is to find different shapes … Continue reading →

Blue’s Big Musical Movie

We are fans of the lovable Blue from “Blue’s Clues.” Naturally, my daughter just had to have Blue’s first movie on DVD — “Blue’s Big Musical Movie.” In this movie, Blue, Steve, and all of their friends plans the perfect backyard musical show. Blue and all of her friends are planning a big musical show in Steve’s backyard. Blue is supposed to have a big duet with Tickety Tock, but Tickety has laryngitis and can’t sing! Throughout all of the preparations for the show, Steve plays Blue’s Clues to figure out who Blue wants as her new singing partner. Steve … Continue reading →

Blue Takes You to School

My daughter is a huge fan of “Blue’s Clues.” So much, in fact, that she was Blue for Halloween this year. Totally cute. We have a collection of “Blue’s Clues” DVDs, so I thought that I would share some of them with all of you. One of the DVDs we have is called “Blue Takes You to School” and it has four episodes on it. Blue Takes You to School In this episode, Periwinkle the cat is going to school for the first time. He is counting on Blue, Joe, and the children (whom we never see, but often hear) … Continue reading →

Curious George 65th Anniversary DVD

“He was a good little monkey and always very curious.” We know these words to be those that describe the eternally-popular and timeless Curious George. In a special edition DVD, the clay-mation edition of the first story about Curious George, along with “Curious George Goes to the Hospital,” comes to life. It celebrates the 65th anniversary of the first “Curious George” book and the 40th anniversary of “Curious George Goes to the Hospital.” I believe this video was first released in the 80’s because I remember having it and watching it as a child. When I saw this DVD in … Continue reading →

Online DVD Rental Sites

Ever since Netflix launched in 1999, the popularity of renting DVDs through online services has increased. Anyone who watches television or spends time on the Internet has surely heard of these services. Until I started a little bit of research, I thought that Netflix and Blockbuster Online were the only online DVD rental services available. Unfortunately, I don’t know a whole lot about those other rental services. In the meantime, I can compare and contrast Netflix and Blockbuster Online, as I have used both. Netflix Usually, the first thing that gets people interested in Netflix is the free trial. For … Continue reading →

Software Review: Basic Facts Bingo Part II

Now that you have chosen your layout, it is time to select the content setting. Once that’s done you move on to selecting the activity content setting. This is were you select which type of problem(s) you want: addition, subtraction, multiplication , division or a combination of two or more. When you select addition you also choose the high and low for both addends. You can also select from basic facts or you can limit the sum to whatever number you choose. For the younger kids, for instance, you might want to limit the sum to 10. Remember the younger … Continue reading →

Software Review: Basic Facts Bingo Part I

Software Review: Schoolhouse Technologies Basic Facts Bingo System Requirements: Windows XP, 2000, 98, ME, and NT 4 (with Service Pack 6) Cost: Freeware Available at : http://www.download.com/Basic-Facts-Bingo/3000-2051_4-10423987.html?tag=lst-0-8 Schoolhouse Technologies makes learning math facts fun with their free Basic Facts Bingo program. I was able to quickly download and install the application and it takes just a minute to create, review and print your custom-made bingo cards. The program has a user-friendly Windows interface with familiar toolbar and menu items. I wish the developers would have done one thing different though; they do not offer a way to save the cards … Continue reading →

Baby’s Favorite Places: First Words — Around Town

The Baby Einstein Company has a new DVD in town called “Baby’s Favorite Places: First Words — Around Town.” This new video features baby’s first words around the neighborhood and around the town. This is the second Baby Einstein video to feature the words in sign language; the first was “Baby Wordsworth: First Words — Around the House.” As in “Baby Wordsworth,” Academy Award Winning actress Marlee Matlin introduces the sign language for the word as a picture of the object is shown next to her. Each word is spoken as well. At the end of each segment, a child … Continue reading →