Popar Toys Interactive 3D Puzzle Games Embedded With Augmented Reality

Thank you to Popar Toys for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon and for providing an additional product for our contest prize.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Popar Toys is in the business of making augmented reality toys that get kids using their brains and then envelop technology into the mix. Their new interactive 3D puzzle games take this augmented reality idea and make it into a really fun, challenging, yet informative way to play. We received their Soccer and Planets 3D puzzle game and we were very excited to try these out, having had such fun with one of their augmented reality books previously.

The puzzles are as well made as you’d expect a puzzle to be and with 300 pieces in each, they are fairly challenging as well. They really got us using our logic skills as well as fine motor. It took us about an hour to complete each puzzle and then the real fun started when we used the apps.

To use the apps, simply open the corresponding app, point the camera on your iOS or Android device at the puzzle, line it up with the guides, and then the games “unlock” and you can play. The soccer puzzle’s app features lots of cool games and mini games to play that are soccer themed and utilize the touch screen and tilt action to play. From my 6 year old on up, we’ve all had fun playing this Popar Soccer Puzzle app.

The Planets Puzzle was the same concept but it was more of an informative app that told facts and other information about our solar system. It did have several mini games too that were really entertaining. My kids love learning, so they liked the info more than the games but the games were fun too.

Both apps are really cool and truly bring the puzzles to life in a unique way. Each puzzle retails for $14.99 and the corresponding apps are free on the app store. You can purchase these on Popar’s website at www.popartoys.com.

Our contest winner will choose to receive one of the following Popar Interactive 3D Puzzle Games . . .

• Basketball
• Football
• Soccer
• Construction Machines
• Picnic
• Planets
• Princess (Winner of the Summer 2013 Tillywig Toys & Media Award)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck in the drawing!

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. A random number drawing will be held shortly after the contest closing. The winner will be announced here and will be contacted via email. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

DIY Reusable Advent Calendar Boxes

Last year, I made these DIY Advent Boxes and I am happy to say that our children just loved them.  If you recall, I had put a piece of Holiday candy for each child in every box along with pieces to a jigsaw puzzle.  Every day in the month of December, they would open a new box to retrieve their candy and to find more pieces to the puzzle.  I will be using these advent boxes again to countdown to Christmas with my children, but I made two changes . . .

The first change is that I included 4 pieces of candy in each box instead of 3.  Why?  Because my husband jokingly complained that there was no candy for him each day, thus guilting our children into sharing their candy with him.

The second change I made is to use a more difficult puzzle.  Last year I used the 100pc Crocodile Creek Robot Travel Puzzle.  I was able to put 4 puzzle pieces in each box.  Although the puzzle was just slightly challenging for our then nearly 5 year old twins, it was far too easy for their big brother, who was nearly 8 at the time.  So this year, I chose a more challenging puzzle . . . the Disney Circle of Friends 150pc Puzzle.  I thought this puzzle looked neat because it is circular in shape, plus it has all our children's favorite Disney characters on it.  Well, it turned out that the puzzle was even challenging for me.  I had to assemble it in order to put the puzzle pieces into the advent boxes in an order that made sense.  Hopefully, our now nearly 9 year old son will be able to help the twins with adding their pieces.  Since there are 150 pieces in the puzzle, most of the boxes have 6 puzzle pieces in them, which I think will be more fun for each child to be able to add more than one piece to the puzzle per day.

Go here to learn how to make these DIY Reusable Advent Boxes.

Add a Fun Activity to Your Advent Calendar This Christmas

I have nothing against candy as treats around the various holidays.  For my children's advent calendar though, I wanted to have something more than candy for them.  So I thought it would be fun to put a few pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in each box so that they could add to the puzzle everyday from December 1st through the 24th.  I really could not afford to put one toy for each of our three children in every box for 24 days, so this is an inexpensive alternative and a great non-candy option for those who want to avoid putting sweets in their children's advent calendar.

I bought this robot jigsaw puzzle at Target for under $5.  It has 100 pieces, so I put 4 pieces in the first 23 boxes and then 8 in the very last box.  If you have a single child who is younger, a 24-pieces puzzle would work out perfectly . . . one piece for each day.

If you would like to try this, the first thing you would need to do is to assemble the puzzle.  Then you need to select pieces that all join together at some point to place in the first box.  The second box would need to contain pieces that all join together, but also has at least one piece that connects to one of the pieces in the previous day's box.  That way, your child can add to the puzzle everyday without having odd pieces that do not connect.

If my children enjoy this activity, I intend to make it a tradition and will select a new puzzle to include next year.

Click here for my DIY Advent Calender Tutorial

Giveaway & Review: Photoworks Photo Gifts for the Whole Family ($50 GC) [CLOSED]

If you are like me . . . someone who enjoys taking photos and someone who swears by giving personalized gifts, then you should really take a look at PhotoWorks, which is brought to us by American Greetings. One of the hottest trends in gift-giving is photo books because they are now becoming so much easier to make and are far more affordable than just one year ago. PhotoWorks just introduced their new line of Studio Books. My husband's and my 10th anniversary is coming up this fall and I think a photo book would be the perfect way to commemorate the 15 years we've spent together.

PhotoWorks offers photo gifts for the entire family . . . from personalized board books for your little ones to photo jewelry to photo cutting boards for your favorite chef and everything in between. I have to tell you it was tough to choose which items I wanted to select for this article. I ended up choosing something that was fun and then something that was practical.

The first item I chose was a Photo Jigsaw Puzzle. I chose this item because it can be enjoyed and cherished by my family for many years to come. I also liked the idea that a puzzle would bring us together for some family time. That is why I think a photo puzzle would be a great gift if you are looking for one special gift to give to a whole family. This glossy 252-piece puzzle sells for $24.95, measures 10-1/2" x 13-1/2", and comes in a storage tin that has the photo printed on the lid. Even if someday the puzzle pieces become too worn or get lost, I will still cherish this tin.

The puzzle the photo was printed on was not made for younger children. Our six year old had a tough time with it because some of the pieces would fit into each other even if they were not meant to go together. Also, the edge pieces and a small handful from the center were all still physically connected and had to be pulled apart. Still, in the end the finished puzzle looked great and my husband, our 6yr old, and myself were able to spend quality time together.

The second product I selected was from PhotoWorks' large selection of photo mugs. I started off designing a mug for my husband, but then decided that I wanted one for myself as well. So I turned two of the white 15oz Photo Mugs into a pair of his and her mugs.

These mugs were $15.95 each and offered five different layouts, some of which included personalized text. I opted for a simple 4-photo design. On each mug, I selected a photo of each of our 3 children to use. Then on my husband's mug, the fourth photo was of myself, while on my mug, it was one of my husband. You can see the designs from three different views below . . .

Both mugs turned out great! The only complaint I had was that the two smaller photos on my husband's mug had a strong red tone, especially the one on top. I find this happens frequently at most photo services when there is something that is red or reddish brown in the photo and I'm not sure how to avoid it since my original photos looked fine. Another thing is that I cannot find the answer to whether these mugs are dishwasher safe or not. There is nothing mentioned in the product description and the bottoms of the mugs are not marked. I think we will have to hand wash these just to be on the safe side.

Aside from the previously mentioned issue with the red tones, my husband and I are extremely pleased with how our his and her mugs turned out. I think a pair of mugs would be a practical and affordable gift for a couple of any age. It definitely makes me smile to look at the photos of the most important people in my life while enjoying a cup of hot cocoa (sorry I'm not a coffee-drinker).

To view the entire selection of photo gifts offered by PhotoWorks, visit PhotoWorks.com . If you are looking for something special to include in a child's Easter basket this year, I found some great ideas, such as photo playing cards, photo bookmarks, photo mousepads, and several themed photo books suitable for children. Through 3/18/10, you can receive Free Shipping on all orders over $15 when you use Code: SPRINGSALE at checkout.

Thank you to PhotoWorks for sending us samples of their photo products free of charge to base this review upon and for providing our winner with a coupon for $50 off their order.

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive $50 to use towards their PhotoWorks order plus free shipping.

Limitations:

This giveaway is open to U.S. entries only. You do not need to be a blogger to enter, but you must have a valid email address and be age 18 years or older. If you enter anonymously and do not include a valid email address in your comment entries, I will not be able to notify you should you win this random drawing.

How to Gain Entries:

Take a look at the vast assortment of photo gifts and photo books offered on PhotoWorks.com . Then leave a comment telling me what you would use your $50 towards if you won this contest. You MUST do this to be eligible to win this contest.

Extra Entries:

1) For 5 extra entries, leave a relevant comment on one of my non-giveaway posts. Then leave FIVE separate comments with the name of the post on which you commented. You will earn 5 extra entries for each different non-contest post you comment on.

2) For 5 extra entries, enter one of my other contests. Leave FIVE separate comments here telling me which contest you entered. You will earn 5 extra entries for each contest you enter.

3) For 10 extra entries, blog about this contest linking back to this post AND PhotoWorks.com . Then come back here and leave TEN separate comments with the link to your blog post.

4) Friend me on Facebook. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Facebook profile.

5) For 2 extra entries, share the link to this contest post on Facebook. Then leave TWO separate comments with the link to your Facebook profile.

6) Follow me on Twitter. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your Twitter profile.

7) Tweet about this giveaway linking back to this post. Then come back here and leave the link to your tweet in a separate comment. You may do this once per day until the end of the contest.

8) Subscribe to this blog's feed. Or you can follow me through Blogger or subscribe via email (widget is on sidebar). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

9) Subscribe to A Blog of Goodies' feed (the sister site to 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires). Then leave a separate comment telling me you did so.

10) Add my button or blog link to your blog's sidebar. Then leave a separate comment with the link to your blog.

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(All entries will be verified prior to awarding this prize.)


Random Drawing:

This contest will be closed on Thursday, April 1st, 2010 at 11:59pm EST. A random number drawing will be held shortly after. The winner will be announced here and will be contact via email or through their blog. If the winner does not respond within 48 hours, a new number will be drawn.

Good luck in the drawing!

A Piece of Red

Our oldest son is now 6. He is finally getting to the age where he can enjoy working on a jigsaw puzzle with either (or both) my husband and myself. He is so proud that he can actually contribute to completing a section of the puzzle. This is something that his little brother and sister cannot do, so it makes him feel extra grown up.

If you'd like to see more Ruby Tuesday photos, go visit Mary at Work of the Poet!