Mead Early Learning Workbooks, Flashcards, and Other Learning Tools

Finding good educational supplies for smaller children is difficult, so Mead has come out with a new line of products especially for children in preschool through third grade. The Mead Early Learning products help children build foundations that will help them to succeed all through their school careers. These products are both fun and innovative and help to equip parents and educators with the tools they need to set children up for success. As a homeschooling mom, I was thrilled to try out their new line for Quinn, my nearly 6 year old son.

Mead’s new line of dry erase boards and products are great for home, school, and even on the go. These reusable boards come in several varieties and we were sent the Dry Erase 2-Sided Board and the Dry Erase Activity board. The 2-Sided Board has one side that is plain for math, drawing, games, etc. and the other is printed with kindergarten-2nd grade appropriate lines. This is perfect for children to practice their writing and drawing with the included dry erase marker but easily erase any mistakes and keeps from wasting tons of paper while they practice. The Dry Erase Activity board includes three super-sized, double-sided pages that are spiral bound and include activities for practicing writing upper and lower case, numbers, shapes and more. Each of the 6 activity pages is very colorful and fun and helps teach children the appropriate way to write letters with their guides. This one comes with a marker as well and it is easy to write on and wipe off when he’s done.

File folder games are a great way to teach children a variety of things in a new and different way and Mead’s answer to making them is buying their pre-prepared educational folder activities packs. We got Colors, Shapes, and Numbers and Math Basics. Each package comes with 3 vinyl folders and perforated glossy cardstock pieces that complete the games inside and a handy storage pocket on the front so they store away neatly. The Math Basics set has over 40 pieces and each folder teaches either patterning, sequencing, or addition/subtraction. The Colors, Shapes, and Numbers set helps children learn to match various items on the colorful folders. Both sets are engaging and fun and help to teach while making it like a game.

Flash cards are always a great teaching tool, and Mead’s flashcards are appropriate for several ages and really help to build foundations for the rest of their lives. We got Colors, Shapes, & Numbers, Addition, Alphabet, and Multiplication flashcards which come in sets of 55 double-sided cards. All are full-color cards that teach their subject very nicely with an attractive yet simplistic layout, which helps keep children from being distracted by too many extras. All are well made from thick cardstock and perfect for teaching children from preschool on up.

The Mead preschool workbook we received was a little below Quinn’s level, but would be a great workbook for someone in that age group. With 320 pages that teach colors, letters, early math, science, and more plus stickers to reinforce diligent work, this workbook is sure to help any budding scholar begin their education. The Primary Journal (for grades K-2) is one of my favorite products and I’ve already purchased another for Quinn to use for another subject. This journal has kindergarten ruled paper on bottom and a large space for illustrating up top. This is perfect for little journalists because it allows them to draw their stories first and then offers just enough writing space so they can fill it up without it being too overwhelming.

Shape Builders (pre-k through 1st grade) is a learn to draw workbook that teaches pre-writing shapes. Children follow the correct sequence for the shapes and other simple drawings which help them to develop their artistic skills as well as prep them for writing letters. Quinn loves this book because he’s so artistic. He doesn’t realize how much he’s learning while he’s drawing in this, and I love that. The Problem Solving workbook features logic-based activities for children in 2nd grade and above. This workbook helps them to develop critical thinking skills and strengthen day-to-day logic. I use this book for both my kids because their logic skills are seriously lacking and I love the way these simple yet thought-provoking pages help build where they are deficient.

Finally, and my personal favorite of the lot, the 4-in-1 Learn to Letter with Guidelines workbook. This unique and extremely helpful workbook teaches children the proper way to write with their useful guides but this workbook goes a step further and features “raised ruling”: indented imprints where the letters should go. This amazing and highly successful tool really has improved Quinn’s writing. The indents help his pencil stay where it’s supposed to and he can actually feel where he should be writing. This genius little workbook is a must for any child learning to write, but especially for ones that struggle like Quinn does. I cannot say enough for how much this has ended our writing struggles.

Because I received 13 products, it is very hard to do justice to the products we received in one review. This was very broad, but I can assure you, the Mead products did not disappoint and have helped us so much with our home education and improved Quinn’s writing skills in particular. Whether you are a home educator like me or you are looking to supplement your child’s schooling, these Mead Early Learning products are sure to have something that you can use. For more information about this new line, visit www.meadonline.com. You can purchase these and all Mead products at most retail stores where office/school supplies are sold, such as Walmart.


Thank you to Mead for providing complimentary product samples for us to base this review upon and for providing a prize pack for our contest prize.

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Finally a Free Online Resource for Learning to Speak Chinese in Cantonese

I have always wanted to learn additional languages. From school, I can make out enough Spanish as to know what a conversation is about, but not enough to converse.

My wife is Cantonese and I have always wanted to learn how to speak it, not only for myself, but for my kids. I feel very strongly that they should grow up speaking the language from that part of their heritage. Since they were infants, they have called me “Baba”, which means “Daddy” in Chinese. Over the years I have managed to pick up an additional word here and there, but not more than a small handful.

Recently I came across LearningChineseEZ.com and I was intrigued. It is so hard to find free or low cost language learning material so I was very excited. It is also extremely difficult to find learning materials that teach the Cantonese dialect rather than Mandarin.

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Although I cannot speak Cantonese yet, I am having a great deal of fun trying out my newly learned words and phrases on my wife. She is getting quite a kick out of my attempts to pronounce some common phrases in her native language (how silly I must sound!).

So far I am thoroughly impressed with LearningChineseEZ.  It is easy to both use and understand. I love that it is lightweight and simple, exactly what I need to get my new language skill started.  The free section of the site is filled with enough common phrases and vocabulary to keep you busy for quite awhile, but you can gain access to learn 10 times more Cantonese for a one-time fee of $10, which includes access to the Mandarin material as well.

I can see myself teaching my kids to speak Cantonese in the very near future!


I received free unlimited access to LearningChineseEZ.com in exchange for an honest website review.

Teaching Parts of Speech with Sentence Buildings by Learning Resources

Grammar is a subject that many children find frustrating, but Sentence Buildings by Learning Resources makes learning sentence structures fun. With Sentence Buildings, you create sentence cities with nine buildings that teach parts of speech and you have over 300 double-sided cards that are color-coded to their appropriate buildings. The buildings are each labeled with noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, conjunction, article, preposition, adverb, and punctuation and are filled with their respective cards.

Quinn is in kindergarten, so some of these were a bit advanced for him (recommended for 1st grade and up), so we really only used noun, verb, adjective, pronoun, and punctuation for his lessons with the buildings. Nonetheless, these turned the task of learning the English language into something fun and entertaining, not boring and drab. Avery, however, is old enough at 10 years old to learn all these, so we spent lots of time going over all the parts of speech together and he enjoyed making sentences by pulling out the cards and found some of our sentences to be quite hilarious.

As a mom and teacher myself, I think this product is amazing. Instead of children being bogged down with the boring stuff that comes with language arts, these turn it into a game, of sorts. And, like all Learning Resources products, these are geared to children with bright colors but are also made to last. With proper care, these will work for children for years and years.

You can purchase Sentence Buildings at many major educational supply and toy retailers nationwide, such as Amazon.com and Toys"R"Us, as well as on their website, www.learningresources.com. This set retails for approximately $29.99.

Thank you to Learning Resources for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing an additional product for our contest prize.


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Finding Balance With Asperger's: Super Sorting Pie

Learning Resources is a leader in educational toys and supplies for children and they have been kind enough to allow me to review another of their amazing products. The Super Sorting Pie is an award-winning toy that teaches early math skills and helps children learn valuable sorting skills. This set comes with a plastic pie crust (both top and bottom crusts), 60 counting fruits, 2 plastic tweezers, 3 double-sided sorting cards, and an activity guide. All pieces are plastic, except the cards and guide, and are extremely durable and well-made. Just as with all Learning Resources products, these are made to last.

This set is amazing. We love the realistic looking fruits and the many different ways the set can be sorted. As an added bonus, the bottom crust removes from the attached “plate” and the activity cards slide in place, giving children various ways of sorting the fruits by color, type, quantity and more. This makes it easier to remember what children are doing and keep them on task, especially for younger children. Due to its bowl shape, the top crust makes a useful holder for the pieces as they’re being sorted, making this set to be even more convenient and well thought out.

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Quinn has had a blast using this set. He really loves sorting activities and loves the pie theme of this one. The tweezers are amazing for strengthening his grasp and developing his lacking fine motor skills and they are the perfect size for his hands. Because Quinn has Asperger’s and a fine motor delay, such fine motor-strengthening activities are so important. He really struggles with thin plastic tweezers because of their “give” when squeezing and ones that are too small for his hands cause him to be frustrated, causing him to give up. The tweezers in this set are perfect. They are very thick, strong plastic so they are not easily bent and their large size and indented sides are ideal for small hands and fingers. They also have ridges on the tips, so the items don’t fall out easily and they are not too tough to squeeze. Of all the child’s tweezers we’ve used in the past, these are by far the best for him. The fruit pieces are also a great size because they fit into the tweezers perfectly, but are not too small which would cause them to fall out. They are also very vividly colored and easy to distinguish between them. This sorting pie is also great for introducing simple fractions and has even proven useful in practicing fractions with my 10 year old son.

The Super Sorting Pie is a really fantastic set that I would recommend to anyone with preschoolers or early elementary school children. It is reasonably priced at $27.99 and will last for many, many years of fun and learning. This would also be great for teachers. You can purchase this and all Learning Resources’ wonderful products on their website, www.learningresources.com.

Thank you to Learning Resources for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon and for providing an additional product for our contest prize.





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Finding Balance With Asperger's: Develop Fine Motor Skills with Sorting and Puzzle Activities

One of my son, Quinn’s, delays is in fine motor, a problem many children on the spectrum struggle with. Because of this delay, any activity that exercises his pincer grasp is great for him, such as small puzzles, lacing cards, or any kind of manipulative, like a sorting set.

We were sent the Super Sorting Set from Learning Resources to try out and review. This set comes with over 600 pieces that help to teach children to differentiate colors, start simple math skills, and improve fine motor skills. It contains animals, dinosaurs, links, circles, vehicles, fruits, tangram-type pieces, sorting bowls, a large sorting tray, and a set of activity cards to enhance play. It even came with strong, zippered bags to store the stuff in and a large, sturdy box to hold the entire set. I labeled all the bags with the words and pictures to make putting it all away easy for Quinn and the daycare kids who’ve also played with it, so there’s no confusion as to what goes where.

We’ve had hours of fun with this set already. There are so many options that the possibilities are nearly endless. Certain parts of it, like the small circles and links, have really helped to improve Quinn’s hand strength along with his hand/eye coordination. He has loved making patterns, sorting by color or type, and doing simple addition with it, and he hasn’t even realized how much he’s truly learning from it all.

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I love that the set is very well made from good quality plastic and rubber, and the options with it are amazing. My only complaint is that the orange and red are a little too similar in color, therefore sometimes it confuses the children, but that’s the only thing I dislike. Everything else about it is great and would be wonderful for any child, whether they are on the Autism spectrum or not.

You can purchase this and all Learning Resources products on their website, www.learningresources.com. This set retails for $74.99.


Thank you to Learning Resources for providing a complimentary product sample for us to base this review upon.