3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires: V.Reader

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VTech’s Ultimate Tips for Encouraging Kids to Read

Do you remember the VTech V.Reader giveaway from last week where we asked you to give us your best tips for encouraging children to read? Well, with the help of all the VTech Voices Moms, VTech and TheMotherhood.com has sorted through all the best tips and have compiled an official list of top ten "Ultimate Tips for Encouraging Kids to Read" . . .

Integrate Reading into Real Life: Show children that reading can be both practical and fun. Try reading recipes and creating goodies together, or read a story and then re-enact a favorite scene for other family members, complete with props and basic sets.
Ask Your Pet to Lend an Ear: Encourage your children to read aloud to the family dog or a favorite stuffed animal. Your youngsters will get to practice their reading, and pets make great listeners.
Create an Intimate Space: Make reading exciting with indoor “campouts.” Use sheets and chairs to help your kids make tents, pile blankets and pillows inside, and bring snacks and a stack of books. Reading with a flashlight will add novelty to the activity.
Reward Reading Comprehension: Set aside one night each week for a “quiz night,” when you can read to your kids and give them rewards, such as money to set aside for more books, for answering comprehension questions correctly.
Throw a Book Party: Make reading a social activity. Invite a few of your child’s friends to your house and ask them to bring a favorite book. Provide snacks and games that incorporate reading.
Get Involved Locally: Check area libraries, bookstores and even bank branches. They will often host story hours or summer reading programs for kids, offering incentives for reading a certain number of books.
Think Outside the Box – or Book: You don’t need to use books alone to encourage kids to read. Ask your child to read things like street signs and menus when you are out and about, or put closed captioning on the TV so he can see as well as hear the words of his favorite shows.
Give Them a Choice: Set aside an hour or two of quiet time during the day, and tell your kids they can either read or take a nap during that period. Letting them choose to read will remind them that they can choose reading at other times, too.
Write Stories Together: Reading and writing go hand in hand. Write stories with your kids one word at a time – you write one word, they read it and write one word of their own – until you have a story you created together.
Play to Their Interests: Let your kids read about subjects they already enjoy. From Pokemon to ponies, if they are fascinated by a topic, they will love reading about it.

"VTech’s electronic learning toys are innovative and offer educational benefits for baby, infant, toddler,preschool and grade school ages. VTech is delighted to introduce the V.Reader, the first kids animated e-book for 3-7 year olds."

Thank you to VTech for providing the information shared in this post. This article was published as part of a paid campaign for TheMotherhood.com .

One-Day V.Reader Giveaway: Tips For Encouraging Kids to Read [CLOSED]

Our Winner is #19 - Heather Ransom

If you have visited my site in the past, then you know that I love coming up with creative ways to promote learning. If you have not already taken the V.Reader Summer Reading Pledge, it is not too late to do so. Summer is only half over and there is still plenty of summer reading fun to be had.

One of the things that the new VTech V.Reader has shown us is that reading is not limited to traditional books. There are many other ways for a child to develop reading skills. I have a list of several activities I do with my 6 year old during the summer that only take a few minutes each.

In the following video, my son Jake tells you about a few of the simplest activities we do together that do not require a lot of time or creativity on your part . . .

(Turn your volume up because the little guy has a soft voice . . . well, on camera anyways.)

My list of tips to encourage children to read:

Word Searches
Filling out and reading Mad Libs together
Unscrambling Sentences
Family Reading Night
Letting older siblings read the story at bedtime

Now it's your turn to share your tips! The best tips will be featured on VTech's “The Ultimate Tip List for Encouraging Our Kids To Read.”

Thank you to VTech for providing a sample V.Reader to us free of charge so that we would be able to participate in this paid VTech Voices campaign for TheMotherhood.com .

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive a VTech V.Reader of their very own plus a Bonus Game Cartridge.

LIVE V.Reader Giveaway: Family Game Reading Night [CLOSED]

Our Winner is Shasta!

Even though we live in a hectic household, we always have at least one story read before bedtime. Sometimes Dad would read the story, but recently our 6 year old son has been having a go at it quite often. Well, wouldn't it be fun to have one night a week, perhaps on Friday when the kids can stay up a bit later, when all five of us would each choose a book to read to the group? No, our 3 year old twins cannot read yet, but they could choose an animated storybook to read to the group. The new VTech V.Reader would make it possible for our whole family to feel included in our "Friday Family Reading Night". There will be 11 different story game cartridges and over 100 ebooks to download, many of which will be available to be downloaded for free. This will keep our Family Reading Nights going for quite awhile.

The Family Reading Night Challenge Giveaway!

Please read the instructions completely before entering. Everyone MUST complete the mandatory entry to be eligible to win. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and will end when we reach 447 valid comments.

The lucky winner will receive . . .

A VTech V.Reader of their very own plus a bonus V.Reader Story Game Cartridge. The winner may choose between a blue or a pink V.Reader. The bonus cartridge will be a surprise!

How To Play . . .

1) Mandatory Entry ~ For your first comment, briefly tell me about a time when your family sat and read together. You can draw from experiences with your current family or from your own childhood.

2) After you have completed the mandatory entry, you may leave as many comments as you like as long as they have anything to do with reading.

For example:

Where do you like to read with your children?

What are your children's favorite stories?

What were your favorite stories as a child?

What good books have you read?

Get the idea?

3) Your comments must be in complete sentences.

4) You may make consecutive comments.

Commenter #447 Will Be Our Winner!

(Because those digits are my children's ages rounded up)

You might find me commenting too, just to help you along. I will delete any comments that do not meet the above criteria, which will make all the numbers shift, so please play by the rules. I will close the contest and announce the winner as soon as I have verified all the comments are valid.

Have fun! Once the conversations get started, this should go by quickly.

This is a compensated post written as part of a VTech V.Reader campaign for The Motherhood. Thank you to VTech for providing a prize for our contest.

VTech V.Reader LIVE GIVEAWAY: Thursday 7/15 8pm EST

I just wanted to let all my readers know that I have a LIVE GIVEAWAY for a VTech V.Reader coming up on Thursday.

EVENT: 3G2S Live Giveaway

PRIZE: Vtech V.Reader plus Bonus Game Cartridge

DATE: July 15th, 2010

TIME: 8:00pm EST

PLACE: 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires

This contest will be open to U.S. residents only. I hope to see you all there!

Favorite Reading Spots For You and Your Child

We are so very lucky that our 6 year old son is an avid reader. I believe the fact that I had a lot of time to read with him starting at a very early age helped to make that happen. I feel very guilty for not having the same amount of time to read with our 3 year old twins. According to the Summer Smarts survey, I am not alone. 82% of moms who participated in this survey thought their children would benefit from more reading time. That is why VTech came up with the V.Reader Summer Reading Pledge. The first 100 moms or dads who sign up to make this pledge within the U.S. will receive a V.Reader for their children. So what are you waiting for?

The new VTech V.Reader is an e-reader system for kids that makes books even more portable. This allows you to sneak in reading time when you can without always carrying a variety of books with you, which can be cumbersome. The V.Reader also allows you to find new favorite reading spots. My children's and my favorite reading spot is actually on my bed. Since the children are not usually allowed to play in mom and dad's room, this is a special quiet place, where each child knows he or she will receive undivided attention. One of my children and I always prop ourselves up with several pillows, squish together, and read out loud. With our 3 year old twins, I would read out loud to them. With our 6 year old son, we would either take turns reading or he reads out loud to me. There are many places we can read, such as the front steps, under the big tree outside, or at the park on a bench, but none are quite as quiet, intimate, and comfy as our favorite spot on mommy's side of the bed.

The V.Reader is currently available at Target, Walmart, Toys R Us, Amazon.com, and other retailers of VTech products. To learn more about this VTech product, read my V.Reader review and visit VTechKids.com . While you're there, sign up for Club VTech. You can also follow VTech Toys on Facebook and VTechToys on Twitter to stay up-to-date on the latest VTech products for kids.

Thank you to VTech for sending us a sample product free of charge to base this article upon. This article was written as part of a paid campaign for TheMotherhood.com .

Giveaway & Review: New VTech Kids V.Reader (Exclusively at Target) [CLOSED]

My 6 year old son is a proficient reader and I hope that his 3 year old siblings will follow in his footsteps. They do not seem to have the thirst for reading as their big brother did when he was their age. That is why I want to take advantage of whatever tools are available to me . . . whether it is classic nursery rhymes or the latest in kid technology.

The new Vtech V.Reader, which is an animated e-Reading System for children ages 3 to 7, would fall into the latter category. It was released on June 21st, 2010 exclusively in Target stores and on Target.com for $59.99. They will not be available at other retailers until August. My oldest was delighted to find out we would be receiving one to test and to report about back to our readers.

The V.Reader Reading System allows your child to listen to a story, while the pictures come to life, or to play reading games. The V.Reader comes with one cartridge to get you started. Additional cartridges retail for $19.99. You will also have the ability to download additional stories to your child's V.Reader. This feature will be coming soon and, from what I understand, some of the stories will be free to download.

What comes in the box?

The V.Reader (which comes in blue or pink)
One story game cartridge
USB cable
A cleaning cloth for the touch screen

This system requires 4 AA batteries, which are not included in the box. Although I cannot find the information about the V.Reader's storage capacity, I do know that you can expand its memory with an SD card.

The V.Reader is about the size of a standard children's book. The screen is about 3-3/4"x2-1/8" not including the touch pad. This is plenty of room to show the full-color animation as well as an easy-to-read font for each story.

The unit is fairly lightweight, which I am pleased about. It only measures just slightly over an inch thick with the cover shut, so your child can hold it to read without his or her arms getting tired so easily.

The design of the V.Reader is very well thought out. When the cover is closed, only the speaker and the page turning arrows are exposed. This helps to protect the touch screen when it is not in use. I love that the volume button is right on the front right of the unit. It is out of the way for when a child is holding the unit with his or her hands, but is easily accessible. I also love that there is a "bookmark" button to keep your child's place in a story, should he or she need to take a break. Like with many other computer or electronic learning games, you can track your child's progress online and print reward certificates to give them a pat on the back.

Although the stylus is self-storing, I was a little concerned that it was not attached. It is unlikely that my 6 year old would lose it, but the odds are pretty high that it would go missing in the hands of our 3 year old twins.

One thing that would make the V.Reader a better value is if it could hold more than one child's information at a time. Currently, it will remember one child's name and avatar.

Although our son just graduated from kindergarten, he actually reads on a 1st grade level or higher. As a result, he is on the edge of being too advanced for this toy. In the story and game cartridge "Shrek's Vacation" for ages 5 to 7, one of the activities is to learn about adverbs. Now I know my son is not an expert on the parts of speech, but I have introduced them to him in the past. He told me flat out that the games were too easy for him. This particular game did not have different difficulty levels, but the "What's That Noise" cartridge, which came in the box, did have three levels to choose from. I am hoping that most of the future titles will have this feature.

Our 3 year old twins are actually just below the starting level for this toy. They are just trying to master learning the alphabet and have only touched upon any phonics. They enjoy the story portion of the V.Reader, but are not yet able to play the games.

Currently, you can purchase the VTech V.Reader at your local Target store or on Target.com . This item actually qualifies for their free shipping promotion at the moment. In August, you will be able to find the V.Reader at most major retailers of VTech toys. You can also look forward to 11 different titles for game cartridges and over 100 ebooks to download coming soon.

Thank you to VTech for sending us a sample V.Reader free of charge to base this review upon.

What you can win:
One lucky reader will receive a VTech V.Reader (a $59.99 value).

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:
Leave a comment telling me where your child would most likely use this portable animated V.Reader system this summer. 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 VteckKids.com/V.Reader/ . Then come back here and leave TEN separate comments with the link to your blog post.

4)For 1 extra entry each, if you are a Friend of mine on Facebook and/or if you have "liked" the 3 Garnets & 2 Sapphires Facebook page, then leave a separate comment here telling me so with the link to your Facebook profile.

5) For 1 extra entry each, follow VTechToys on Twitter and/or "Like" VTech Toys on Facebook. Then leave a separate comment for each with the link to your Twitter or 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 Monday, July 26th, 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!