Whole Lotta Love Giveaway - Royalty Theme

For those of you who like a wee bit of Waldorf in your homeschools or classrooms, think that you especially will love this royal themed giveaway!

The items in this Whole Lotta Love package include the following:

• The Arithmetic Village Math Program 

• A neat fairy tale picture book app from Pic Pocket Books for either your iPhone or your iPad

• A handmade glass pendant necklace custom created by artist, B.D. Murray.

Here is a bit of a review for Arithmetic Village:
Arithmetic Village Math Program consists of lovely picture books and cute characters, including:
Polly Plus, Linus Minus, Tina Times, and King David Divide.

 These characters help to gently and playfully introduce a child to the concept of place value, from 0 to 900.

 One Jewel  = 1
A Golden Bag = 10
A Treasure Chest  = 100

The neat program created by Kimberly Moore has a helpful website that shows video clips, photos, and ideas for how to use and to extend Arithmetic Village. The ideas involve lots of hands-on manipulatives, arts and crafts, and storytelling in the Waldorf style. If you and your family or classroom enjoy storytelling, acting, doing arts and crafts projects, making chalk pictures, painting water color pictures, then this is the program for you!
The program does have some similarities to an existing Waldorf inspired math program through Oak Meadow, but instead of having a tale about place value about a kingdom with gnomes and a king in the story, it has other characters that are all friends of the king in this tale.
Suppose if you already use Oak Meadow, you would probably really enjoy using both, and could do a comparison / contrast, but since we do not use Oak Meadow, although it looks like a neat curriculum and program, we opted to not do this compare / contrast activity, as my boys are not familiar with the Oak Meadow tale.
If you also try to have Montessori elements into your day-to-day and have the Montessori Golden Beads Work, this math program proved as a great extension for the Golden Bead Work that my sons were already familiar with...we also substituted the Golden Beads we already have and use for the jewels in all of the stories and play mats.
You can also purchase Arithemetic Village through Amazon.com if you live in the USA and the books qualify for Super Saver Shipping.
 Here is a link in case you live in the USA and want to get free shipping through Amazon on these neat Arithmetic Village books.

There is a great deal of fantasy in these books, so if your family likes fantasy, you will really enjoy this program. If your children love listening to fairy tales, coming up with their own fairy tales, etc.,  they will have a blast doing this program. We have not done much with fairy tales up to this point, but have started to explore them in terms of having a better understanding of the world and its people with respect to multicultural versions of similar tales. 
So, this again worked very well for our family, especially for Big Bro, who has been doing more with fairy tales this year, now that he is seven.

My sons have a Playmobil castle with all of the villagers and the knights and so forth, so for them, it was fun to do the math and then, have play time in the afternoon with their Playmobil.
Little Bro still loves putting on costumes and dressing up, so the idea of dressing as a King was fun for him also.  Big Bro still enjoys putting on some costumes, but since there wasn't an actual knight in the program, he just did his own thing and added one into the mix, kind of as a narrator...
As far as the play mats and free printables, they are available on the neat website created by Kimberly Moore, the author or this program.
The free printables take a bit of time to find and to print out, but prove to be very useful, so it is well worth the time to go through the various pages on the website to find them and to print them out for your children.

There is a coloring sheet, play mats to do math work, and then, a few sheets that resemble work sheets, but it is easy to adapt these and make them very kid friendly and less like a worksheet.
The coloring page for example could be made into a watercolor painting of a castle...or else, a child could take this outline of the castle to do a chalk drawing, a sketch, or even build a castle out of cardboard boxes or even a big sand castle at the beach...so many options...so if you are creative and can make the most of these ideas with your children, your family or your classroom will have a great time learning about place value while having fun!
Overall, Arithmetic Village was a hit with both boys so am sure that many, many families will enjoy it as well.

As far as Pic Pocket Books, we have had the opportunity to review and use several of their titles, some nonfiction, and some fiction. Pic Pocket Books features a variety of titles and genres sure to please the whole family. To go with this royal theme, our family listened and watched The Crystal Mountain, by Ruth Sanderson, a beautiful tale with gorgeous illustrations.

Such a well written tale with wonderful illustrations...really enjoyable for all ages...

The book is meant for an older child, ages 6-10, so for Little Bro, who is still 4, we broke this into two sessions, making it more developmentally appropriate for his ability to sit and listen to half of the book at a time...worked out great. Big Bro even enjoyed breaking the book into two sessions, as it made it more fun to have time to get to discuss what we had heard for each part of the book.

Finally, the third item in this giveaway is a lovely, handmade glass pendant necklace made by my brother, artist B.D. Murray.
I asked him to create something specifically for you, my readers, as the finale of the  
Whole Lotta Love Giveaways...
He normally has his work featured at galleries, although he occasionally will sell a few pieces of his work. I adore him an his work and have several of his necklaces and paintings.
He did this especially for me to give to you, so hope that the winner will love it.

UPDATE:
The winner of the Royalty theme giveaway, as chosen by Random.Org is Comment #4, Nicole. Congrats to Nicole!
Nicole commented: *fingers crossed* We would love to win this one!

 

• This makes giveaway #14 of the Whole Lotta Love Giveaways.  
• Started  2/15/11and ended 2/16/11. 
• This giveaway has ended, all existing comments have been removed, and how to enter has been removed, as the giveaway has ended.
• Comments are now closed.

Whole Lotta Love Giveaway - Neat Farm Themed Fun!

This farm themed giveaway is pretty awesome, if you ask me...

The lucky winner will receive a variety of farm themed items that will be perfect for a classroom or for homeschool use. Many of the items in this giveaway are Montessori inspired materials, and since many of my readers use Montessori materials in their homeschools or in their classrooms, think that there will be loads of interest in this giveaway...
So, what is included...well, a set of lovely farm themed three part cards from Laughing Star Montessori, a set of farm themed works for shelf work, a miniature felt farm with small farm animals, a farm themed picture book, and an app for either an iPhone or an iPad of a farm themed book from Pic Pocket Books.

We had the chance to review several fabulous farm themed iPhone picture book apps featuring the character Tractor Mac by Billy Steers. These stories are just great! The boys just loved these stories and have listened to them again and again...
 What makes Pic Pocket books a real stand out is that they have a nice variety of children's book titles and have titles in both English and Spanish. So, if you are trying to teach your child either English or Spanish and you want to have them listen to a fluent person reading a lovely story in their native tongue, these books are great! Our boys have been learning both French and Spanish but I am not a native speaker of either language, so any opportunity for them to hear a story told by a native speaker is a huge plus!!!

What makes them special is that in addition to the adorable illustrations, the story is read to your child in a lovely narration voice, pls it is interactive for your child, as your child can touch the animals throughout the book to hear the sounds that they make. If they touch Tractor Mac, they get to hear the sound of a tractor engine. Really clever way to make it more interactive and fun for children. Both sons loved these iPhone picture book apps, along with a few others that I will be reviewing in the next few days...
We had the pleasure of reviewing both the farm three part cards from Laughing Star Montessori  and the Tractor Mac iPhone app books from Pic Pocket Books and let me tell you, they were a hit with the boys!
 The farm cards from Laughing Star Montessori include a label, a picture card, and the control of error - picture with label card, but then, in addition, the set also includes a factual sentence about each animal.

 

Laughing Star Montessori cards that you purchase from them as cards come with rounded corners on all of the cards. If you purchase a laminated set from Laughing Star Montessori, it comes to you with an amazingly durable, thick laminate. These cards would last for years and years...but what makes it nice is that for homeschool or smaller classroom use, Laughing Star is now starting to offer some of their materials as pdf downloads that you can laminate or else run on card stock and skip the laminating, if say you only have one or two children who are going to use the cards. So nice that they give you options for purchasing...

These additional sentence cards are a real plus to this farm work, as it adds another level of complexity to the work. 

This makes the work more challenging for an early reader.
It also makes something for an older one to share reading to a younger one.
Having this extra little sentence to go with each animal really expands what you can do with these cards in a Montessori inspired homeschool or classroom.
We just really enjoy these farm cards from Laughing Star Montessori
In addition to the farm three part cards,  Laughing Star Montessori has other tie ins for your Montessori inspired farm work.
These additional items include:
Barnyard Bingo
and Farm Story Writing Masters.
We had reviewed Farm Story Writing Masters a few months ago and both boys did a wonderful job with improving their writing, as well as learning some neat farm animal facts, with these writing masters.
Here is a link to the review I wrote about the Farm Story Writing Masters a while ago...
They are very cost effective, as you can purchase them as pdfs in either Cursive, D'Nealian, or Print.
Well, hope that you are as excited as I am for you about this awesome farm themed giveaway!

WHOLE LOTTA LOVE GIVEAWAY - FARM THEME PRIZE PACK:

UPDATE: 

The winner of this Farm theme giveaway, as chosen by Random.Org is Comment #8, Lindsi.

Congrats to Lindsi. 

Lindsi Commented: Hoping to win!Lindsi Archabald larchabald@roadrunner.com Great site!! 

This giveaway started 2/15/11 and ended  2/16/11 

This giveaway has ended, therefore the giveaway info. has been removed and the comments have been removed. 

All comments on this post are now closed.

Disclaimer: I was given a set of Farm Cards from Laughing Star Montessori, as well as some iPhone apps from Pic Pocket Books.

Originally, our family had purchased some materials from Laughing Star and that is how I struck up a relationship of doing reviews for Laughing Star Montessori. My review I have given of all of their materials is honest and reflects how well these materials have worked for our family in the scope of Montessori inspired homeschooling.
As for Pic Pocket Books, initially I had won a few books from them and then, had contacted Pic Pocket Books directly to see if they would like me to review any of their other titles. 
Since they had mentioned the Tractor Mac books, I was very happy to have my sons review these. 
Our family has thoroughly enjoyed these iPhone picture book apps and the opinions I have expressed are genuinely my thoughts about their neat products.

Montessori Monday: So, What's Your Favorite Practical Life Activity? A Lil' Post & Giveaway #10...

As is true with most folks who like Montessori inspired activities, we love all kinds of practical life activities here...

From cooking to pouring, from sweeping to polishing, from helping fold socks to spooning, both Big Bro and Little Bro enjoy doing these sorts of activities. But pouring and taking care of things seems to top the list here...

Works out great in a home setting, as there are ample opportunities to help out and do practical life activities both in the classroom and in and around our home.

Please Note: Giveaway info. that had originally been a part of this post were removed as the giveaway has ended. thanks for your interest. 

 

Also, please be sure to check out Jessie's neat post on Mommy Moment about plant polishing.
Plant polishing is another great practical life activity and Jessie shows you a neat way to set up this work for a young child.
If you have yet to check out Jessie's blog, The Education of Ours,  pop over to see her lovely Montessori inspired blog. Be sure to check out the cute Valentine's Work she set up for her daughters. Such fun!
Nicole has her computer in the shop, so no link ups over at One Hook Wonder...bummer...But, last week,  there were lots of neat Montessori link ups on her blog, along with Nicole's nice post about all of the cool and creative work her children did last week, so here is the link to last week's Montessori Monday at One Hook Wonder.

Whole Lotta Love Giveaway #7: Popcorn Fun Pack Featuring Learning Resources Pop for Sight Words

Today's Whole Lotta Love Giveaway # 7 is a fun, popcorn themed prize pack. 

The fun educational item in this prize pack is called Pop for Sight Words by Learning Resources.  

Learning Resources sent me Pop for Sight Words to review and let me tell you, the boys both loved playing this fun sight word game!
Learning Resources sent us a few lovely products and I look forward to sharing more reviews with you in the future. My overall impression of Learning Resources was that they are a very professional company who cares about their customers and so they really strive to make neat educational products for families and schools. 
Pop for Sight Words comes in an attractive box and has neat cards shaped like popcorn pieces.

Here are some of the Pop For Sight Words cards...

There are also Pop! cards within the game.
The game helps to promote sight word fluency and did seem to help both boys with improving their sight word fluency. 
Although Learning Resources had another idea of what we could do when we came to a Pop! card (namely the player who draws a Pop! card is supposed to return all of their cards to the box and then, take the Pop! card out of play), we tweaked this and made it multi-sensory by changing the Pop! cards to mean that you have to stand up from where you are playing and then pretend to pop around like popcorn does when it pops.

Ready...Set...

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Big Bro having some popping fun!

The boys loved this! They practiced saying each word and then, when it came to the Pop! cards, they stood up and popped all over the place.
Great fun and learning was had by all.
If you have a multi-sensory learner or if you have children who do not like to give up their cards that they have already correctly read, this is such a fun alternative idea to do with these cards.

Learning Resources  had this to say about its cool Pop For Sight Words Game:
Students will gobble up handfuls of fun as they recognize and read aloud sight words. Fast-paced game play is great for improving fluency. Even use the abundant word cards for your own early literacy activities. Includes 100 die-cut popcorn cards (92 sight words and 8 POP cards) in box with engaging graphics. Measures 3"L x 3"W x 6 1/4"H. For 2–4 players. Grades 1+.

Learning Resources also gives ideas to play Double - Pop and as an alternate way to play, they suggest that children can play in pairs and put unknown words back into the box rather than in a separate pile. 
This game works well with one child, two children, a small group of children, or you could even do this as a whole class activity during circle time.
If you were to have children do this during circle time, would suggest that you have them pop in place.
Such a fun way to practice sight words!
This game works well in any type of setting where you are working on learning sight words.
The entire game is attractive, neatly packaged, and very sturdy, so it should last in your homeschool or classroom for a long, long time with many children enjoying playing this game.

So, how to win this Popcorn Fun Pack, complete with Learning Resources ' cool game, Pop For Sight Words?

Update: 
The winner for this giveaway#7, as chosen by Random.Org, is Comment #13, Marci J. 
Marci had this to say for her comment regarding other Learning Resources items she would love to own:
great giveaway!
Jumbo Farm Counters caught my eye too.
june_spirit2628 at hotmail dot com 
Congrats to Marci J.!

Marci J.,  Learning Resources will be emailing your prize directly to you...but in addition, you are getting some popcorn goodies for me so please email me at cmbmomof2 at yahoo dot com 

Disclaimer: 
I was given the game, Pop For Sight Words, to review with my family by Learning Resources. 
I have given a fair and honest review of Pop For Sight Words, which in my honest opinion is a very nice product that made learning sight words fun and held my sons' interest.
This giveaway is open world wide, but if by chance someone wins from another country, I will most likely not be able to send actual popcorn in the prize pack...so may have to send an international winner a credit for some sort of popcorn  snack instead of actual popcorn. It will be at my discretion as to what to substitute.
There is an inherent choking hazard with popcorn and I am to be held harmless if the winner were to choke on popcorn or if a young child were to try to place the popcorn game pieces in their mouths.
Although we played this game with children ages 4 and 7, this game is suggested for first grade, ages 6 and up. 

UPDATE:
This giveaway has ended and all comments are closed. 
All comments have been removed and entry info. has been removed, as the giveaway is completed.
 

Reggio Emilia Wednesday: Environment as the 3rd Teacher & Giveaway #5

One of the key tenets of the Reggio Emilia approach is that the environment of the child is the "Third Teacher"...

How Dear Hubby and I have interpreted that for our family and our boys is that our home should be inviting, comfortable,  and somewhat orderly with a wide variety of materials to encourage the boys to think, to create, and to expand upon their interests...
We also have to think of the larger picture in terms of "thinking globally and acting locally"...

Since we live in Florida,we need to keep in mind the environment that our boys are in contact with day-to-day...we might try to explore other climates and other environments but our day-to-day is here...pretty tropical, sunny much of the time, loads of flora and fauna to explore.
What we are not in contact with day-to-day is the cold, snowy environment during winter time that Dear Hubby and I grew up in, went to school in, etc.
We have not been in a snowy environment in over four years.
Little Bro was a tiny baby the last time we were in a cold, snowy place during winter time. 
Little Bro really, truly does not have a concept of snow. He actually refers to Parmesan cheese as "snow". When we have gotten photos from friends showing their children playing in the snow, he comments how it looks like they are having fun playing in foam. Why foam? Well, in Celebration, Florida, which is a reasonably short road trip from where we live, they cover part of their shopping district with white foam during a few weeks in December. Then, children can play in this foam, can take horse drawn rides on the streets, all the while surrounded by this fake stuff that is similar to shaving cream. They go all out and even have cotton batting on some of the roofs to look like snow...still looks like cotton batting, but they do at least try to make it look like a northern wintry scene.
When Little Bro has seen picture books depicting children wearing scarves, he routinely will say something about "the rope around their neck" or "the extra sleeve they hang on the hooks when they hang up their jackets"...
He does not automatically distinguish mittens from gloves, snow pants from overalls, and could not properly explain how a toboggan works, what snow shoes do when you put them on your feet, or how plastic bread bags can be of any help if you plan to go sledding.

I have had to do a bit of a shift since we have lived here, for my childhood environment is so vastly different than my sons here...

 Also, have had to work to get up to speed about what you can and cannot do with a palm frond, how you should not walk across the grass in your bare feet and whatever you do, you should not roll on the lawn, as it could either contain fire ants or if it is in the winter, when St. Augustine Grass goes dormant, it turns into the most prickly feeling stuff and is like stepping into a pile of splinters...ouch!!!

So, how does a northern mama who grew up used to "lake effect snow" and "wind chill advisories" as regular winter happenings deal with this environment so that this environment can be the third teacher for her southern born sons who view anything below 70 as "sweater weather"???

Well, simply put, I have to learn about our Floridian environment as the boys learn about it too...and so does Dear Hubby. 

Well, hope that you have enjoyed this Reggio-Emilia inspired post...

If you have a post that you would like to share that deals with having to shift your thinking to make your children's environment their third teacher, please add your linky. 

Or, if your children have been working on a Reggio-Emilia inspired project, please be sure to share. 

Would also love to hear from folks who try to integrate Reggio Emilia into their Montessori programs or Montessori into their Reggio Emilia programs, or any combination of these.  

For starters, I am adding the Linkys from last week, in case any of you missed these...but hope that we will get some new link ups from my readers. Am also linking up some neat information about a program that is going to be offered soon in Illinois. The presenter, JH Helm, highlights Reggio Emilia, Montessori, Godly Play, and Project Based Learning, so I found it to be an interesting read and if we lived close enough for me to easily attend, I would wanna go for sure...if any of you live or can easily travel to attend this workshop, sounds pretty cool...may wanna check it out for yourself.

Also, am providing a Linky to the Learning Materials Workshop Blog, as Learning Materials Workshop is  endorsed as an Official Reggio Emilia Resource. They have started to do workshops in conjunction with AMS. If you contact them and order from them, please tell them that you were directed from a Linky on Sunrise Learning Lab. I love their products and would love, love, love to be able to attend one of their workshops. Their Linky to the blog is in the Linky section of this post and the link to their Reggio Emilia inspired store, is in the Links in the link bar above the header of my blog. Learning Materials Workshop makes the most interesting beautiful looking block sets that I have ever seen. In addition, they sell other wonderful resources about the Reggio Emilia approach to learning.

Also, for today's Whole Lotta Love Giveaway:

Neat plane construction kit from Alison's Montessori. 

Disclaimer: 

Plugged the Geometric Solids and Plane Figures from Alison's Premium Quality Line  during the time frame of this giveaway, as they deserved to be plugged and I was just thrilled to have won them from Montessori for Everyone! 

Am providing links to Alison's Montessori Premium Line as well as Montessori for Everyone because I was impressed at how professionally this giveaway was conducted and how cool it was to win from them!

I did not have to give one of the plane construction kits away, as they actually mailed both kits for my sons, but since we have been so blessed to have won the beautiful Premium Quality Geometric Solids and Plane Figures from Alison's, I wanted to share the love and give one of the two plane construction kits to a public follower or subscriber of my blog to just say thanks for being a reader of Sunrise Learning Lab. The opinions I have expressed are my honest opinions and this is something that I chose to do and was not asked or required to do.

Update: 

The winner of this giveaway, as chosen by Random.Org,  is comment #2, Jennifer. 
Congrats to Jennifer!

Here is part of Jennifer's comment:

Well, if Big Bro loved it, I have a feeling my Ryan will love it as well. He's so mechanically inclined... LEGOS, blocks, even sculpture... he absolutely loves building with his hands! As for the environment as a teacher, we'll we've go about 3 inches of snow and counting outside... so my FL-born boys are learning about environmental differences as well...

This giveaway had ended and comments on this post are now closed. 

We Play : Colorful Sea Life Fun & A Little Giveaway, Too!

Little Bro checking out sea life at The Dig, Atlantis Paradise Island.

Big Bro and Little Bro looking at the markings on the walls at The Dig, Atlantis Paradise Island.

Cool sea life at The Dig.

While we were at Atlantis Paradise Island in Nassau, the Bahamas, we went on a wonderful excursion called The Dig. The Dig is a wonderful underground aquarium of sorts. You can tour The Dig on your own or with a tour guide. We kind of did both.

Here is our tour guide showing us a Conch as it is creeping out of its shell.

We started out by ourselves, joined in here and there with the tour guide, and then, went back to exploring by ourselves. What was really neat was to see the tour guides holding the conch and then, watching the conch come partly out of its shell.
We learned many facts about the conch that we did not already know, so that made it very worthwhile to listen to the tour guide for this part of the tour. Right after learning about conchs, sea stars, and sea urchins, the boys got to reach in a big tank to carefully touch and hold these sea creatures. Was neat to get to feel them and hold them like that...Big Bro enjoyed this part of the tour more so than Little Bro. He touched the animals but did not want to hold any of them.
There were all kinds of rays, sharks, fish, sea urchins, sea stars, conchs, coral, lobsters, shrimp, sea jellies, and moray eels to observe.

Spiny Lobsters hanging out, having fun at The Dig.

This photo does not do this beauty of a Manta Ray justice as to how big and cool looking is was...

Moray Eels hiding in the holes in their exhibit.

 We had studied Bahamian sea life before going there so the boys were able to identify many of the sea creatures we saw.
It was very fun for our whole family.
After we toured The Dig, we walked the grounds and got to see some of the sea life from above instead of below ground level.
Since our family just got back from the Bahamas, we are kind of still in sea life mode. So for practical life work today, Little Bro chose to do a work using little sea creature mats. He did a dry transfer activity by using a small spoon and transferring M & M's from the bowl to the mats. He covered a total of three sea stars and had a blast doing this activity!

Little Bro carefully transferring candies to his sea stars...and then, after wards, eating the candies! yummy!

One of Little Bro's candy coated sea stars.

It was especially fun for him,  as he was able to eat the candies after completing this activity.
Big Bro also chose to do a sea life activity. He read about sea life from some cards we have then, he made sea creatures to go with the cards.

One of Big Bro's stacks of sea life cards. He had fun reading the cards out loud to Little Bro. Big Bro then decided to make some sea life out of play dough. Little Bro thought that sounded fun so he joined in, too...

Big Bro making his school of fish...

Big Bro had such a good time that Little Bro joined in and did the same activity when he wrapped up his dry transfer.

Little Bro's sea horse card that was read to him by Big Bro.

Little Bro working hard at making his own sea horse.

Little Bro's sea horse...

All in all, both boys had a fun time while learning and playing.

This post is linked up to the We Play links over at Childhood 101.

Great for little hands to build their sea creature and then, to get to eat the candies as a snack after ward...

Update:  

The winner for this giveaway was contacted. 

This Giveaway has ended and comments on this post are now closed.  

Disclaimer: This giveaway was open to public followers and or public subscribers of my blog. If you have not done so, please choose to subscribe or follow before entering this giveaway.
You are to hold me harmless in the event that a child would choke while completing the activities related to the transfer or the making of play dough sea creatures. Any injury related to completing these activities would be at your own risk, although these activities are deemed age appropriate based on the fact that they are pretty common sorts of activities to be done in the home or school with young children. 
I was not asked by Atlantis to plug their excursion or their resort and am only doing it because we had a great time there.
I was not asked by any company to do this little giveaway...it is just a fun one to do for my blog subscribers and followers.

Product Tests as Terrific Tools (Plus a Tiny, Tasty Giveaway!)

 Product comparison tests are truly terrific multi-sensory tools for learning, as they allow a child to:

• Hone in on their senses

• Develop a sense of their likes and dislikes

• Establish the concept that there is not a right or wrong or good or bad answer for personal preferences

• Recognize and respect the uniqueness of those around them

• Identify environmental print and product packaging 

• Identify the concepts of product placement and marketing 

Since childhood, I have enjoyed testing out various products, from my days when my family and I were toy testers for Marx Toys.
In my early teaching days, I started to integrate product tests into our day to day, if it naturally fit in with what we were doing in our classroom.

Would puposely buy different brands of school supply items to see which ones the children preferred...from glue sticks to crayons, from early readers to math games, from paint brushes to scissors...

When I first started, it was more for my own satisfaction to see if the more expensive products really were preferred by the children and whether or not their opinion of a product correlated with how well that product actually worked.
Then, I got into doing some very simple taste tests, as it occurred to me that not only could the product testing help me to determine which items to order for my class, but also, which items were preferred for snack time, etc.
And so it continued...popcorn, yogurt, cookies, snack crackers, and so on...

Then, I began to tie in product testing with particular themes that were being covered in the classroom, so for instance, when we were doing a unit about teeth, I had the children do a toothpaste taste test. Each child was given three teeny tiny tastes of toothpaste, each on its own tipped toothpick that I had already painstakingly prepared. This was a workout even though I only had 16 students at the time, but I wanted to be certain that  every child would have the very tiniest taste from a very pristine tube of toothpaste that had only been handled carefully by me.

This really was an interesting experience though...
Doing this little taste test really seemed to hit home with my students.
They enjoyed the experience and got into describing which one they preferred and why they liked it.
At the time, I had several second language learners in my classroom and to give them a hands on activity that had them give their opinion really seemed to be empowering to them as well as to the other children.
In my single adult years, I was in different clubs, including a few wine clubs. I both hosted and attended wine taste tests, along with chocolate taste tests during this fun, foot loose and fancy free time in my life. 
Flash forward several years and go to the time when Dear Hubby and I were newly dating..
Lo and behold, I had met my match, as he loves to do product testing, especially taste tests, too!
This was one of the first signs that we were meant for each other, as we both think it is fun to do taste tests and other sorts of product testing...

From chocolate chips to peanut butter, from turkey slices to orange juice, we have a fun time doing taste tests.
Now, maybe it is in our sons' genes to enjoy doing product testing, especially taste tests, but whatever the case, it is now something that we like to do as a family.
What makes prodcut testing so nice is that any person who does the product testing feels that their opinion counts, and that there is no right or wrong answer.
My sons are very different in some ways but yet, very much alike in other ways and doing product testing, taste tests in particular, helps to make them appreciate each other all the more.
If you have not ever tried to do product testing with your students, your family, or your friends, I encourage you to do so.
Obviously, since current times are far more litigious, if you do this with a classroom of students, whether a homeschool group, church group, or a school classroom, you would need to first ask for permission from your administration, along with the parents of the children you plan to involve in your product testing project.
You will want to explain that there is a reason for doing this...that it is not just something fun but that there is real learning involved in doing this...hopefully, lifelong learning for a child that they will remember taste testing or product testing something from when they were young...and that their opinions counted and that everyone is unique in their personal preferences.
You will also have to be extraordinarily aware of food allergies and sensitivities, as well as any regulations put forth by where you live on such tests with children. 
What I found was that with young children, it is good to try to stick to doing product comparisons with either two or three products.
As children get older, in addition to discussing personal preferences, you can also have them discuss concepts such as the marketing of a product and have them taste off brands / generics versus name brands...
...low fat or low sugar products versus their same brand equivalents...
or do a test of the refined version of a product versus the organic version, etc. Doing taste tests and product tests are also very fun to do with friends...if you want an ice breaker at a church event, or a mom's club, or a get together with neighbors, a taste test or a craft product test is a very non-threatening way to encourage communication...great ice breaker, if you will...
I have done chocolate taste tests, wine taste tests, and crafts supplies performance tests with friends...
all of these proved to be fun and we all learned something from doing these...we learned about each other as well as what were the real stand outs.
Well, hope that you will want to try to do a product test with your children, your family, or your friends.
All people, regardless of their age, race, gender, or background like to know that their opinions matter and what better way to drive home this point than to do a test like one of the ones I have mentioned?

Okay, now for a tiny, tasty giveaway...

To go along with Whole Lotta Love, here is Giveaway #3: 

A chocolate taste test to one lucky blog follower / subscriber!

Please note: The chocolates in the photo are not necessarily the exact choclates you will be sent...will have to check with winner about things like allergies, etc. as well if any particular brands cannot be shipped outside the USA...

To enter, please do the following:
1. Be sure that you are a public subscriber or follower of my blog.  
This giveaway is open to public subscribers or followers of Sunrise Learning Lab only. If you do not already follow or subscribe to my blog, hope that you will consider doing so, as hopefully, you will like my blog content.
 2. Answer one of the following questions:

• Have you ever done a product test? If yes, what kind of product did you test?
• If you have not tested a product before, what are your thoughts about giving it a try?
• If you have tested a product, were there any that took you by surprize...for instance, did you happen to find that you preferred an off brand or a different brand than what you normally purchase?

Well, hope that you will wanna enter this fun lil' giveaway!
Winner will receive a chocolate taste test, plus instructions on how to do the taste test with a group of students and then, a second one for grown ups (the second one gives you some suggestions for wine pairings to go with particular types of chocolates)...
Disclaimer: 
I was not asked by any marketing group to do this giveaway, nor was I asked to do this giveaway by any particular company...just thought that it would be fun!
The chocolates I will send you are not necessarily the ones from the photo with this post, as I will have to see about allergies you or your testers may have before sendng this taste test to you.  
By entering this giveaway, you agree to hold me harmless if a person were to choke on a bite of the chocolate, or were to have an allergic reaction or any other sort of issue related to the chocolate. The chocolates that will be sent to you will come from their respective companies in their original wrappers so there will be no question of the origin of the chocolates. All of the chocolates that will be sent out have met the standards to be sold commercially at stores in the U.S.A.
i am not responsible if the chocolates you receive arrive and show any signs of melting or freezing in transit, but will do the utmost here to send them in a way that helps to make them arrive as in nice of a condition as possible. 
This giveaway is open worldwide. 
The giveaway starts on 1/20/11 and ends on 2/3/11. 

Update: 

2/3/11: The Chocolate Taste Test Winner, as chosen by Random.Org for this Giveaway,  is Comment #4, Martianne, who commented:

So I giggled at your warnings and disclaimer... And, I love this giveaway as we are all chocoholics here. Plus, I find your post coincidental as we were celebrating a feast day with oranges here today and, if snow had not prevented all trips out, I had planned to get different citrus fruits to try a little taste test with my kiddoes - who are soooo picky! So, your post inspired me.Now, your questions:* Have you ever done a product test? If yes, what kind of product did you test?Many food and drink ones and some school supplies, but only once or twice officially.* If you have tested a product, were there any that took you by surprise...for instance, did you happen to find that you preferred an off brand or a different brand than what you normally purchase?
Not as of yet...Thanks, again!

This giveaway has ended and comments on this post are now closed.
Congrats to Martianne!