eeBoo | Here Wee Read

I initially found out about eeBoo products a couple of years ago while doing an online search for educational toys for kids. eeBoo is an award-winning toy manufacturer located in New York City. They make beautifully designed crafts, games, and toys. All of their products feature cheerful, contemporary, and vintage-inspired designs. In addition to their design focus, all of eeBoo’s products are made of high quality and durable materials.

Being a literacy advocate, I am also pleased to know eeBoo hires well-known children’s book illustrators to design their products. How great is that? So if you like books and beautiful art as much as I do then I think you’ll love eeBoo products too.

With the winter season in full effect here in the Northeast, I like to keep the kids busy with lots of indoor activities, games and puzzles. Our friends over at eeBoo were generous enough to send us a few of their products to try. We received a 100-piece Children of the World Puzzle, I Never Forget a Face Matching Game, and a set of Good Citizenship Flash Cards.

First Product: I Never Forget a Face Matching Game
My kids are obsessed with playing the I Never Forget a Face matching game! There are a total of 24 pairs to match up, but I like to break it up and let the kids do 12 pairs at a time so it’s not as overwhelming. As they get older (around age 5) I think they’ll be able to handle matching up all 24 pairs at once. The kids love seeing all of the colorful smiling faces of children from countries all over the world. I love that the game is designed to teach spatial awareness, to help develop memory skills and sharpen recognition. I also appreciate the fact that the pieces are made with soy-based inks and 90% recycled greyboard.

Second Product: 100-Piece Children of the World Puzzle
We also enjoy putting together the 100-Piece Children of the World puzzle as a group. It allows us to learn about geography and diversity at the same time. It’s also a nice conversation starter to talk about where people live around the world. We also like to discuss different ways to celebrate differences and find similarities among the different cultures.

Third Product: Good Citizenship Flash Cards
The Good Citizenship Flash Cards are fun too. I find the cards to be useful as they help reinforce some of the values we’ve already been trying to instill in the children over the past few years. The cards are two-sided and focus on teaching appropriate behavior, unselfish values, and social responsibility. The front of each card starts a sentence which is finished on the back of the card.

Here are some examples:

When someone seems left out…
Ask, “Do you want to play?”

When you see a chore that can be done…
Pitch in and help with chores when you see them.

When playing ANY game…
Never Cheat. Always do your best.

As you can see eeBoo offers a unique collection of toys and gifts that inspire literacy, drawing, imaginative play, and more. Simply put, they create toys and gifts that children will affectionately remember. For more information about eeBoo or their products, please visit: http://eeboo.com/

Your turn: Do you and your kids have a favorite eeBoo product? Feel free to share in the comments.

The Giveaway!!!
To enter the giveaway to receive the same bundle of eeBoo products featured in this post, follow us over on Instagram for all of the details. All you need to do is tag two (or more) friends in the comments section of each of the daily posts on Instagram. You can also answer the bonus question for an additional entry. The giveaway for this particular prize bundle starts today, February 1, 2017 and ends February 2, 2017 at 12:00am midnight. Open to all US residents age 18 and over. Good Luck!

P.S. This giveaway is part of our #28daysofgiveaways for Black History Month which starts on February 1, 2017 and ends on February 28, 2017. All month long on Instagram we’re hosting a daily giveaway. The prizes have generously been donated by 30+ sponsors. You can enter to win diverse books, children’s book subscription boxes, games, multicultural dolls and more!

When I first discovered eeBoo after reading about them online last December, I was instantly impressed. Their games, puzzles, flash cards, and wall art are exactly the kind of toys we like to have in our home. They are colorful, educational, and made of high-quality recycled materials.

One of the many products eeBoo produces is an award-winning early literacy product called Tell Me a Story Creative Story Cards. These cards are my “secret weapon” I use when I want an alternative to reading books and they are perfect for honing my storytelling skills. Recommended for ages 3 and up (although I use them with my 1 & 2 year olds), the deck of 36 beautifully illustrated cards assist children in creating their own stories.

An endless number of stories are possible by placing any number of the cards in any order. Short stories, long stories, kids create a new story every time they shuffle the deck. The whole family can make a game out of the cards, by taking turns picking cards and telling a story together. Parents, grandparents and teachers will find the cards useful as an aid in their own storytelling. Brilliant!

Create a Story Cards: Volcano Island

Here’s the basic breakdown of how the story cards work. You lay out all the cards. Then you choose, or have your child(ren) choose, the cards they find interesting. Choose as many or as few cards as you like, and lay them out in an order that tells your story.

Then you go through the cards, describing them in any way you or your child(ren) wishes to tell the story of your making. And that’s it! Super simple and a really fun way to work the imagination and gain better understanding of the process of storytelling.

eeBoo offers four different sets of story cards: Circus Animal Adventures, Fairy Tale Mix-Up, Mystery in the Forest, Volcano Island, Animal Village and Little Robots Mission. Sized small at about 4″ x 5″, the cards pack easily in a bag, perfect for travel and come in a sturdy sliding tray box. Because the set is priced reasonably at $9.95, we plan on buying a few of the other sets for more storytelling possibilities. I imagine you can even mix the sets together and make up some pretty wacky stories!

These open-ended card sets allow for endless variations on games and activities based upon storytelling. The simplest activity is for a young child to choose three cards from the deck and then tell a story (or a sentence) that incorporates the three items shown on the card. As a child begins to gain confidence in telling stories, the number of cards may be increased, or additional players may be added to take turns to create a cooperative story, a fun social group activity.

My 2 1/2 year-old daughter has a pretty awesome imagination already, and I’ve really enjoyed listening to her tell me some excellent stories. I’ve been particularly pleased because the set encourages her to speak her mind and become a little more vocal, skills that she needs to practice before she starts Pre-K3 this fall.

I hope you found this helpful.

Happy Storytelling!

3 eeBoo Products Your Children Will Love + A Giveaway!

A Simple Way to Improve Your Storytelling Skills

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