Review: ChildUp Learning Cards & Giveaway
Wednesday, February 15, 2012 at 9:33PM This review is my honest, unbiased opinion of my experience with ChildUp's Learning Cards. Thankfully, ChildUp & I share the same passion in raising Successful & Happy Children :)
Whether it's because I'm a teacher by trade, or if it's just in my nature; but I like to educate my kids.
And when I say educate, I don't want to instill a vision of me pacing our lounge room with a cane in one hand & a stick of chalk in the other, while my perfect children sit straight postured in their rowed desks reciting their reading, writing & arithmetic ;o) Haaa! I simply mean.....I love nothing more than surrounding my kids with books & puzzles & crafty materials. I enjoy counting with them, singing to them, story telling with them & drawing. I embrace creativity, and encourage my children to talk, question & wonder. I know that children are sponges.....and if given enough rich content, in an interesting manner & with the use of great resources.....learning & absorbing can happen....will happen.....and it can be fun {for both parent & kid}!
So, when I received my Math & Logic Early Learning Cards from ChildUp, I was a little excited about where these cards would take us :)
They are designed for 1-5 year olds. Each set comes with 16 Parent's Cards plus 48 Child's Cards. They are appealing to both boys & girls, and not only do they teach number skills....but they venture into animal facts too! You can buy them online here.
Set 1 & 2. Math & Logic. ChildUp.
Ella was super excited when I told her I had some new number cards for her to play with......
At first, we started with Set 1 {Learning to count 1-10}.
Ella has just turned 4, and can easily count to 10 {and beyond}, but I wanted to experience the activities with her....because memory counting to 10 is one thing, but truly understanding each digit & each number as an amount & figure, is another.
We counted, we sorted, we talked, we played. I found the parent cards really interesting & helpful. There was also random fact cards that I found really interesting about baby's brains & learning experiences. The way ChildUp had explained the importance of 'teaching' your children the basic maths skills at a young age, excited me. However, I was left wanting a little more from the suggested activities. I think it would be really great if ChildUp had these cards in an inclusive package with a few more hands-on resources, such as counters and/or objects to represent each number. Ella was getting a little confused with the concept that 6 can be made up of 6 individual objects, or 3 plus another 3, or 4 plus another 2 etc etc. So, I got out our small wooden blocks & we used these as counters to represent different ways to show each value.
And once we started rolling with the concept of having a hands-on object to represent each number, we got more creative with how we showed each number. We even went into taking some away & adding some on. I asked Ella a lot of questions & I really enjoyed the way that these cards 'force' interactive fun. We then got out Set 2 {Counting to 20} and talked about the 'make up' of these numbers.
Ella was starting to loose concentration, which was my cue to stop, but I left the cards out....and to my surprise she kept playing with them on her own. I sat back & watched her with my coffee in hand :) She started lining cards up & attempting different sorting strategies. It made me realise that the learning from these cards, isn't just about numbers & animals....but problem solving & strategy using too!
I then got some paper out & wrote down some digits for Ella to copy. I then asked her to 'draw' each number and she did this by doing dots.
As I said before.....I think ChildUp could really benefit from making these cards as part of a whole educational package, with some follow up/extension activities that do involve drawing & creating & hands-on representations. But, having the sets of cards was a great starter activity to stimulate conversation & base learning. Ella said she likes the cards & the way they look :) I think they're perfect for young children, especially visual learners.
Yay! I'm Ella & I'm FOUR :)
I continued to watch Ella as she independently played, arranged, sorted, counted & interacted with the cards. She then started tracing them & writing her own numbers {photo above}. I asked her what she was doing...."making a board game Mummy, you have to match the same numbers to win!".
I then realised that these are definietely not just your traditional 'flash cards'.....as flash cards ideally are about recognition & memory. These cards stimulate a lot more education & learning! Very cool.
ChildUp also has a fab app for iPhones & iPads....and it's FREE!!!! It's also a great interactive learning tool which I recommend you download for young children. You can find it here. I will blog about that soon.
GIVEAWAY - But guess what?? ChildUp has given me another card pack....Set 1 & 2....for one lucky Scissors Paper Rock reader. They are happy to ship internationally....so this giveaway is open to anyone & everyone worldwide :) To go in the draw to win these FAB cards....all you have to do is; Head to their Facebook page & click LIKE. Write on their wall that Claire from Scissors Paper Rock sent you, then head back here & leave a comment on THIS BLOG POST telling me you've done so. I will randomly draw a winner next Tuesday 21st Feb {quick.....only 6 days to enter!}
Alternatively.....if you don't 'use' Facebook..... simply go to ChildUp's website, have a look around, and then come back HERE & tell me what you like most about ChildUp's resources, philosophies or website.
EASY! ENJOY!!!! And have fun 'learning' with your kids!!
You can find ChildUp's website HERE! Their Facebook HERE! Their Twitter HERE! And their blog HERE!
They also offer wonderful Online Parenting Classes :)
Reader Comments (17)
Liked on FB - what a great concept! Fx we win as the Kids and I love learning!
Hi Claire, this was a very honest and insightful blog. I found it very interesting and it gave me further ideas for some of my students. I'm going to share it too as I know some of my parents will like it. I hope you do more of these! ;)
PS, I love the pic of you and Ella together
Liked on Facebook. :)
hey claire, liked on facebook :) lachie is really into the lego duplo counting blocks at the moment so i think we'll have to get some these. was thinking we could use them with the lego which would be cool!!
I've liked on facebook. Thanks for the giveaway!
Have just become a new liker on FB of ChildUp :)
Hi Claire, Thanks for this opportunity. I have liked on FB.
Liked on facebook! This would be perfect for my kiddos! Thanks for the great opportunity!
I love the EarlyZoo Application for Ipad or Iphone, Its a product Im excited for m y daughter to try and introduce animals to her.
I just came back from ChildUp-- great things they're doing over there!
Liked the ChildUp Facebook page - these cards would be perfect for my special needs pre-level one kids in NZ.
Have liked ChildUp on FB. Left them a little note.
I liked ChildUp on FB. Great giveaway!
These flash cards look great and sound like a lot of fun...and I'll be having a look at the App you recommended too :)
ox
PS. I have liked ChildUp on Facebook :)
What fantastic cards - I can definately see the awesome potential being a teacher and Mother myself. My children would love to play and learn with this set. Liked ChildUp and left a comment. Thanks for the chance.
What a great idea - I'm up for anything that helps the parents help the kids! Have liked ChildUp on Facebook and we're using their iPhone app's - awesome! Thanks for letting me know about them :)
Liked on facebook and am loving their apps:-) x