Review: Roklienz: Rok Out! app

What would be more fun than your little one being at the helm of his/her own rock band? Being at the helm of an alien rock band, of course! Roklienz: Rok Out! is another great app from Creativity Inc. (makers of Do-Re-Mi 123) that allows children to explore their musical creativity while involving the entire family.

We really like playing this game and, for us, it's definitely a team effort! I get us started by picking the song and the alien band members, and I also dress the band up n the wardrobe room with Andrew's assistance ("Pick the other alien pirate eyepatch, Mommy!")

Then, the rock begins. We select a stage and Andrew taps on each alien to get them playing their instrument or singing. He has a blast starting and stopping each one or selecting which alien to be a featured soloist. Andrew is almost three and a half, and with my guidance, he got the hang of the game quickly--though he does get frustrated if I'm not there to help him navigate between songs and stages. Older kids will be more adept at this and really into dressing their our rock band, taking and sharing band photos, recording their music video, and playing them back for family and friends.

And what was little Liam's role in all this? Well, he just dances around the room! The four featured songs are really quirky and catchy--just what you would imagine alien rock to sound like--and they get us all dancing along.

The game is free to play and available at the itunes app store for download. There are in-app upgrades available for purchase (four extra aliens for 99 cents a piece or $2.99 for all), but we've been just fine with the original four aliens.

We're looking forward to the next game in the Roklienz series, Roklienz: On Tour due out next week! It a rhythm-based game, so it will delve into a whole different aspect of music than our other Creativity Inc. apps.  Look out for it in the itunes app store this July.

Disclaimer: Creativity Inc. provided us with a cool t-shirt for Andrew for reviewing Roklienz: Rok Out Concert! All opinions expressed in this review are unbiased and a positive review was not a condition of receiving aforementioned t-shirt (but Andrew does love his new Roklienz tee!)

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Review: DoReMi 1-2-3: Music for Kids app

You know those kids apps that are so fun that you secretly play them yourself when the kids are asleep? All the apps from Creativity Inc. fall into that category! My 3-year-old, one-year-old, and I have been playing their gorgeous music-learning app DoReMi 1-2-3: Music For Kids (and also their alien rock band music game Roklienz™ Rok Out) on both my iPad and iPhone, and they are so much fun--for the entire family!

There is so much to do and learn on DoReMi 1-2-3! Lesson mode teaches kids to play simple songs by ear using an eight note scale. Notes are represented not by piano keys, but by a set of 8 colorful characters all in a row (8 pandas, 8 stars, 8 cows, etc.) And songs are taught in a progressive, build-on fashion that really works with little ones.

In free play mode--the mode we use the most--kids can make and record their own music. In addition to being able to select from multiple sets of musical characters and wonderfully-illustrated backgrounds to make music in (our favorite setting is the farm), kids can also choose to hear their characters make animal sounds, sing do-re-mi, or recite colors or numbers as they play along the scale.

Plus, there are tons of adorable extras added into each background. For example, clicking certain spots around the farm background will make corn grow from the field or a pig emerge from the barn. This game is no one-trick pony! You and your kids are going to have tons of fun discovering all of its little secrets!

You can get a free version of DoReMi 1-2-3 lite, which includes a limited number of songs, backgrounds and characters, by visiting the itunes App Store. A full version of the game with all the bells and whistles is available for purchase for $2.99--totally worth it for all the family fun to be had in this beautifully-crafted kids app.

Disclaimer: Creativity Inc provided me with a full version of the app for consideration. All opinions are my own -- I really like this app!

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Review: Children's Yoga with Little Shanti Studio

When I was contacted by Wendy of The Little Shanti Yoga Studio about children's yoga classes, I was certainly intrigued, but not very sure my robot-loving, samurai-kick-throwing 3-year-old would be very into following yoga directions. Boy was I wrong! Andrew had a great time and it is all due to Wendy and her super fun teaching style.

During our yoga session at the Rose Memorial Public Library, Wendy based the class around an adorable picture book about feelings. She began the class by asking the kids to draw a picture of how they were feeling that day, and everyone then spoke a bit about their drawing. Next, she read a few pages from the book and followed that with a couple minutes of yoga, repeating the cycle (read, yoga, read, yoga) for the rest of the class.

The kids, ranging in age from about six to three, were captivated by Wendy's animated storytelling and did such a good job keeping up with the kid-friendly yoga moves. And, while Andrew especially kept wanting to interrupt the class with stories about robots, Wendy was so amazing at bringing each interruption kindly and quickly back into the yoga routine. We can thank her years as a preschool teacher for that useful skill!

It was so nice to see Andrew being active in such a healthy and quieter way, and I am definitely going to be joining Wendy for more classes in the future. You can check out the Little Shanti website or Facebook page for more class times, locations and pricing info. Wendy teaches from her home close to Suffern, travels to local schools and other venues, and also does private classes and birthday parties for kids and adults, so there are so many, many fun ways your family can get started!

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Review: Flexibath, the magical foldable tub

Our apartment has just a shower stall and that's not much fun for a toddler and his toy boats. So, last year I went on a hunt for a portable bath tub. An inflatable tub worked at first, but was soon too small, losing air, annoying to store and easily slimed up. Yuck! There had to be a better solution.

Enter the Flexibath ($35-$40 on Amazon). Created by Dutch Company A Real Cool World and distributed in the US by Prince Lionheart, the Flexibath is an ingenious plastic kids' bathtub that folds flat. Flat I say! So flat that when held closed with its attached clip you can store it in your luggage when you travel.

When opened, however, this transformer of a tub transforms into a bath big enough for children up to 4 years old. I've actually managed to squeeze both my tall kids (3 and 10 months) into one, though it may not be the most comfortable thing. Fun, though!

The Flexibath is bpa, phthalate, lead and PVC free, has a non-slip bottom and underside, and comes in green, blue, pink, red, white or clear. You can even buy an infant insert to use with smaller babies (though I haven't a tried it and used a molded tub instead.)

Broken!

My only gripe: after almost a year of use and not much folding, the folding clip broke off the tub leaving a jagged edge that could have cut someone. I immediately contacted Prince Lionheart via their website and they sent me a replacement bath, but I really hope the company comes up with a better clip mechanism for the future.

Until then, I still wholeheartedly recommend the Flexibath to anyone who has just a shower stall or needs to travel, but recommend you check for clip breakage before each bath. Just be sure to hold on to your receipt too, so that you can request a new tub if needed.

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