Product Review: Story Wands (3 Years+)
Products Designed with Learning in Mind
I like to reach out to individuals and/or companies before I do a review of their product and more often than not people are wonderfully receptive to talking and working with me so that I can give a complete report on great products to my blog readers. It has been amazing and I have met so many people on such a wonderful path to empower kids! Some that are not receptive are usually large companies that follow very large blog statistic requirements you have to meet before they will talk with you (10,000 followers plus, etc…yikes! OK, I’m getting there…..) and some are very small operations that don’t have a marketing or publicity team who can help. However, if I really believe in a product or company, not getting input won’t stop me from doing a review and sometimes my readers will have to suffer with my poor photography skills and even lack of bio information on a company or product. Lakeshore Learning is one company that I have loved since I discovered them while pregnant with Brooke (researching educational products, of course!) and I really, really wanted to get their input before I did this review. However, doing a ‘partnership’ with Lakeshore Learning is still a distant future relationship for me until I meet their match requirements. But I didn’t want to wait to discuss one of my favorite Lakeshore Learning products we own and decided this was a great opportunity to talk about Lakeshore and their story through their really awesome Story Wands.
Story Wands are a great way to get kids excited about story elements and reading as well as giving them critical thinking opportunities. There are 8 10″ story wands in each set that are made with safe, wipe-clean vinyl. The idea is that you use these wands during story time and ask your child such simple questions during and after a story such as, ‘What will happen during the story?’ or ‘What was your favorite character?’. I have been incorporating this technique with Brooke since she began toddlerhood and while I may not always understand her answers, I am certainly interested asking her the questions and hearing what she does say. And believe me, my daughter talks a lot and is quite opinionated at her young age and in particular about the stories that she wants to read. I want to hone her passion of reading and think that the story wands are a great tool for reading fun and discussion with kids.
About Lakeshore Learning: Lakeshore Learning has the ‘American Dream’ written all over their background. Ethelyn Kaplan, single mother from Omaha, packed up her family and headed west to California in 1954 to start a toy company. Like all good entrepreneurs, when local schools started requesting more and more of her classroom and art supplies, Ethelyn saw the potential of a new business and sold the toy store to begin Lakeshore Learning. This successful million dollar company has stayed in Ethelyn’s family and is now run by her grandsons (say it with me now…awww!). Stores exist all over the United States and they have their full product catalog sorted by age on their website which also offers a free resources page which lots of great activities for parents and kids. I personally love their toddler magnifying glasses, touch boards and jumbo cardboard blocks. Since I have a Lakeshore Learning store nearby, I take advantage of their in-store savings and coupon codes they send if you sign up for their mailing list. For those bloggers who are interested in partnering with Lakeshore Learning in marketing opportunities, here is the link for the online request form. Maybe you could put in a good word for Momma’s Bacon!
Note on attached picture: Only 6 of the 8 wands in the set are pictured. My daughter really wanted to play with the other two while I took the picture.
List Price: $24.95
Momma's Bacon 