BUTTERBEANS CAFE GIVEAWAY

Show children that cooking can be a fun adventure by enjoying the hit Nick Jr. animated television series Butterbean's Café with them then making some delicious recipes together in the kitchen. Produced by Jonny Belt and Robert Scull, the creators of the popular Bubble Guppies show, Butterbean's Café shares the adventures of a fairy who runs a neighborhood café with her friends. The first season of Butterbean’s Café has had the highest rated launch of a preschool tv series on Nickelodeon's cable network since the debut of ratings giant Paw Patrol and the fairy cooking show is currently one of the top 5 shows among girls ages 2-5.



This dad blogger is sharing some of this show's magic with you through a special ageekdaddy.com giveaway courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment. One lucky winner will receive a Butterbean Fairy Kit that includes a Butterbean Café: Let's Get Cooking DVD, fairy wings and an assortment of other goodies. The DVD includes eight delicious episodes from Season 1 of the animated series and four family-friendly recipes inspired by the show. Butterbean’s Café: Let’s Get Cooking DVD can help you share the magic of cooking with the little ones in your life!

To toss your name in the hat for a chance to win this prize pack just complete the rafflecopter entries below before 11:59 pm ET on Sunday, March 15, 2020. Must be a United States resident over 18 years old to participate. Only one prize pack per residence allowed in this Paramount Home Entertainment promotion. The contest sponsor will be responsible for delivery of the prize to the randomly selected winner. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway Butterbeans' Café: Let's Get Cooking is available now on DVD from Best Buy. If you purchase the DVD through a link in this post ageekdaddy.com receives a small commission at no additional charge to you. Thank you for supporting ageekdaddy.com!



In Butterbean’s Café: Let’s Get Cooking kids can help Butterbean outdo Ms. Marmalady with her yummy parfaits and tasty quiche; assist Cricket with her first menu as she learns to pipe icing on cupcakes; see Dazzle run the café herself and switch jobs with Poppy; and bake a little magic with Jasper and help the Bean Team find Cookie the cat!

PAW PATROL MIGHTY PUPS

My kids really enjoyed the Nickelodeon animated series PAW PATROL as preschoolers. While they outgrew it a few years ago based upon our family's fond memories of Paw Patrol I'm glad to see the show is still going strong. In fact there is a new Paw Patrol movie titled MIGHTY PUPS that will be airing in the near future on Nickelodeon. For those who can't wait for the TV debut of Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups, this 44-minute action-packed adventure is available now on DVD exclusively from Walmart.  A great addition to the home video library of anyone who has preschoolers around their house!

In this high-flying, heroic mission, the PAW Patrol are given Mighty Pup powers after a mysterious meteor lands in Adventure Bay. When Mayor Humdinger and his nephew trap Ryder and steal the meteor to take over the city, the pups must work together and use their new powers-- from Chase's super speed to Marshall's mighty heat, Rubble's super strength and more-- to race to the rescue and save the day.

Wow! I like the super hero theme of this new Paw Patrol movie! Who knows a kid that would like to see Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups because ageekdaddy.com has a DVD to giveaway to one lucky winner courtesy of Nickelodeon Home Entertainment. Just complete the rafflecopter entries below for a chance to win. Must be a United States resident over 18 years old to be eligible to win.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Win a BLAZE & THE MONSTER MACHINES + PAW PATROL Book/DVD Gift Set Courtesy of Nickelodeon

Two of Nickelodeon's most popular TV shows for preschoolers are returning to DVD included in fun gift sets that are sure to delight kids.  First, race into action with Blaze and The Monster Machines: Blaze of Glory, Nickelodeon's STEM (Science Technology, Engineering & Math) focused animated series with an auto racing / monster truck theme to it.  The Blaze and The Monster Machines gift set includes a DVD features a mini-movie and a bonus episode from the television show, plus a book portraying an adventure with the characters from the show.  Join AJ as he drives monster truck Blaze through super-charged STEM adventures as they try to beat their rival Crusher in the cartoons contained on the DVD and illustrated pages of the included book of this gift set.

The pups of  PAW Patrol also have their own gift set out now from Nickelodeon as well.  The PAW PATROL animated television series follows the high-stakes adventures of a team of four-legged heroes who protect the residents of the Adventure Bay community.  This gift set includes an Itty Bitty Kitty Little Golden Book along with a DVD containing five episodes of the TV series.

Nickelodeon has provided A Geek Daddy with each of these Book/DVD gift sets to giveaway to one lucky winner.  For your chance to win just follow the instructions below in the rafflecopter form.  The giveaway starts on February 17 and ending at 11:59 pm ET on March 3, 2017.  Nickelodeon will be responsible for delivery of the prize to the randomly selected winner.  Good luck everyone!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Welcome to the For the Win Giveaway Hop brought to you by The Hopping Bloggers!

Hosted By: Mama Smith's & Women and Their Pretties

Each giveaway has a value of a minimum of $15, however some are worth much more. Be sure to enter to win all of them because there is no limit to how many you can win. GOOD LUCK!

Nickelodeon is going to the dogs with premiere of new series Mutt & Stuff

Programming on Nickelodeon is going to the dogs, and I'm not talking about the Pups of PAW Patrol which my kids adore, with the addition of a brand new television series in which will feature Cesar Millan, star of Nat Geo WILD's Cesar 911 and former star of Dog Whisperer, and his son Calvin interacting with a cast of real dogs and puppets at a canine school called Mutt & Stuff.  This series, also called Mutt & Stuff, will balance teaching puppies to behave and perform tricks with lessons for children to help with identifying and managing their emotions, building interpersonal awareness, and developing social skills.  Additionally the show will carry a message promoting pet adoptions and responsible pet ownership based upon Cesar Millan's philosophies.

Mutt & Stuff will premiere on Friday, July 10, 2015 at 10 am (ET/PT), joining Nickelodeon's regular weekly morning preschool lineup of content that includes the popular shows PAW Patrol and Blaze and the Monster Machines.  Sid and Marty Krofft, the creators of two of my favorite TV shows when I was a youngster H.R. Pufnstuf and Land of the Lost, are serving as executive producers along with Cesar Millan on bringing this show to life on Nickelodeon.

The focus of the show will be on following 16 year old Calvin Millan and his best friend Stuff, a larger-than-life dog with a personality to match as they take viewers inside the doors of Mutt & Stuff.  Each episode will feature fun tricks, training lessons, and some doggy humor with the help of 15 playful puppies and some charismatic puppets.  Cesar will join in on showing Calvin and Stuff how dogs should be guided and highlighting the benefits that the friendship and loyalty of puppies can bring to a family.

Calvin began working with his father at the age of eight when he appeared on the Dog Whisperer helping to train small dogs.  In 2012, he toured Asia and Canada with his dad appearing in the show CESAR MILLAN LIVE.  Cesar of course is well known for his time as the host of the Dog Whisperer television series and more recently as the star of Nat Geo WILD's Cesar 911.  He is also a best-selling author, frequent public speaker, and a pet care product designer.

In addition to Mutt & Stuff being broadcast on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr cable networks, NickJr.com and the Nick Jr. App will feature Mutt & Stuff content and clips.  The series premiere episode will also be available to view via NickJr.com, the Nick Jr. App and on Nick Video On Demand beginning July 11.

CLICK HERE for more information about this new Nickelodeon television series.

Are Your Preschoolers Ready For Kindergarten? Don't Wait Til They Get There To Find Out!

Wow! Kindergarten sure isn't the same thing as it was when I was a kid!  The half day sessions that oriented children to going to school filled with snack time, nap time and play time mixed in with some time spent on learning letters and numbers are a thing of the past.  My 6 year old twins are in Kindergarten this year at a local public elementary school which is now a full day filled with learning about reading, doing math, and completing science projects combined with art, music, gym and Spanish classes.  If your child doesn't know their ABCs and 123s they are starting out behind the curve.  It is a good thing the day care and preschool programs our kids were enrolled in alerted us about how Kindergarten has changed and assisted our children in becoming prepared or we probably would have been caught off guard; but fortunately when the time came our family was all set to go.  Are your preschoolers ready for Kindergarten? Don't wait til they get there to find out!

Nickelodeon has an online quiz you can take to see where your child ranks in being ready for Kindergarten and provides a customized learning plan, educational games, interactive video and printable activities to help get preschoolers ready for school.  The learning plan provided to parents will help ensure their preschoolers have the appropriate development skills necessary to be successful in school and its interactive and skill building activities will help kids meet necessary milestones.

CLICK HERE to TAKE THE QUIZ

The preparedness quiz is part of the 2015 Nick Jr. Beyond the Backpack campaign which is geared to help parents and caregivers prepare preschoolers for academic success.  The campaign's spokesperson is Tia Mowry-Hardrict, from the television show Instant Mom, who alongside popular Nickelodeon characters Dora, Wally and Blaze will be appearing in a PSA series airing across Nickelodeon's TV and digital platforms.  Beyond the preparedness quiz and PSAs, Beyond the Backpack features an advisory committee comprised of leaders in children's education who are lending their expertise to the program, a dedicated website, bilingual (English/Spanish) educational materials, and a parent-targeted mobile program providing weekly tips and information.  Nick Jr's Beyond the Backpack focuses on five key areas deemed critical to educational achievement: family engagement, health and wellness, early literacy, social and emotional development and fundamental STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills.  If you would like to opt-in to receive a weekly text message with tips to make learning more fun for your preschooler, text BACKPACK to 91757.

Originally founded in 2010 as part of the 10th anniversary of the curriculum-driven Dora the Explorer, the 2015 Beyond the Backpack campaign has expanded to include a broad range of educational and socio-emotional topics using a variety of the Nickelodeon's programs and characters, including Wallykazam! (literacy), Team Umizommi (math), Bubble Guppies (socio-emotional development), Peter Rabbit (problem-solving), PAW Patrol (social skills), and Blaze and the Monster Machines (STEM).

Are your preschoolers ready for Kindergarten?!  That time in life arrives much sooner than many of us parents realize it so don't get caught unprepared.  For more information, visit www.beyondthebackpack.com

Make Art with the Pups from PAW Patrol

Coloring and doodling are one of my kids favorite activities so they were thrilled when Nickelodeon rolled out a new creative drawing and artwork app featuring characters from a show they adore called PAW Patrol.  Available for $3.99 on ios devices (iPad, iPhone, iTouch) the PAW Patrol Draw & Play app allows kids to use their imaginations in making some PAWsome creations that can feature their favorite rescue pups - Chase, Marshall, Rocky, Rubble, Zuma, Skye, and the newest pup to join the show Everest, plus the boy who serves as their leader, the tech-savvy Ryder.

PAW Patrol Draw & Play lets children select a background with themes from the show and they can place stickers of the characters and their rescue vehicles on the create their own creative scenes.  What is nice about these stickers is that they are animated and include sound effects to enhance your child's play with the app.  Additional special effects that can be used for creating Paw Patrol themed illustrations or just monkeying around creating your own drawings include magic wands where the lines you create have special properties (green turns into blowing leaves/ black transforms into flying bats / grey has sparkling stars / red has leaping hearts / orange has twirling fruit), bouncing balls that rebound around the frame of your picture and can be controlled by tilting your device in the direction you want the objects to fly, and surprise blocks that if you tap on them they show a special animation of one of the pups in action.

This app expands beyond just the PAW Patrol theme too...if your child wants to be creative and design their own unique master piece it provides plenty of tools for them too.  Chalk, crayon, highlighter, charcoal, pencil, spray paint, and paint brush are all options to allow children to express their imagination.  A nice touch is that you can utilize your device's camera to add your own photos into creations for extra personal touches.  Saving artwork is no problem either with the ability to either save to "My Gallery" section within the app or send the image to your device's Camera Roll where it can than be text, messaged, or e-mailed to where ever or who ever you'd like it to go.

PAW Patrol Draw & Play gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval because it allows children to explore their imagination not just through its connection to these popular rescue pups but also via the creative art tool elements of the app which are good enough that they could be a stand alone product. The list of drawing tools that range from charcoal to magic wand to spray can all work really well and are very impressive.  My kids spent a bunch of time both playing out their own PAW Patrol episode scripts with the show themed backgrounds and stickers as well as making artistic creations that had absolutely no connection to the Nickelodeon series.  What is nice about this app is it really isn't a mindless game where kids are running through a course, shooting at things, or gathering objects but rather an opportunity to stretch an important muscle, their brain, as they think out scenes to display featuring the pups (note scenes they create are two dimensional and while they have animated special effects don't contain video or dialogue story telling sequences) or design drawings, paintings and illustrations for grandma and grandpa to display on their fridge.  PAW Patrol Draw & Play is well-suited for preschool through first graders and can occupy hours of a child's time making it perfect for a rain day or a long road trip in the car.

Some of the key features to be aware of:

• Easy to use interface with 8 different brushes for drawing and painting;

• 22 Animated Stickers;

• Splatter Tops, Magic Wands, and Surprise Blocks to create amazing effects in your pictures;

• eCards to customize and send to friends and family;

• Picture ideas to help jump-start your child's imagination;

• Animated Tutorials;

• Airplay;

• Parental Controls.

PAW Patrol stars a pack of heroic rescue pups.  Together they work hard to show the people of Adventure Bay that "no job is too big, no pup is too small!"  In partnership with Spin Master Entertainment, the series features a curriculum that focuses on citizenship, social skills and problem-solving.  PAW Patrol is the number-one preschool series on Nickelodeon and airs weekdays at 12 p.m. (ET/PT).

DISCLAIMER:  I received this app complimentary from the developer to review but did not receive any financial compensation for this post.  The views and opinions expressed in this post are my own.

Run to the Rescue with the Dogs of PAW PATROL in new Mobile App

The "hot thing" that has had my 5 year old twins attention the last few weeks has been the dogs of Nickelodeon's animated television show PAW PATROL.  So it was perfect timing for Nickelodeon's recent introduction of a new ios mobile app game based on the characters from the show.  In the RESCUE RUN! app which can be played on ipod touchs, ipads and iphones, kids can team up with the various PAW PATROL puppies for a variety of missions that require each pup to use its skills to overcome obstacles and help save their hometown of Adventure Bay.  This game uses a side-scrolling platform that is easy to play through and its fun is not as much the challenges presented but rather the opportunity for the kids to participate in their own PAW PATROL adventure and interact with their favorite characters.  It is really aimed for preschool/kindergarten aged children and older kids will most likely find the game somewhat basic and boring.  If your child is at an age where they are currently enjoying the PAW PATROL characters though this can be a fun treat for them.  My son and daughter have really enjoyed playing the game the last few days since I've downloaded it.

While some people may criticize the game for its brevity, I've appreciated that is has several short defined missions so that my children can play it for awhile and than they are done...there isn't the tug to be constantly playing on the ipad with this game because they can have some fun with it and than they are done.  I also appreciated, as I have multiple kids who want to play the game, that you can set up individualized player setting for up to four children so they can all have their own accounts on the game...nice!  Another nice feature is that this game aimed for younger children has basic controls that promote hand eye coordination but aren't very difficult to master.  Players ALWAYS complete the rescue run without losing a life, if the pup hits an obstacle the dog backs up and lets the child try to get around it again.  The challenge for the kids is not avoiding dying but rather to get better and better scores each time they play through the rescue run course.  In addition to the rescue run side-scrolling courses to run through there are also first-person view missions where the player works with a pup to solve a sorting task.  For completing missions and tasks the pups and their preschool players are awarded digital Adventure Bay badge awards to provide an acknowledgement of achievement for successfully completing their assignments which is a great way to encourage children to want to complete all of the aspects of the game.

While the game is somewhat limited with only 3 rescue missions to choose from, children can replay levels to earn all the various Adventure Bay badges, it works will with having your children play it for short stints.  My kids play it and than are done and don't argue that they want to keep going and going and going when I tell them it is time to stop.  I don't mind my kids enjoying video games for short stints but I also want them doing other things like playing outside or being creative and imaginative doing activities like coloring or drawing.  PAW PATROL: RESCUE RUN is a great game to pull out to amuse your child if you are going on a long drive, it is a rainy blah day, or you are stuck in a waiting room with them for something like a doctor's appointment.

In addition to be entertaining and amusing there are also some educational aspects to it as well:

Classification & Sorting - Some of the tasks involve comparing similar objects and sort them by size and type (for example thick versus thin).

Visual Discrimination & Matching - Find items and match them to a list of missing objects.

Science & Recycling - Categorize items as either recyclable or trash.

Counting/Enumeration - Identify objects according to the number of objects in a set.

As I mentioned before my children have really enjoyed playing this game, primarily for two reasons.  First, they have enjoyed interacting with the characters from the PAW PATROL television show and being able to control the pups through the game's adventures.  Secondly, they have been really competitive to see who can get the highest "dog biscuit" scores in the rescue runs and achieve the most Adventure Bay badges first.  The two things I appreciate the most about the game is that there isn't any risky or questionable content to worry about exposing my children to during the game play and there are no advertisements or efforts to have you buy things through in-app purchases to "enhance the experience".  Of course with no ads in the game or in-app purchase revenue that also creates an upfront cost to the game for parents when it comes to downloading RESCUE RUN.  The app is priced at $6.99 for the High Definition version and $3.99 for Standard Definition on iTunes.

If you have children who are into PAW PATROL right now I'd recommend this app but if your children have moved past that stage you should pass on this app based upon the limited missions, repetitive actions and basic elements of this app.  This is a very nice game for preschoolers and if that is where you and your children are at in life right now than you should absolutely consider downloading PAW PATROL: RESCUE RUN. 

DISCLAIMER:  I received a complimentary download of PAW PATROL: RESCUE RUN from Nickelodeon for this review.  The Paw Patrol toys pictured above were purchased with my own money way before I ever heard about this app and my children are big fans of the television show.

·

A Fun & Free Birthday Surprise for Families with Preschoolers in their Home

Here's a birthday treat that is sure to thrill any preschool/kindergarten aged child...a surprise phone call from their favorite character from the NickJr line-up of animated television shows.  The Nickelodeon cable network is making phone calls from their most popular characters like Dora the Explorer, the Paw Patrol puppies, Wallykazam, and Peter Rabbit, among others, available for children 1 - 13 years old to help them celebrate their birthdays.  You can select your child's favorite character to provide a personalized birthday greeting that I am sure would make their day...and best of all it is FREE!

Just agree to receive the NickJr birthday club emails and you can schedule up to 5 personalized birthday phone calls per year.  By signing up for the NickJr birthday club you'll receive an email with party planning tips and free birthday printables prior to your children's special days plus occasional promotional emails about programming, events, and special offers involving the Nickelodeon cable network.

You can sign up to receive the calls via the NickJr. Birthday Club website and have them directed to a mobile phone or a landline.  If you select a mobile phone, a text message will be sent the morning of the scheduled call.  Just click the link in the text message when you are ready to receive the call and it will be initiated.  If you sign up to receive the birthday greeting by landline, than you must select a specific time when you register online to receive your call.  Either way you go be prepared to put your child on the phone because you only have 10 seconds to put your child on the phone before the message starts.

For more information, visit www.NickJrBirthdayClub.com