My Fairy Garden Magical Cottage from PlayMonster Toys

** A Geek Daddy received the featured product for free to review**

The little girl in my house was a gasp with excitement when PlayMonster Toys sent her a My Fairy Garden: Magical Cottage™ to try out.  This playset at first glimpse appears to be a flower pot but take a closer look and you'll find out it is the enchanting home of Freya the fairy.  This toy combines a doll house with a garden. Kids can plant a real garden around Freya's home and when its seeds have sprouted they'll have fun pretending the included fairy figurine is frolicking about her cottage.  With opening doors and furniture for the inside, children can play with the Freya both in her cottage and around the garden that surrounds it.  My daughter couldn't wait to dig in and get her garden started.

My Fairy Garden: Magical Cottage includes a flowerpot cottage, tray, cottage furniture, rooftop trim, toadstool, Freya the fairy, a figurine of her chipmunk friend Hazel, and gardening accessories and tools. Also included are soil and quick-germinating seeds to setup Freya's garden.

To get started cultivating the garden take the 3 included disks of soil and place them in bowl or bucket.  Add some water and stir up the mix so that it can be distributed evenly throughout the gardening trays along the base and roof of the doll house.

Next plant seeds from the included packet around the cottage. The toy set includes some miniature tools such as a shovel, rake, and hoe to help get everything in place for growing a garden.  Once the seeds have been sowed place in a spot with plenty of direct sunlight and water the soil daily with the included watering can to get the garden sprouting.  From our experience, it appears children should be able to put together the cottage and garden on their own with some minimal adult assistance and supervision.  My daughter was so proud of herself for putting together her Fairy Garden Magical Cottage on her own without mom and dad doing it for her.  CLICK HERE for full instructions on preparing and caring for a fairy garden. My Fairy Garden toys are recommended for children 4 and up.

Everyday after school the first thing my daughter would do would rush to check on and water her fairy garden.  It really is amazing how excited she was about planting her garden and watching it grow.  After a week the first signs of life began popping out.  Within two weeks she had a garden setting to play with the included figurines in.  Her garden developed just in time for her to enjoy it throughout her Christmas break from school.  She spent hours pretending Freya and Hazel were enjoying tea in their cottage or having picnics on the garden terrace. The fairy figurine can be placed on a wire making it look like she is flying over the garden or can placed on the ground or inside the cottage to be played with as well.

To be honest, the garden that sprouted didn't look anything like the one on the box.  In my opinion it looked more like a salad plate than a flowery bouquet.  That didn't matter to my little girl though who loved what grew because she had planted and cared for it herself.  She's thrilled with the garden she grew and has had lots of fun having pretend fairy adventures playing with this playset.

For more information about the My Fairy Garden Collection, please visit playmonster.com

Papercutz announces partnership with Nickelodeon

One of our family's favorite publishers is a company called Papercutz which specializes in producing graphic novels aimed for children and teens.  Whether you have a preschooler or a high schooler at home, Papercutz has something of interest to kids of all ages with titles ranging from Disney Fairies and Dinosaurs for younger children to The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew Diaries for older ones.  So we were excited to hear that Papercutz is expanding its offerings through a new partnership with Nickelodeon.

The partnership will give Papercutz the first option to adapt all new Nickelodeon original properties into comics and graphic novels.  The new partnership will allow Papercutz to work with Nickelodeon at the earliest stages of a show's development, ensuring that the graphic novels based on these new programs are as faithful to the original look and spirit of the series as possible. This arrangement will also allow Papercutz to make graphic novels available to book and comic stores closer to the debut of new animated series on Nickelodeon then previously possible.  Under this deal, Papercutz already has plans for publishing two new series titles in 2015 and two more graphic novel series beginning in 2016.  Plus beginning in June 2015, Papercutz will also begin publishing an all new Nickelodeon Magazine which will preview the comics content that will be featured in the graphic novels, debut new properties in comics form and also feature a variety of games, puzzles and other activities for kids.

The first two Nickelodeon-based titles to be launched by Papercutz will be SANJAY AND CRAIG debuting in September 2015 and BREADWINNERS which will debut in October 2015.

SANJAY AND CRAIG is the story of an adventurous 12-year-old boy who proves the old adage: there's nothing you can't accomplish (or destroy) as long as your best friend is a talking snake. The adventures of this dude-snake duo have been a ratings smash for Nickelodeon with the series ranking as the #2 animated show across all TV among kids 2 to 11.  The first SANJAY AND CRAIG graphic novel is set to debut just in time for the premiere of the series’ third season on Nickelodeon.

BREADWINNERS features the adventures of SwaySway and Buhdeuce, two carefree ducks who fly around in a super sweet rocket van, delivering bread to hungry beaks everywhere. Like SANJAY AND CRAIG, BREADWINNERS has been a popular program on the Nickelodeon's cable television lineup.

"Papercutz's strong track record with licensed properties for kids made them our ideal choice for a publishing partner,” stated  Linda Lee, VP of Nickelodeon Domestic Publishing, in a press release sent to A Geek Daddy Blog. "As we grow our stable of original animated properties, we wanted to work with a company that could reach the broadest possible audience. We're excited to work with the Papercutz team and we look forward to adding the Nickelodeon characters to one of the most diverse lists offered by any children's publisher."

For more information about Papercutz's graphic novel offerings, visit www.papercutz.com.

Disney Channel Hosts Fall Fairy Festival

My daughter is a big fan of Tinker Bell but she doesn't identify the character from the Peter Pan story but rather from a series of straight to DVD movies that Disney has released over the last few years.  There are six Disney Fairies animated movies out, with a seventh being released on March 3, 2015, that feature the character Tinker Bell and her fairy friends from the land of Pixie Hollow.  This isn't the mean-spirited sprite as portrayed in Disney's 1953 animated film Peter Pan who really wasn't that nice but rather a kinder gentler likeable version that is easier for audience to embrace as a loveable character.  I have to say that not only does my daughter love watching these films, but our whole family finds them enjoyable to watch together with their top notch animation, excellent musical soundtracks, and interesting stories.  Any of these movies would be a great selection for a family movie night.

If you haven't seen the Disney Fairy movies or would like to see one or all of them again, you are in luck this week as they will all be shown on cable television.  The Disney Channel is hosting a Fall Fairy Festival from November 10-13, 2014 showing these movies in the evening throughout the week.

MONDAY - NOVEMBER 10 @ 8 PM: TINKER BELL (2008)
Young fairy Tinker Bell causes chaos in Pixie Hallow when she rejects her predestined occupation as a fixer of broken objects and tries to learn a new trade instead.

TUESDAY - NOVEMBER 11 @ 6:30 PM: THE PIRATE FAIRY (2014)
Tinker Bell and her friends go in search of a wayward fairy who fled Pixie Hollow and joined up with a band of scheming pirates led by the future Captain Hook.

TUESDAY - NOVEMBER 11 @ 8 PM: TINKER BELL & THE LOST TREASURE (2009)
Tinker Bell journeys to save a Pixie Dust Tree.

WEDNESDAY - NOVEMBER 12 @ 8 PM: THE GREAT FAIRY RESCUE (2010)
Tinker Bell and her fairy rival strive to keep secret from humans the very existence of fairies.

THURSDAY - NOVEMBER 13 @ 8PM:  SECRET OF THE WINGS (2012)
Tinker Bell and her friends venture into the winter woods to find the secret of fairy wings.

A sixth movie the Pixie Hollow Games (2013) isn't being broadcast as part of Disney Channel Fall Fairy Festival and a seventh movie Legend of the NeverBeast is coming out in 2015.

For more information regarding anything Disney Fairies related visit: www.fairies.disney.com

As we all know kids spend too much time watching television, so I'd encourage you to also check out a great line of comics published by PAPERCUTZ if your children appreciate Disney Fairies. This company has published graphic novel portrayals of many of the Disney Fairies movies plus other comic books containing brand new stories of unique adventures featuring Tinker Bell and her friends.  CLICK HERE for a preview of the PAPERCUTZ Disney Fairies collection.  We have a few of these graphic novels and my daughter cherishes them. They are very nice to take along on a trip, reading on a rainy day or bedtime stories. 

A Geek Daddy Blog gives a nod of approval to both the Disney Fairy animated movies and the PAPERCUTZ comic books as both are very well done family friendly entertainment options.

Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure: a PaperCutz Fairy Tale

There is only one thing that trumps Disney Princesses when it comes to my daughter and that is Tinker Bell and her troupe of Disney Fairies. We have all of the DVD movies featuring the Disney Fairies and what is nice about them is my son gets as engrossed in watching them as my little girl.  These are great movies because they are entertaining for our kids and have content that as parents we don’t have to worry about being appropriate for our children to view. 

My kids are always asking to watch the Tinker Bell DVDs, but I don’t want them watching too much television.  So I was glad to see that the comic book publisher PAPERCUTZ has provided a great alternative, graphic novel adaptation of the Tinker Bell & the Disney Fairies movies.  Whether it’s for a bed time story, taking along to read in the car during a family road trip or to snuggle up with on a rainy day, my children can now enjoy the movies without watching more TV.  Another bonus is that these comics promote an enjoyment of reading and appreciation of art by having the kids flip through its pages following the adventures of a character they love and a story they are already familiar with.

TINKER BELL AND THE LOST TREASURE, the comic book adaption of the Disney Fairy animated movie of the same name, went on sale August 13, 2013.  Fairy-fans the world over know that Tinker Bell is the best there is at what she does — and what she does is fix things. In this story though, Tink may have a job that’s too big even for her: a broken moonstone that powers the Pixie Dust Tree itself. This volume of PaperCutz’s Disney Fairies also features the comic book debut of a fan favorite, Blaze the firefly. The incredible quest that follows is an adventure like none we’ve ever seen before in Pixie Hollow.  Whether you’ve seen the movie or not children, and parents, will enjoy reading through this story.

Tinker Bell & the Lost Treasure is Volume 12 of the Disney Fairy graphic novel collection which includes adaptations of the DVD movies as well as standalone Tinker Bell stories drafted and illustrated by the PaperCutz creative team.  CLICK HERE to view a listing of their entire lineup of Disney Fairy comics.  Volume 13 will go on sale in December, just in time for Christmas, and will be based upon the newest Disney Fairies movie Tinker Bell & the Pixie Hollow Games.  We have this movie on my iPad and take it with us to keep the kids distracted at places like the doctor’s office waiting room.  I’m sure a paperback version of this movie too will come in handy!

I have to compliment PaperCutz on the illustrations and layout of the Tinker Bell & the Lost Treasure graphic novel.  The script bubbles and other text are spread out so it doesn’t overwhelm the artwork.  The artwork itself is great.  The illustrations are bright, colorful, and pop off the page at you … it is like they took movie animation cells and transferred them into this book.  The artist behind these images is named Manuela Razzi and I guess you could say drawing sprites is a niche for her because she also illustrates another PaperCutz story line called SYBIL THE BACKPACK FAIRY.  If your children enjoy Tinker Bell you may want to check out this other magical pixie series. Take a look at her great artwork in Tinker Bell & the Lost Treasure:

 

Tinker Bell & the Lost Treasure is a 64 page paperback book that is reasonably priced at $8.  You can order it online directly fromPaperCutz or pick it up from your favorite comic book retailer.  It is recommend for children ages 6 – 11 though my 4 ½ year old children love flipping through the book and having me read it to them and I caught my wife snuggled up on the coach reading it by herself the other night.  I’d encourage you to pick up this read for the young children in your life, especially if your family has a little princess in it like we do.

Had you heard of PaperCutz before? I first discovered them when we picked up a few of their titles for my kids during FREE COMIC BOOK DAY, and was impressed by what we brought home.  Papercutz is the largest standalone publisher exclusively dedicated to children’s graphic novels, with books available at all major retailers, bookstores, and comic book stores, and e-books available on comiXology, Comics+, and all e-reader devices.  Papercutz graphic novels and comic books cover a wide range of genres, reading levels, and favorite characters including The Smurfs, LEGO® Ninjago, Geronimo Stilton, Nancy Drew, and many more including of course Tinker Bell and the Disney Fairies.  Whether your kids are in preschool or high school PaperCutz has something that will catch their interest.  

DISCLAIMER:  I received a complimentary paperback copy of Tinker Bell & The Lost Treasure graphic novel to review (see picture at the top of this article).  The thoughts and opinions in this post though are my own.