My family loves going to the Zoo and we've shared many of our visits to different ones with you on ageekdaddy.com over the years. From spending snowy days at the Detroit Zoo to spending a hot summer day going on a dinosaur expedition at the Pittsburgh Zoo we've had a lots of fun adventures at various zoos. The Cincinnati Zoo is a place we've want to explore but haven't had a chance to get to yet. We are getting a close up look though at many of their animals without visiting them though as the zoo is hosting free video segments hosted by their zoo keepers on Facebook Live for students who are homebound right now due to school coronavirus shutdowns.
While the Cincinnati Zoo is closed to the public itself due to the public health emergency to encourage social distancing, they are reaching out to kids by taking them on Home Safaris with these Facebook Live sessions. The videos provide a close up look at a featured animal and interesting insights from the staff that care for these creatures. Audience during the live segments can ask questions which the zoo keepers answer as part of the presentation providing an interactive aspect to the experience.
My kids have watched two of these live video sessions so far, one involving hippos and another porcupines, and were captivated by the presentations. Viewers actually get a closer look at these animals then they'd ever get during a visit to the zoo. These videos are well worth the time to view! Join in future presentations to see which animals will be appearing next.
Head over to the Home Safari Facebook Live page every weekday at 3pm ET to tune in. The Cincinnati Zoo will be hosting these Facebook Live chats through April 11, 2020. Miss a live presentation no problem ... you can watch the ones you missed later on as they are posted on the zoo's website and YouTube channel. The zoo is also posting activities kids can do related to each video on the Home Safari Resources page of their website.
Go on a Home Safari to break up the monotony of kids being home all day from school. The Cincinnati Zoo gets a Geek Daddy nod of approval for this well done video series. This dad blogger recommends you check it out!
My daughter had some allowance money she'd saved up burning a hole in her pocket to be spent and asked if we could go to Target so she could pick out a new toy to play with. She was really excited to discover in the toy aisle a new type of super hero action figures that cater specifically to the interests of young girls and began jumping up and down holding the toy box yelling out "Daddy can I buy it!" My little girl hasn't been particularly interested in super heroes because of the rough and tumble nature of many of the characters that includes a big focus on fighting bad guys while she herself has a more gentle side. On the other hand, my daughter finds the stylish appearance of the Super Girl action figure we brought home appealing and appreciates how the character's description puts a focus on utilizing her special abilities to solve problematic situations rather than engaging in fist a cuffs battle royal with evil villains.
The Super Girl toy my daughter bought with her allowance money is part of a new effort by DC Comics, a division of Warner Brothers, to get girls aged 6 to 12 genuinely interested in super heroes. Warner Brothers has created a multi-media / toy product lineup called DC Super Hero Girls featuring teenage versions of popular comic book characters hoping to build a young female fan base for the company's entertainment properties. The premise of DC Super Hero Girls is that age appropriate for young audiences versions of popular male and female comic book characters such as Bat Girl, Beast Boy, Cheetah, Flash, Harley Quinn, and Wonder Woman interact in light-hearted high school themed adventures. Warner Brothers has partnered with Mattel to create 6-inch action figures, like the one my daughter bought, as well as 12-inch action dolls depicting the DC Super Hero Girls that are currently available exclusively at Target. The toy line will be rolled out to other major retailers beginning later in 2016. Additionally, Warner Brothers has released a series of video shorts to tell the story of the DC Super Hero Girls that can be viewed for free at dcsuperherogirls.com website or on their youtube channel.
In addition to the toys, DC Super Hero Girls will also have an app for mobile devices, a Random House middle-grade reading level novel series, a television show on Turner Broadcasting System's Boomerang cable network, and graphic novels from DC Comics telling stories featuring these young ladies during their formative high school years as they begin to discover their full super power potential. At this point in their lives Harley Quinn isn't a villain but rather a mischievous class clown, Bat Girl is an A student technology whiz, Super Girl is the kind-hearted girl next door and Wonder Woman is the class president go-getter.
DC Comics will also be telling the Super Hero Girls story on Free Comic Book Day. They'll be giving out a special free issue on May 7, 2015 during this annual event at participating comic book shops. It will feature two stories from the upcoming graphic novel DC SUPER HERO GIRLS: FINAL CRISIS. In these stories it is
the day before finals...and nothing
is going right for the girls. These stories show how the DC Super Hero Girls find out that fun, friendship and hard work are all part of growing up!
DC Super Hero Girls encourage young ladies to get their capes on! As a dad I like that DC Super Hero Girls promote that super heroes aren't just a genre for the boys to enjoy plus provides the message that girls don't have to choose between being strong or feminine as they can be both. So DC Super Hero Girls gets A Geek Daddy nod of approval.
I can't wait for SUMMER and it is almost here! Grilling out on the back deck, baseball games, going on hiking adventures and
all the other fun family activities you can do outdoors make it a great time of the year. There’s
one thing no one likes about being outdoors, though: mosquitoes! Not only are they a nuisance, but they also pose potentially serious health
risks. Fortunately, the experts at Orkin study the science of
mosquitoes and other pests closely so they can
help keep them away from your home this summer. To help you better prepare your family to avoid those pesky mosquito bites this summer, A Geek Daddy challenges you to take the Orkin BUZZER BEATER Quiz.
So how did you do on the Orkin BUZZER BEATER Quiz? Orkin knows the information in this quiz because it invests in developing scientific knowledge of mosquitoes so they can properly understand the best way to address the problems they create and properly eliminate them from residential and commercial properties. While mosquitoes are a nuisance when you observe and learn about them they are impressive creatures. In fact when you taking a look from a scientific perspective you have to admit insects in general are quite remarkable. To encourage children to study the insects that live around us, A Geek Daddy has an Orkin Summer Scientist Bug Catching Kit to giveaway. Hopefully this will help cultivate an interest in science and nature for a child over the summer.
To be eligible for this giveaway you must follow
@Geekdad248 on Twitter and retweet our original contest tweet
which is
embedded below before May 2, 2016 @ 11:59 pm EST. Must be a US
resident over the age of 18 to participate. One entry per person and
we'll
randomly select someone from all eligible entries to receive the Orkin Summer Scientist Bug Catching Kit.
UPDATE: Congrats to Katrina from Cadillac, Michigan who won the giveaway.
The Orkin Summer Scientist Bug Catching Kits are fun for the whole family to use and enjoy together. Each pack includes:
Bug Catcher Craft Kit: This awesome DIY bug catcher kit will let your family's personality shine through while also learning about nature and the world around us. The kits include a variety of foam ladybugs, dragonflies and more!
Bug Nets: Explore the great outdoors with these fun mesh insect nets. They can be used to collect and study butterflies, ladybugs, caterpillars and many other backyard creatures.
See-Through Bug Jars: Reveal the wonders of your backyard with these clear bug jars. Each transparent plastic box has a magnifying lid for better insect viewing. Young explorers love discovering worms, butterflies, ants, and insects.
Magic Color Scratch Little Garden Critters: Scratch faces, designs and more on these Magic Color Scratch Little Garden Critters! A perfect kids' activity for critter lovers, simply scratch away the black coating to reveal vibrant rainbow colors. Includes butterflies, frogs, turtles and more.
Glow-in-the-Dark Creepy Crawlers: Turn off the lights and let them glow! These vinyl glow-in-the-dark bugs are lots of fun for all ages.
Still have questions about pesky insects and critters that may invade your home or backyard during the summer months? Ask the Orkin Man! Reach out to Orkin on Twitter and Facebook with your questions or visit their youtube channel to view useful videos like this one on whether mosquitoes prefer adults over children.
Disclaimer & Rules / FTC Notice: A Geek Daddy Blog
will be responsible for selecting the winner of this contest, but ORKIN
LLC is responsible for fulfillment and delivery of the prize. By
participating in this contest you waive any liability towards A Geek
Daddy Blog or its publisher that may arise from your involvement with
this promotion. A Geek Daddy Blog hosted this contest and blog post
based upon ORKIN LLC providing the prize to the selected winner. Only
one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same
prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win again. Winner is
subject to eligibility verification. Prize will be delivered by UPS or
FedEx so no P.O. Boxes are allowed as mailing addresses. A Geek Daddy
Blog is hosting this giveaway as a benefit to our readers. Information
for this post was provided by ORKIN LLC. A Geek Daddy Blog did not
receive any financial compensation for publishing this post but did
receive one of the prizes for personal use.
** A Geek Daddy received the featured product for free to review **
The winter months can be cold and dreary in Michigan, but that hasn't prevented my kids from exploring tropical habitats filled with lush vegetation and exotic creatures over the last few weeks. They've been able to go on a Rainforest Journey without having to leave the comfort of our home thanks to an innovative online science and reading curriculum program created by the company EdTechLens. Designed for children 5 - 12 years old, EdTechLens' Rainforest Journey teaches the life science components of elementary school science curriculum through taking kids on a vibrant, multimedia tour of a rainforest. Students are walked through five multi-chaptered units of study during their Rainforest Journey which include the big picture of the rainforest, adapt or die, animals, plants and fungi, and ecosystems.
(c) EdTechLens - Rainforest Journey
Whether using for home schooling or to supplement what a child is being taught at school, the curriculum format of this program ensures kids are learning during their Rainforest Journey. Parents can customize the reading level and educational complexity so it is appropriate for their child's grade in school from Kindergarten through 5th Grade. We've been utilizing the first grade edition (CLICK HERE to sample one of the lesson segments my kids have used) and it has meshed well with where my twins are in their studies at in school. If children are struggling to read along through the presentation on their own there is also an optional audio narration component that reads the text as a child follows along. Scientific concepts such as ecosystems and the water cycle are explained through easy to understand graphs and illustrations. Plus there is a focus on using this experience to expand a child's vocabulary as they make their way through each section of this online teaching aid.
To reinforce the lessons learned in each unit of the Rainforest Journey includes a printable activity sheet that parents and kids can work on together before they move on to the next topic. Also each section concludes with an online test that measures a student's comprehension of their grade appropriate material and provides parents with an assessment. Parents can block children from moving on to next unit of material until a satisfactory score has been achieved.
Rainforest Journey's online educational portal will work with any computer or handheld device that can connect with the Internet. It's lessons are aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards and the New York State Science Standards plus each lesson includes a non-fiction reading passage to promote literacy. To further assist with reading skill development each of the learning sections provides parents with a Lexile score and word count to assist with measuring a child's abilities.
To prevent children from considering the educational aspects of Rainforest Journey as being boring or burdensome, lessons include video clips and photographs specifically selected to pique a child's curiosity. Brilliantly colored amphibians, bug eating plants, camouflaged predators, distorted fungi, and rhinoceros-looking insects will wow and intrigue kids into wanting to learn more.
My son's favorite animal is the jaguar and he was just thrilled by the photos and video of this ferocious feline when we came upon them.
It is nice that you can select a specific grade level from K - 5 so that you know the material is relevant and relatable to the child using a Rainforest Journey. My twins are beginning readers and their teacher has asked parents to make sure students read for 30 minutes every night after school. With pages that feature one line sentences crafted for first grade aged children to read this was a perfect opportunity to get in their reading every night while enhancing their interest in nature, conservation and science.
An annual subscription to Rainforest Journey is normally $50 per grade level. So for example using the program for one child in first grade would cost just $50 for twelve months access. But say for example you have multiple children in kindergarten, third grade and fifth grade and want to customize the complexity for each of their individual learning levels that would be a $150 subscription fee. Unless you use this special code ETLN2015 which will provide new subscribers to Rainforest Journey with a 50% discount on their order! This is a limited time offer and I'm not sure when it will expire.
Before making a decision, CLICK HERE to take a walk through Rainforest Journey to get an in-depth overview of the activities and resources provided through this educational tool. Check out samples of the five lesson units as well as compare how the kindergarten version differentiates from the fifth grade. Take a few moments to watch a video orientation that explains the program and its merit. Note that a Rainforest Journey isn't fun and games meant to amuse kids but rather a serious educational tool which utilizes interesting topics and visuals that entice children to be enthusiastic about learning. Put those cold winter days where your kids may be trapped in the house to good use with a Rainforest Journey.
Take Orkin's Scientific Fact or Scientific Fake Quiz
for a chance to win a Scientific Back-to-School prize pack
You've heard the myths about bugs before. Do you know what's fact and what's fake? Take the Orkin Scientific Fact or Scientific Fake Quiz below to test your knowledge. Be sure to watch every clip for the scoop on these infamous bug myths.
A Geek Daddy Blog is giving away a Scientific Back-to-School Prize Pack courtesy of our friends at Orkin. The prize pack includes:
For the win, watch all of the Scientific Fact or Scientific Fake videos above and than do one or all of the following (Entries will not be judged) to earn up to 3 entries:
ENTRY 1 - emailthegeekdaddy [at] yahoo [dot] com with your own creative bug myth. Include your full name and mailing address.
ENTRY 2 - Tweet about a bug myth you had been fooled about including @Geeky_Dad and #OrkinMan within your message.
ENTRY 3 - Leave a comment on this blog post regarding which Scientific Fact or Scientific Fake video is your favorite & why.
Contest ends Thursday, August 28th at 11:59 pm EST. You must be a US resident to enter over the age of 18. One random winner will be selected on Friday, August 29, 2014 (Each eligible entry will be assigned a number and winner will be selected
from a random number draw).
A
Geek Daddy Blog will be responsible for selecting the winner of this
contest, but ORKIN LLC is responsible for fulfillment and delivery of
the prize. By participating in this contest you waive any liability
towards A Geek Daddy Blog or its publisher that may arise from your
involvement with this promotion. A Geek Daddy Blog hosted this contest
and blog post based upon ORKIN LLC providing a Scientific Back-to-School Prize Pack to
the selected winner. Each household is only eligible to win a Scientific Back-to-School Prize Pack via blog reviews and giveaways once. Only one
entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same
prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win again. Winner is
subject to eligibility verification. Prize will be delivered by UPS or
FedEx so no P.O. Boxes are allowed as mailing addresses.
For more information about the insects in our world check out ORKIN's resources on Facebook and its website.
DISCLAIMER:
In addition to awarding a prize pack to the winner of this contest,
ORKIN LLC also provided A GEEK DADDY Blog with a prize pack as part of
the blog's participation in this promotion.
I've been fairly critical recently to Nickelodeon's efforts to revamp its Dora franchise with a tween modeled version of the show aimed at preschoolers, so I did want to give the network a positive nod for a new show that I believe they are doing right called Wallykazam! This new series that debuted at the beginning of this year is a perfect fit for children ages 3 - 7 years old. Wallykazam! promotes literacy with its viewers through weaving educational lessons into comedy-driven stories filled with funny characters and adventures. One of my parenting mottoes is strive to make education entertaining so that children will embrace learning as fun challenges rather than dread it as required tasks. Wallykazam! does a great job of getting children engaged into learning letters and phonics through participating in the show's adventures.
Wallykazam! follows the adventures of a troll named Wally and his pet dragon, Norville, who live in a mystical forest filled with giants, goblins, ogres, sprites, and other mythical creatures. Wally has a magic wand, well actually it's a stick that he picked up off the ground but it works as well as a wand from a Harry Potter movie when it comes to hocusing and pocusing, that he uses to make words come to life in each episode's adventure. Each show begins with Wally selecting a specific letter and than using words that begin with that selected letter to magically create things with the wave of his wand (oops I meant stick) to help him get out of a predicament.
In addition to helping children identify letters, the show takes things a step further working on sounds associated with letters, rhyming, vocabulary development and reading comprehension strategies. Beyond just talking about letters and words and showing items that Wally kazams into existence, the show also captions on the screen the letter and words being spotlighted to assist with reading development. Using this phonics approach helps develop key reading skills by connecting sounds with letters or groups of letters. My 5 year old twins really get into sounding out, and yelling out, the words as they are being conjured up on the screen and it is nice to see them enthused about learning about words and vocabulary through their interactions with this show.
Season 1 of Wallykazam! premiered on Nickelodeon on February 3, 2014 and consists of 26 original episodes. The show was created by producer/writer Adam Peltzman, who also was involved with creating the Emmy Award-winning The Backyardigans and Bubble Guppies television series. Check your cable guide for when Wallykazam! is airing on Nickelodeon or Nick Jr or you can also download the episodes for a fee on iTunes or other digital download sites like Amazon.com. As parents, I know it is important to limit our children's television exposure especially during the preschool years but I can vouch this is one of the good ones that if you are going to let them watch TV to tune into.
I've included a youtube video of the season's first episode below if you want to check out out the show. In "Naptime for Borgelorp" Wally is persuaded to babysit his friend Ogre Doug's hyper and unpredictable pet Borgelorp. Wally is given two instructions, kinda reminds me of Gremlins here, for Borgelorp's care. First, get Borgelorp to take a nap. Secondly, and most importantly make sure Borgelorp doesn't eat any purple flowers. Wally tries to follow these rules but his nemesis, and the show's lead comedic element, BobGoblin the hobgoblin does his best to cause havoc. Conjuring up magic words that start with the letter "S" are the only way to tire out the rambunctious pet and keep it away from those dreaded purple flowers. Wally is very creative when it comes to creating magical words using somersault, sandwich, and symphony to get the job done.
In addition to the animated television series, Nickelodeon also recently introduced a FREE video game that features the characters from Wallykazam! In this game BobGoblin drops by Wally's house and casts a spell causing all the fruit that Wally was planning on using for his lunch to hop around uncontrollably. Game players need to help Wally gather up the runaway fruit in this platform style game by bouncing, hopping, leaping or jumping in order to save the day...and Wally's lunch. The game uses a special letter to create magic words to help Wally get out of jams. Each time you play the game the magic letter changes too keeping the game interesting through multiple plays. When I played it with my son the letter was "H" and all the magic words conjured up started with the letter H, while when I played with my daughter the letter was "J" having Wally kazam things up like jumping jellybeans and jetting juice boxes.
There is also a FREE "Word Hunt" game where game players help Wally & Norville look for hidden words that start with the magic letter designated at the beginning of the game. Not a bad game for preschoolers and parents to spend some time playing together. It has some fun interactions with the characters from the television show and works on helping with connecting sounds to the letters they are associated with.
To play these games CLICK HERE. You can also watch some episodes of Wallykazam! for FREE on this website and download some coloring pages and activity sheets for your kids off of it.
