Help Your Kids Learn Concepts and Skills with Puzzles by Mudpuppy

If you're looking for a way to introduce concepts and skills to your kids that will work very effectively, think puzzles. Puzzles are enjoyable tools for children to learn motor skills, hand-eye coordination, thinking and problem-solving skills as they try to fit the pieces together.

Personally, I've used puzzles to help my toddler boys- now almost four year old Gabriel and two year old Jaden- learn the alphabet, numbers, colors, shapes, and concepts about animals and nature. I started them with simple wooden puzzles at the age of 1 and now they continue to enjoy many different types of puzzles such as block puzzles, color-me puzzles, and only very recently, I've introduced them to floor puzzles.

And since we love reading Eric Carle books, how appropriate that Mudpuppy/Galison came out with Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (one of my kids' top favorite classic children's books by Eric Carle) Floor Puzzle. I am sure most of you are familiar with Eric Carle but I can say this one particular book helped Gabriel learn all his colors and names of animals tremendously. He can memorize the whole story from beginning to end and can even spell every color and animal name in this well-beloved book! The Eric Carle Brown Bear Floor Puzzle by Mudpuppy is certainly a great enhancement to what he has already learned from the book. :)

Anyway, if you haven't been to Mudpuppy's website, check out their award-winning and fun children's toys and learning tools such as puzzles, play scenes, building sets, constructibles, journals, books, playing cards and more!

We also love our Pirate's Cove 63 Piece Puzzle- a chock-full of fun jigsaw puzzle!

*Win the Eric Carle Brown Bear Floor Puzzle and the Pirate Cove 63 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle from Mudpuppy! I will give each of them to two(2) lucky HMP readers! :)

*HOW TO WIN: As always, please follow the ONE (1) COMMENT ONLY RULE. Please read on for more details...

*CONTEST RULES: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE LEAVING YOUR COMMENT.

ONLY ONE (1) COMMENT PER ENTRANT, PER CONTEST IS ALLOWED. PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS AND ANY EXTRA ENTRY CREDITS YOU'VE DONE IN YOUR COMMENT. If for some reason you forgot to add a detail on your first comment, you can delete it by using the "trash can" icon beside your comment, then re-enter your new comment with the details you want included. This way, I am able to track the real number of entrants for each contest. I regret to inform you that if you enter multiple comments, those comments will be deleted and you will automatically be disqualified from the contest.

*To enter this contest, leave a comment by Friday, June 26th at 12MN, EST, with your choice between Eric Carle Brown Bear Floor Puzzle or the Pirate's Cove 63 Piece Puzzle. OPEN TO U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY. ONLY ONE (1) COMMENT PER ENTRANT IS PERMITTED. Non-bloggers are always welcome to enter. I will pick TWO (2) WINNERS using Random.org. The winners will be notified via email and announced as a comment on this post.

Want to earn EXTRA CREDITS? Contest entrants will each win one(1) extra credit by doing the following:

1. Mention this contest in a post on your blog with a direct link to www.hipmamasplace.com

2. Add the Hip Mama's Place badge on your blog sidebar. You can find the badge code on the top right hand of the HMP main page and paste it on an HTML page on your sidebar.

3. Subscribe to Hip Mama's Place via the FEED READER or by EMAIL.

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If you do all six (6) extra entry credits, that means you will have five(7) total entries. Remember, the more entries you have, the more chances of winning! Please don't forget to mention the extra credit/s you've done in your comment. Goodluck!

Help Your Kids Learn Concepts and Skills with Puzzles by Mudpuppy

http://www.hipmamasplace.com/2009/06/help-your-kids-learn-concepts-and.html