When we travel anywhere on vacation, we travel by car. In fact, at this very moment, we’re on our biggest road-trip adventure yet! That’s why I felt it was a no-brainer to pick this Interactive USA Map from Constructive Playthings for my kids to use while we’re stuck in the car for hours. My intention was to give them something that is educational and situationally relevant; something that will also help them prepare to go back to school (all while helping keep ’em busy in the back seat for travel).
The Pros ++
The Interactive USA Map has eleventy-billion (read: 5,000) facts about all fifty states, enabling your children to learn in a question-and-answer, talk-and-teach kind-of way. The buttons are easy to read, and it really engages my elementary-school kids into learning more about geography and history, including each state’s capital, population, landmarks, nickname, etc. My ten-year-old son is finding there is still a lot he has to learn about USA.
The Cons —
Bless the inventors of this toy for coming up with an engaging learning toy, but there is no volume button, and this toy is loud (to me and hubby at least, my kids don’t seem to mind it one bit). Our intent is to use it in the car, and I can barely stand to be in the same room with it (several feet away) let alone in a cramped, air-conditioned car. Ha! So, because there is an extreme lack of volume control on this bad-boy (which is verymuchneeded), we will be placing duct-tape over the speaker to muffle it a bit for our trip (‘cuz I’m the female MacGyver, after all). For my sanity. (And besides, it gives us a reason to bring duct-tape along, just in case one of the kids gets out of line. I’m kidding! Maybe.)
Verdict:
We mostly dig it. The kids all-the-way dig it. The end.
(Pssst, want a discount for Constructive Playthings? How’s 15% on your entire purchase. Click that link or their button in my sidebar. Christmas IS coming, ya know. You’re welcome.)
Win it! – CLOSED
Want to win an Interactive USA Map for your child? (Value $39 before tax and shipping)
To enter:
- Visit Constructive Playthings and take a look around. Come back and tell me which toy YOU think would be perfect for back to school time!
For extra entries:
- Follow Constructive Playthings on Facebook (1 entry)
- Follow Constructive Playthings on Twitter (1 entry)
- Subscribe and/or follow my blog, and/or follow me on Twitter. I’m CrazyAdventures (1 entry for each, and if you already do for any of them already, it counts!**)
- Share this post via blog, email, Facebook, Stumble, Kirtsy, Digg this post! (1 entry each ‘share’. Be sure to comment each time!)
- Tweet this post on Twitter, come back and post that you did (1 entry per tweet – unlimited entries available!)
- Or, keep the back-to-school toy choices comin’! (1 entry per comment)
The Interactive USA Map will be awarded to one winner in US and Canada only (Canadians – Constructive Playthings is just on theverge of launching in Canada!)
Winner will be chosen using Random.org. Contest ends Wednesday, August 11th, at 9pm CST.
Good luck, and happy playing!
Edit: Winner #74 @trippyjanet!
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