Playful Peanut Review & Giveaway

I am excited to tell you about an adorable Canadian company called Playful Peanut.  Like many small mom run businesses, Kari-Ann and Amanda started their business to stay at home with their little ones and to create handmade boutique quality products.  The item that I noticed first at Playful Peanut was their "I Spy Bags".  They are a fun and unique toy for toddlers who can seek out various items in a bag with a small window for them to seek through.  I think the words "fun" and "unique" are the best way to describe Playful Peanut.  For this review, they sent me a balloon cocoon to try out with the kids.  Admittedly, I had never heard of a balloon cocoon before but it's a cute idea that makes playing with balloons a bit safer for kids.

The Review

I let Aleena and Connor try out the balloon cocoon in our living room yesterday.  Of course, as soon as a balloon came out, mayhem ensued and they turned into crazy monkeys.  They certainly tested out the resilience of the product by poking it, prodding it, throwing it, squishing it and even jumping on it.  I realize it's not immune to be popped or broken but I imagine a balloon popping inside the cloth cover would be less traumatic than one popping without one.  Actually, the balloon is still fully inflated inside the cocoon today so the kids were able to play with it again.   It wasn't so crazy the second time around and they mostly just tossed it and chased it around.

Aleena eating the balloon cocoon..better than eating the actual balloon!

The Mayhem!

Aside from cute unique toys, Playful Peanut sells a variety of handmade items including the following list that I borrowed from them: Toddler Belts, Snap Belts, Nursing Covers, Hair Clips, Bibs, Burp Clothes, Sock Monkeys, Car Seat Canopies, Soother Clips, Chalk Place-mats, Quiet Books, Quilts, Change Pad Covers, headbands, Balloon Cocoons, Snack-Loc Bags, and Wet Bags.

They have a lovely Website, Etsy shop and Facebook Page with LOTS of things for sale.  I love the designs and all the interesting items they've created.  They have great taste in fabrics for their products especially the cute girls' dresses.  If you're looking for some excellent handmade gifts for Christmas, there are some great options on their Facebook page in particular.  It has the most selection right now based on what I saw today.  I also noticed that they're making the rounds to some craft and Christmas shows in Manitoba so you can watch for them if you're from that part of the country.  They post their sale information on their Facebook page so that's the best way to stay up to date.

If you somehow don't find exactly what you are looking for on their site, you can contact Playful Peanut and they would be happy to customize an item for you.

The Giveaway

Playful Peanut is giving one lucky winner their very own balloon cocoon and $25 to spend on Playful Peanut merchandise.  (Shipping is additional or you can include the shipping in the $25 gift amount.)

I will be using www.random.org to select the winner of the contest.  You must make each entry in a separate comment below.

How to Enter:
1.  Visit the Playful Peanut Website and/or Etsy Shop and let us know what you like the best! 
2.  "Like" Playful Peanut on Facebook.  Feel free to let them know I sent you!
3.  Follow A Sophisticated Mommy via Google Friend Connect.
4.  "Like" A Sophisticated Mommy on Facebook.
5.  Share this giveaway and let me know how.  (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Forum)

This contest is open to Canada and the US.  The contest will end on Sunday, October 30th at Midnight Saskatchewan Time.  I will announce the winner on Halloween Day.

Here are a few other things that I love from Playful Peanut.

Adorable Dresses

I Spy Bags

Personalized Super Hero Capes

The pattern of the balloon cocoon that the winner will receive.

Bedtime Little Monsters!

I was reading this book to Connor for the umpteenth time tonight and thought I`d share how much I love it on my blog.  I hadn`t even heard of it before but found it in the Safeway bargain bin when he was just a few weeks old.  I`ve read it hundreds of times since then and it`s still a favourite.  It`s also amazingly still in tact considering it has lift up flaps in it.

The book has lots of little monsters hiding in various places to avoid going to bed.  They are all different colours and the text rhymes throughout the book.  It`s not too long, the art is colourful and engaging and it has a good flow.  It`s easy to follow and doesn't have any unnecessary words like some children's books do.  I would highly recommend it!

I can practically recite the book by now..."Goodnight little monsters, but the monsters want some fun!  Scamper, scamper, crash and bang!  Quickly!  Off they run!"

What are your little one's favourite bedtime books?

Advocating for Education and EAL Students in Saskatchewan

I attended the STF Fall Conference over the past couple of days.  It was hard to be away from the kids but also kind of nice to spend some time with adults.  It was the first couple of nights I've been away from Aleena since she was born so that was strange for me.  I did fine and she did great with Dad.  So did Connor although Dad had to deal with a phantom leg injury which miraculously cleared up this morning after a good night's sleep.  I am glad it did but wonder how a child can go from not walking and screaming in pain one day to feeling "all better" the next day.  I guess I'll just be happy he's okay and not worry too much about the "why".

Back to council now... I really enjoyed it.  It was one of those times in life when you end up in a situation where you feel like you belong.  There were lots of teachers just as interested in talking about collective bargaining, various educational issues, and all sorts of policies.  Some people might find it boring but I found it fascinating.

My favourite part of the conference was having opportunities to advocate for English as an Additional Language students.  I had a chance to do this with the election candidate at a luncheon on Thursday where our teachers' federation invited several election candidates to participate in a town hall forum on education and to join us for lunch for dialogue on educational issues.  If you read the papers, you may think it was all about teachers complaining about our contract negotiations.  Sure, we made the point that we felt disrespected by the government during the last round of negotiations.  That is a fact.  However, the majority of the forum was simply teachers advocating for public education and, ultimately, for our students.

In our table discussion with our candidate, I mentioned my biggest concerns with respect to education.  Since I am an EAL teacher, the issues I feel most important are as follows:

1. You cannot bring in thousands of immigrants and expect the current educational funding to support this population of students.  English as an Additional Language (EAL) students require more resources, smaller class sizes, and more supports.  I am also wary of hearing the argument from both federal and provincial MPs and MLAs (candidates) that the other is responsible for refugees/immigrants.  I realize they need to communicate and possibly share funding but my impression is that there is a lot of passing the buck on to the other.  Neither seems to want to take responsibility for the additional funding that is absolutely necessary to ensure that immigrants and refugees receive a quality education so they can become educated, productive members of society.
2. There is no EAL curriculum in Saskatchewan and this is unacceptable.  Once again, there is always a reason for why we don't have something as of yet.  In this case, the argument is made that we haven't needed one until recently.  Now, I would possibly consider this except that Saskatchewan has had EAL students for decades on Hutterite colonies.  Furthermore, the majority of Canadian provinces already have well developed ESL curriculums including BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Newfoundland & Labour, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.  I have looked through the Saskatchewan Curriculum documents and cannot find one reference to English as an Additional Language students, not even for some adaptations.  I recall the old curriculum made an occasional mention of ESL but the new document does not.  There is a real need to develop a curriculum guide for English as an Additional Language as there are different outcomes required for students learning English and simply differentiating is not enough.  I looked for research to support this argument but it doesn't exist because it just goes without saying that ESL students need a curriculum designed for their learning needs.  Is there overlap?  Of course, but it's language-based in that these students need to learn more than the outcomes and indicators in the existing curriculum which assumes students are native English speakers.
3. We need EAs in our program.  I cannot stress this enough.  Yes, I have small class sizes but that's for a very good reason. In one class, I have students from several countries at varying levels of English and they may or may not have literacy skills in their first language.  We always have at least a handful of students who are non-speakers and could really use one-on-one support from an EA.  We used to have this support but lost our EA a couple of years ago when cuts to these positions were made.  Another example of how we used this support would be when the EA's attended a Canadian class with a group of EAL students and could provide support for those students and report back to the EAL teachers for further tutorial support.  We really miss that.  Actually, the STUDENTS really miss that because they are the ones suffering.

As I am sure you can tell, these are issues I feel strongly about.  They are political, yet they are directed at every political party. I care about making sure these problems are dealt with and would be happy to discuss them (and will be discussing them) with MLAs in the future.  

One last thing...and the subject of a future blog post since it seemed to garner a lot of interest will be a discussion of what we are doing at my school to support EAL students.  While there is always room for improvement, we are doing some great things and I want to share those.  I was flattered and excited to know that a principal in another school division is going to take my ideas forward in an attempt to change things for the better.  I want to share this information on my blog and maybe help others who are at a loss when it comes to supporting students from other countries.