We’re so excited for this week’s Weekly Roundup! It’s been a BIG week and we’ve got lots of wonderful new products to share!

All of the products you see below won a Mom’s Choice Award® during the week of March 5 – 11, 2017.

For more information about a product, click the product image or purchase link.

Wacky Links

Wacky Links™ DIY kits are made of soft colorful tubes that connect to fun iconic charms. Boys and girls ages 3-12 love to use their imaginations and Wacky Links™ to create bracelets, necklaces, backpack charms, headbands and more! Ultra-light, parents can bring our kits to restaurants, doctor appointments, or traveling. All 35 pieces in each kit are made to be used, taken apart and put back together or exchanged for hours of creative play and make everyone want to build, wear, share again and again!

Arts, Crafts & Hobbies:
Ages 5 to 8

Purchase here

Ninetta & Confidence (book 1 in Perfectly Awkward Tales series): Series title: Perfectly Awkward Tales
Written by Princess Ivana, Magdalene Smith, Marisa Smith; Illustrated by Hanna Barczyk

Perfectly Awkward Tales is a series of girl-powered fairy tale adventures, where self-acceptance is the hero.

Ninetta is from Italy. She is twelve years old and embarrassed about her strange talents. So embarrassed, she’d rather be invisible! Life is miserable being a weirdo, until Ninetta jumps down a wishing well and finds a magic garden where she feels right at home. But the garden has a secret. Can a weirdo be a hero? Ninetta isn’t sure, until she faces greedy King Ransack and discovers the power of her gift. Confidence.
Children’s Picture Books:
Adventure, Adventurers & Heroes

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Aila & Determination (book 2 in Perfectly Awkward Tales series): Series title: Perfectly Awkward Tales
Written by Princess Ivana, Magdalene Smith, Marisa Smith; Illustrated by Hanna Barczyk

Book 2 in the Perfectly Awkward Tales series!

Aila is from Scotland. She is thirteen years old, an orphan with no one in the world but her baby sister, Maisie. But Maisie has disappeared! Stolen by powerful fairies from the Land of Sidh. When Aila begins the impossible journey to get her sister back, she discovers the power of her gift. Determination.

Children’s Picture Books:
Adventure, Adventurers & Heroes

Purchase here

Vasilisa & Intuition (book 3 in Perfectly Awkward Tales series): Series title: Perfectly Awkward Tales
Written by Princess Ivana, Magdalene Smith, Marisa Smith; Illustrated by Hanna Barczyk

And here’s book 3 in the Perfectly Awkward Tales series.

Vasilisa is only ten years old, but must outsmart Baba Yaga, a ferocious witch with iron teeth who likes to have children for supper. (Not as guests, but as the main course!) With the help of her faithful doll, Inti, Vasilisa discovers the power of her gift. Intuition.
Children’s Picture Books:
Adventure, Adventurers & Heroes

Purchase here

Tutor Blocks Safari Adventure

After extensive research on early child development with parents and designers, TUTOR BLOCKS™ was developed as a simple yet highly effective toy for teaching babies how to sort, stack, identify, match and build for hours of endless learning fun!

What makes TUTOR BLOCKS™ so revolutionary and different from conventional building blocks is that it works almost like magic! Each colorful block contains a magnet that helps babies connect and disconnect shapes easily, developing motor skills, creativity and confidence as they build make-believe worlds! The magnets enable the blocks to lock together seamlessly, making them easier to stack. Such a seemingly simple task promotes baby’s learning in many ways.
Toys, Games & Puzzles:
Babies

Purchase here

Tutor Blocks Fire Engine

More TUTOR BLOCKS! Here are some of the ways in which TUTOR BLOCKS can aid learning in children:

• PHYSICAL: Stacking play helps develop baby’s motor skills as well as eye-and-hand coordination
• CREATIVE: You’ll notice your child move quickly from copying your actions to matching blocks together on their own, building their self-confidence
• COGNITIVE: This toy reaches recognition skills and encourages thinking and problem solving as baby figures out how to stack and nest TUTOR BLOCKS™.
• LANGUAGE: Teach baby about numbers, colors, animals and characters on each of the TUTOR BLOCKS™.
• SOCIAL: Building and stacking play is perfect for endless possibilities of family fun!

Toys, Games & Puzzles:
Babies

Purchase here

Tutor Blocks Build Your Own with Carrying Bag

And more TUTOR BLOCKS.

Toys, Games & Puzzles:
Babies

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Tutor Blocks Animals Car Racing

And even more TUTOR BLOCKS! Perfectly-sized for little hands, this wonderful teaching toy is ideal for 6 months+

Toys, Games & Puzzles:
Babies

Purchase here

The Easter Story Egg

The Easter Story Egg™ is a tradition that celebrates the true meaning of Easter. This family activity includes a hardcover book and 7 wooden nesting Eggs. The Story Egg™ book begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday. Each Egg within the set of nesting Eggs has a story that relates to a particular day in Holy Week, leading up to Easter Sunday. As the children open each Egg they will discover the Easter story and the journey of Jesus through Holy week.
Toys, Games & Puzzles:
Preschoolers

Purchase here

Over in the Grasslands:: On an African Savanna
Written by Marianne Berkes; Illustrated by Jill Dubin

Come along on a safari! You’ll meet lions and rhinos and hippos – oh, my! You’ll also find elephants that squirt, giraffes that slurp, and hornbills that toot. Africa’s savanna is home to a delightful diversity of animals. Kids will love to sing about them – and count them, too! Cut paper illustrations add to the discovery, highlighting some animals and hiding others. Safaris are fun! Information about the animals, a map of Africa, and tips from both the author and the illustrator on how to use this book with children round out a very helpful package.

Children’s Picture Books:
Animal Kingdom

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Oliver & Hope’s Good Deeds Day
Written by Meg Cdts; Illustrated by Samantha Fitch

In Good Deeds Day, the fourth book in the award-winning Oliver & Hope® series, not even the biggest clouds can cast a shadow on the kind spirit and wild imagination that guide Oliver the bear, Hope the butterfly and all their friends on a quest to clean up the storm. Geared for children ages 3-8, this story of kindness and generosity is an inspiring read for kids and parents alike. The best part of the Oliver & Hope series is the reason behind it. The creation of these beautifully-illustrated and cleverly written stories are inspired by the real-life journey of the thousands of children whom the books’ proceeds support. Every purchase of Oliver & Hope’s Good Deeds Day and the other books and toys from the series will fund grants offered by UnitedHealthcare Children s Foundation (UHCCF) to help children gain access to medical-related services that are not covered, or not fully covered, by their parents’ commercial health insurance plan. You can learn more about the impact this book makes and discover fun activities and downloads, including a FREE audio recording of this book, when you visit Oliver & Hope’s Clubhouse at UHCCF.org. Released in 2017, Oliver & Hope’s Good Deeds Day is the highly anticipated follow-up to the first three books in the award winning series: Oliver & Hope s Amusing Adventure, Oliver & Hope s Adventure Under the Stars and Oliver & Hope s Superhero Saturday. Each book in the series is written by Meg Cadts and beautifully hand-illustrated and painted by Samantha Fitch.

Children’s Picture Books:
Philanthropic (Books that donate to a charity)

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Little Balance Box

The simple, yet effective and safe design of the Little Balance Box provides stability while transitioning from sitting to kneeling, standing and walking. Invented by a mom and physical therapist the Little Balance Box allows your baby to achieve optimal growth and development due to the non-restricting design. Your baby can freely move to standing and walking and then return to sitting when they are tired.

Gear & Accessories:
Walkers & Jumpers

Purchase here

Kite-A-Pult

Tucker Toys’ new Kite-A-Pult is a self-launching kite flying system allowing one person to fly a kite! It makes kite flying a breeze! Get a kite off the ground by launching it high into the air! The unique system allows kids to fly a kite without the help of someone else. The portable hand-launcher makes it easy to pull back then rocket the kite into the air to catch the wind. Not only is the Kite-A-Pult the most innovative and exciting kite out there, but it also doubles as a Glider! Two toys in one! With THREE designs to choose from!

Toys, Games & Puzzles:
Ages 9 to 12

Purchase here

Kisses for Kindergarten
Written by Livingstone Crouse; Illustrated by Macky Pamintuan

Stella Isabella Harden
contemplating kindergarten
declared she didn’t have to go,
because her puppy told her so.

School is about to begin, and Stella Isabella Harden decides that kindergarten just isn’t for her. Instead, she decides to spend the day learning from her puppy named Buster. Together these two adventurers plan a day full of playtime, teatime, naptime, and storytime. After every “lesson,” Stella gets the best reward: a kiss from her best friend and favorite puppy. But will she change her mind about kindergarten before the first day of school? Join Stella and Buster in this lyrical read-aloud and heartwarming story about growing up.

Children’s Picture Books:
Growing Up / Personal Growth

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Key to Savannah: Made in Savannah Cozy Mysteries Series Book 1
Written by Hope Callaghan

“Key to Savannah” is Book 1 in the Made in Savannah Cozy Mysteries Series

Months after the untimely death of mafia made man “Vinnie Garlucci,” his devoted wife, Carlita, discovers a mysterious key in one of his pockets while sorting through his belongings.

With help from her daughter, Mercedes, she sets off to find out what the mysterious key belongs to and soon discovers she has inherited property in historic Savannah, Georgia. Carlita views the property as a sign and remembers Vinnie’s dying words to her to get their family out of the mafia.

Against the wishes of her three sons, mother and daughter embark on a road trip to explore the property. While they’re gone, someone breaks into their home and vandalizes it. This is the second time it has happened since Vinnie’s death and Carlita is convinced that it’s somehow tied to the mafia.

Carlita and Mercedes are looking forward to leaving their old life behind with a fresh start in beautiful Savannah. They quickly realize you can run but you can’t hide from the past.

Adult Books:
Fiction & Literature

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Hot Wheels PlayTape

In 2016, InRoad Toys, makers of award-winning PlayTape®, introduced a new Hot Wheels PlayTape product line, under a license agreement with Mattel, Inc. PlayTape enables kids to instantly create roads for toy vehicle play anytime, anywhere. PlayTape sticks to any flat surface and is easy to tear by hand and reposition. It peels up without any residue and is recyclable, so clean up is a snap.
Toys, Games & Puzzles:
Ages 5 to 8

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E-Z Grip Slam ‘n Bounce

Grab a paddle and hit the ball back and forth with a friend. The sturdy light-weight paddles are easy to handle for multiple ages to play and the E-Z Grip ball lets you bounce the ball on any surface! Tucker Toys changed the game dynamic from keeping the ball in the air, to now allowing players to use the water, sand and grass as expanded playing surfaces. Make any surface your court!

Toys, Games & Puzzles:
Ages 9 to 12

Purchase here

Disc Jock-e

A game of catch never sounded so good. You control the music with Tucker Toys’ Disc Jock-e! This flying disc features a Bluetooth® speaker that stays connected to your device. Sync your music through your phone, tablet, or computer! Throw, catch, and jam out with Disc Jock-eTM. With its durable material and water-resistant design, you can toss your tunes anywhere you go. No matter where you are, you can spin tunes with Disc Jock-e.

Toys, Games & Puzzles:
Young Adults

Purchase here

Children’s Album: Home Is Family, by Ginalina

Ginalina, a Canadian Juno-nominated and multi-award-winning children’s artist, CBC music artist, and Kids’ Knowledge Network channel music video artist, presents her third fun and folky family album: Home Is Family!

Designed as a delightful look at “what family is”, this album features 14 exciting songs in a combination of English and French, plus a sophisticated blend of West Coast banjo, accordion, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, slide guitar, dobro, upright bass, piano, percussion, and more. The “fast” factor is very high in this collection, and children are bound to be up on their feet dancing along!

From apple pie and making stew together to cleaning the house and taking trips to the zoo with somebody special, each song is reminiscent of a familiar childhood experience that will leave the entire family amused, enriched, and satisfied. Ginalina’s trademark sweet voice is fresh and friendly, and her catchy melodies and strong harmonies are teamed with thoughtful and humorous lyrics. This album reward repeated listening for all ages – whether in the car, living room, or kitchen.

Audio Experiences:
Preschoolers

Purchase here