Have you ever played the ABC game in the car to pass the time during long trips? We used to play it for hours. We would pick a subject (cities, animals, etc) and we would go through the alphabet. Each person would take a turn and say an animal that started with the letter that we were on. A – Albatross, B-Bat, C-Cougar, D-Dolphin… and so on. Well, this is how Cindy Coleman, M.Ed. conceived the idea for the iKnow Animals, Letters & Sounds Beginning Reading System.
Cindy assembled a team of educators, curriculum and technology specialists, artists, musicians, animators, digital media and motion graphics developers, and the world famous San Diego Zoo to create an educational program for kids that incorporates a fun-filled learning experience with information on animals from around the world.
I received the iKnow Animals, Letters & Sounds DVD set and the ABC Cards to review. There are 4 DVDs in the set, each covering different locations. The San Diego Zoo, Africa, The Rain Forest and a music DVD each take the learner to different places. I think I enjoyed watching these DVDs just as much as Baby Bird did. She loves animals, so she stood and watched all of the animals as they came on the screen, then danced when the music started up. There were a few seconds where there was nothing but the background on the TV. Baby Bird started to crawl away, but as soon as another animal came on the screen she was back to watching and dancing. And she gave a little squeal when the Sea Lions came on. We have Sea Lions in West Edmonton Mall and I think she remembers seeing them. I couldn’t believe it.
The program focuses on one animal at a time. The speaker speaks very clearly and slowly and they foster learning through songs, repetition, sounding out words, reviewing the alphabet, and then the screen switches from an animated screen to real life. So you can see the animated animal and then see the animal in it’s natural state. The music is soothing and upbeat and I really like how they show the words to the songs they sing as well as they display the words and letters on the screen as the speaker talks. They also talk about the animals and their natural habitats and I learned a lot about some of these animals I had not known before.
Included in the set is a deck of 52 letter-animal playing cards. The letters on the cards are textured so kids can touch the letters and get a feel for the shape of them. There are 26 animals on the cards, so each animal is on 2 cards. For example, there are 2 cards with the letter ‘G’ on them. There is a gorilla on both cards. On one, it is just a picture of a gorilla, on the other, it is a picture of the gorilla with scenery behind it. These cards would be great to play Go Fish with…I guess you could call it Go Gorilla!
There are also some online games that accompany this learning system where children can apply what they’ve learned from the DVDs. These online adventures focus on phonics, the alphabet, vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension.
I love this learning tool. Learning needs to be fun and interactive for kids and that is exactly what these DVDs and cards are. The story takes children on an adventure through the famous San Diego Zoo, a trek through the Rain Forrest and on Safari through Africa. With that much fun, kids don’t even realize they are learning something!
To learn more about the iKnow Animals, Letters & Sounds, you can visit the Take Pride Adventure Learning site.
The complete learning system which includes the DVDs, ABC Cards and online activities retails for $49.99US and is available online through their online shop.
I also have a complete set of the iKnow Animals, Letters & Sounds DVDs and ABC Cards as a giveaway…
To enter: Leave a comment at the end of this post and let me know what your (or your child’s) favorite animal is. Please also leave a way of getting a hold of you should you win. *You must do this for any additional entries to count.
After you have completed the first entry, you can enter an additional comment one time for each of the following:
- Become a public follower of This Bird’s Day (either in the right sidebar or through Facebook at the bottom of this page).
- Follow This Bird’s Day on Twitter AND tweet about this giveaway linking to this post. Please include your twitter id in your comment (you must do both for this one to count).
- Be a confirmed email subscriber to my updates (at the bottom right of this page). Simply enter your email address, confirm it and you will receive email updates when I make a new post. This will let you know when there is new content and giveaways on my site.
This contest is open to Canadian and US residents and runs until 9pm MST on Thursday, October 29, 2009.
Comments for this giveaway are now closed. Thank you and good luck to everyone who entered. I will draw a winner shortly.
I am following you
My daughters love the gorillas
I subscribed by email.
donna444444@yahoo.com
I follow on twitter and tweeted:
http://twitter.com/donnak4/status/5277177415
donna444444@yahoo.com
I am a follower.
donna444444@yahoo.com
I like zebras.
donna444444@yahoo.com
My daughters favorite animal is the horse.
I am a google public follower.
Puppies :)
I subscribed by email.
lilyk@mail2world.com
I love horses!
lilyk@mail2world.com
His favorite is a frog
I follow your blog via google connect
fmd518(at)gmail(dot)com
My daughters favorite animal is a horse.
fmd518(at)gmail(dot)com
Elephants have captured our hearts. Of course we still love our dogs and cats.
phyllisskoglund AT go DOT com
i follow via google
My 3 year old loves dogs at the moment before that is was bears
harborlad@optonline.net
I love giraffes! The hair pattern and anatomy is so unique!
Monkeys and zebras-
Diane Baum
esldiane@gmail.com
My daughter Loves zebras
Although my little guy is too young to tell me his favourite animal I know he LOVES cats!!!!
arctic_teacher(at)yahoo(dot)ca
My son's favorite animal is a dolphin.
lizzi0915 at aol dot com
My son loves cows. He is 21 months and says Mooo every time he sees a cow or thinks he sees a cow! LOL! Thank you!
tiffanys819 at gmail dot com
follower
email subscriber
our son loves elephants
subscribe via email
follow on twitter and tweeted
http://twitter.com/Ardy22/status/5258708645
follow your blog
ardy22
Our kids are really into the giraffe.
hope this is not a duplicate. Don't think my 1st posted
My sons at the moment is a lion and oh boy can he roar.
mightynaynay(at)cs.com
I subscribe via e-mail.
justaddcharm at gmail dot com
I follow you on Twitter (@iloveagiveaway)
Tweet:
http://twitter.com/iloveagiveaway/status/5251675292
I follow via Friend Connect.
My son's favorite animal is the giraffe – always the first thing he wants to visit at the zoo.
I love Monkeys! Thanks!
Hotsnotty2@hotmail.com
email subscribser
aunteegem@yahoo.com
I follow your blog through Google Friends as jelaws5
aunteegem@yahoo.com
My daughter loves horses :)
aunteegem@yahoo.com
My boys love Lions :)
chazvgo@gmail.com
I love a ton of animals and all for different reason but the wolf is tops… My son loves dolphins and whales… while my daughter is more into pandas and other sweet looking creatures that are mean.. lol
http://twitter.com/Jammie79/status/5243663893 i follow on twitter and tweeted
I follow your blog.
My daughter has many favorite animals when she was 3 she told santa her favorite was a giraffe. I think she was just trying to let santa know she knew big words. I would have to say now her favorite animal is cats.
sons fav. animal is a dragon ,real lizards or img.dragons cdmarteny@mywebdesk.com
I am following you on Twitter.
http://twitter.com/angelasbits/status/5239666966
I am following your blog!
My kids favorite animal is dogs.
my sons favorite animal is cats….
cpsnsamples@aol.com
i'm an email subscriber
dreamcleavers@yahoo.com
my favorite animal is a monkey, especially baboons.
dreamcleavers@yahoo.com
We LOOOOOVE cats!
My daughters favorite animal is a dog.
shawnac68@hotmail.com
I am a follower of your blog
kerrie@mayansfamily.com
My son loves zebras
kerrie@mayansfamily.com
I'm an e-mail subscriber.
ag1414@hotmail.com
I follow your blog.
ag1414@hotmail.com
My son loves monkeys!
ag1414@hotmail.com
im a facebook follower
I Love Horses and My daughter's favorite is the Alligator!
hmahan_0529 @yahoo dot com
email subscriber
my daughters favorite animal is a giraffe
thanks
flower_child_23(at)hotmail(dot)com
follower
I grew up on a farm…we like cows
My daughter's favorite animal is a giraffee. Thank you
I love the tigers.
erma.hurtt@sbcglobal.net
I'm a follower.
hafner611{AT}gmail{DOT}com
My son loves monkeys the best.
hafner611{AT}gmail{DOT}com
My son walks around all day saying "roar i'm a tiger" so cute. Email at cstoesz22 at gmail dot com
my daughter and i both love monkeys!
platypus
We love dogs..
dispatcher_kristy@Hotmail.com
I follow with GFC.
frankandkatie@gmail.com
My little boy loves ALL animals – the cow was his first animal sound, but now he knows all the animal sounds I can think of. He enjoys playing with cats and dogs, and names every animal that he sees.
frankandkatie@gmail.com
i would say birds as my daughter loves listening to them.
siroisd@shaw.ca
Such an exceptional idea. Children learn much more positively with visual cues. Terrific for anybody's "library" Thank you.
sounds awesome!!!
Sherry
twinviews@hotmail.com
http://twitter.com/AStarrAMama/status/5134471863
AStarrAMama
disintegratingstarr@hotmail.com
My daughter really likes the dolphin.
msurosey@yahoo.com
I'm an email subscriber.
I'm amym_brown@hotmail.com
thanks
My favorite animal is a cat! My daughter seems to like dogs better..
I'm amym_brown@hotmail.com
thank-you!
I subscribe
disintegratingstarr@hotmail.com
Follow on twitter AStarrAMama
http://twitter.com/AStarrAMama/status/5098322596
disintegratingstarr@hotmail.com
My daughter adores dogs/puppies so much
disintegratingstarr@hotmail.com
My son's favorite animal is a llama.
brandi.westmoreland@gmail.com
My niece loves dogs.
You can reach me at itsmewhoelse@live.ca
My son saw a show about komodo dragons and has been talking about them since, so I'm going with the komodo dragon!
greenlancer at comcast dot net
I love Guinea Pigs!
My son loves Zebras.
I'm a follower (love your blog by the way)
maxineschmidt{at}mts{dot}net
I follow on twitter @sgrant2005 and tweet:
http://twitter.com/sgrant2005/status/5052137098
thegrants(at)live(dot)com
I'm a follower
thegrants(at)live(dot)com
My son really loves Monkeys
thegrants(at)live(dot)com
My boys LOVE bears, especially the Panda bear
right now my daughter loves cats and lions
ykatrina at hotmail dot com
My son LOVESSSS monkeys! haha and I dont know why but he does!
kristi2bsb@yahoo.com
Hi I would love to win this as I love dolphins.
Habba
sask_student@yahoo.ca
My son loves elephants.
I have always loved horses, and my middle child LOVES them too!
kissyjensen at gmail dot com
Dogs are my fav!
Thanks for entering me! Great Contest!
Janna Johnson
janna@FeedYourPigBlog.com
jannajanna@hotmail.com
http://www.FeedYourPigBlog.com
We like cats
Right now her favorite animal is a cat because we have 2 in the house!
my son loves giraffes!
autumn398 @ yahoo.com
blog follower
subscriber
we love cows!!! :)
We are all giraffe lovers!
The kids and I love cows! :-)
khmorgan_00 [at] yahoo [dot] com
My son's favorite animal is a zebra.
My little sister loves
Kitty-cats!
but we live in the mountains and can't have one
cause they'd be in danger from coyotes!
so Plush animals will do
=)
panicxduh@yahoo.com
I follow your blog :)
daxkimd@gmail.com
We all love the Elephants! Thanks for the chance :)
daxkimd@gmail.com
one child is a horse lover
next is a dog and the baby and our dog share kisses every five minutes so I would have to say hers is a dog too
My God-daughter and her brother love dogs/puppies.
My little boy loves dogs. His uncle has 2 dogs and he goes crazy when he stops by for a visit. He doesn't say many words, but he can say each of their names. Thanks for the chance to win!
sueellison@hcecwildblue.com
My little boy loves dogs
tvollowitz at aol dot com
cdziuba@aol.com email subscriber
cdziuba@aol.com I follow on twitter (cdziuba) and tweeted http://twitter.com/cdziuba/status/5000914336
cdziuba@aol.com Follow thru Facebook Carol P Dziuba
cdziuba@aol.com My son loves tigers, and I like cats.
My daughter loves dogs.
I'm an email subscriber!
I'm a follower through GFC.
My favourite animals are giraffes!
denimc{at}gmail{dot}com
I am an email subscriber.
I am a google follower.
One of my daughters loves giraffes and the other unicorns (hmmm?). I've tried to explain but she won't listen.
This sounds really helpful for our homeschooing! I have 3 children, and we all love leaning about animals! We watch any, and all shows about animals we can get a hold of. The oldest, Nick, loves dinosaurs, Dmitri is into cheetahs, because they're fast:), Aleah, my youngest, likes dolphins ( because she likes them :)
Joanna (at) telusplanet (dot) net
I follow through Blogger.
carlamo (at) ymail (dot) com
Does Shrek count as a favorite animal? Other than that it varies… Cat, dog, cow.
carlamo (at) ymail (dot) com
My oldest daughter Habba's favourite animal is dolphin, middle daughter, Misbah's favourite animal is Horse and youngest daughter, Areeha's fav animal s also horse. I would love to win this for all three and it would be so much fun especially on long trips.
Ruby
sask_student@yahoo.ca
I follow on twitter
tweet: http://twitter.com/bcgirll/status/4908389883
Daughter's is Bird, as in Grumpy Bird!
cpolonyi@shaw.ca
Wow!! That looks awesome!! Never realized til now, but don't think my daughter has a favorite animal…strange! But I think she would love this!!
I'm an email subscriber. We love turtles!
shtrqueen123 (at) yahoo (dot) com
My 13 month old daughter loves animals; particularly lions, bears and zebras. Her nursery is actually a "jungle" theme, and I have animal decals all over her wall which she loves! I point and make the sounds to her delight lol.
This sounds like it would not only be educational, but fun and bright at the same time– the way learning SHOULD be :)
I can be reached by email pixel_dust_@hotmail.com
I'm a follower!!
My favorite animal is a bear, my son's is a truck LOL!
I am also a FB follower…
jocelynsmith@alaska.com
Hi! My daughter's fave animal would be moose. Fitting – we're Alaskans!
jocelynsmith@alaska.com
My two year old son loves all animals. Some days he is a puppy and goes woof woof. Sometimes he is a cat and goes meow and as of late he is a dinosaur. I woke up this morning with his nose pressed to mine and he ROOAAAARD. LOL. The other day a little one pushed him over at the park and he hissed at the poor kid. It might be time for people friends :)
I can be reached at chandra_lynette@yahoo.ca
Thanks!
I'm an email subscriber
charity-23@hotmail.com
My son's fav is a monkey which he calls 'Munk'
charity-23@hotmail.com
I really like the sounds of this product. My granddaughter really likes dogs right now I think because we have a chocolate lab who she hugs and kisses like crazy. They sit and play together in the sunroom every morning. They play tug of war with his stuffed animals.I think she would really enjoy and benefit from this learning tool.
You can reach us at "njg525(at)gmail(dot)com"
subscriber
melacan at hotmail dot com
follower
melacan at hotmail dot com
I love elephants and giraffes. My son's favourite at the moment is a worm. It could change tomorrow though, and likely will.
melacan at hotmail dto com
What a great sounding product! My daughters favourite animal right now are birds, every time we go outside she is constantly looking up at the sky squealing "bird, bird, bird!", reminds me of Bambi when he is learning to talk. My son's favourite would be a toss up between a lizard and a dinosaur (does dinosaur count since they are extinct). He crawls around on the floor pretending he is a lizard in the jungle and is going to get us all!