new for us friday: LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus (& giveaway!)

As much as I have had a ton of success with LeapFrog products and love nearly everything LeapFrog, I knew that I needed to outsource a bit when it came to really taking an honest look at one of their new-to-me toys, the Peek-A-Shoe Octopus.

Luckily, I have a ton of awesome pals whom I trust and whom are always willing to join me in taking a look at the cool products that arrive at my door.  And the fact that most of them are teachers–or have been–doesn’t hurt, either.

So for this one, I handed the reins to my friend Colleen, a fab mom of three and an incredible pre-K teacher here in our county. She was more than willing to try out the LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus with her sweet little Mara, who’s one year old.

And lucky for us, LeapFrog has offered to give away one LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus to one lucky teach mama reader, just in time for the holidays! Woot!

Here’s the skinny:

• LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus:  The Peek-A-Shoe Octopus is geared toward children 9 months- 36 months old, and it is the 2011 Winner of the Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Platinum Toy Award. (So you know it’s awesome.)
  

  The deal with the Peek-A-Show Octopus is that kids drop in a ball and look for it under the brightly-colored, numbered shoes. Along the way, they explore counting and colors, and they learn about different sea animals. When they press the octopus’s collar, music is added to the mix! Fun, fun, and fun.

  LeapFrog even offers a spare set of balls to keep the play and learning going, and parents can purchase an extra set on the LeapFrog site.

  Parents can connect to the online LeapFrog® Learning Path for customized learning insights and ideas to expand the learning, which I think is cool and which is another thing I appreciate about LeapFrog–they’re always trying to support at-home learning. Love it.

Want to see the Peek-A-Shoe Octopus in action?

And here’s the skinny, straight from my buddy Colleen:

Dear Teachmama,

Thank you so much for sharing the Leap Frog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus with us. It was a huge hit!  Mara is 16 months and is non-stop.  We laugh at all the toys we have bought for her and how the most she actually plays with them is when she throws something across the room.  Love her!  

Anyway, I was thinking we would probably encounter the same thing here, until I saw her actually SIT down and engage with this toy.  It’s iinteractive, familiar (peek-a-boo), and easy for her to manipulate.

Things I love about this toy:

• it’s fun and engaging;
• it keeps her attention (which is not easy);
• it’s easy to manipulate;
• the songs and sounds are fun and familiar (peek-a-boo);
• it was super easy to put together (which is really important when you have three kids starting at you and the new toy they are dying to try);
• it will also help her to learn her colors when she’s ready.

I wish:

• that it had a better place to store the balls.  (There is one little ledge, and it’s not big enough to hold all the balls it comes with.  We are already down one ball….maybe two.)

Thank you, thank you Colleen and sweet Mara!

GIVEAWAY: One LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus!

Do you want to win one LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus??!? (Give it to your kids now or save it for holiday time!)

• All you have to do is leave a comment here (with email address!) explaining who will use the LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus if you win it.

For extra entries:

• Tweet this: Win a @LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus on @teachmama — just in time for the holidays! http://wp.me/p1NAxy-1il  #weteach #spon #ece

• Share this post on your Facebook page–very easy!

• Share this post with a friend (just tell me who you shared it with!)

• Pin this post (or another favorite teach mama post!) on Pinterest! (Use ‘pin it!’ button below post and just tell me what you pinned!)

By entering this giveaway, you are demonstrating your understanding of and compliance with the Official Sweepstakes Rules.

This contest ends on Saturday, December 10, 2011 at midnight ET. Winner will be chosen by ‘And the Winner is. . .’ and will be notified on or around 12/10/11.  Winner must respond within three (3) days of notification or forfeit the prize, in which case an alternate winner will be selected.  AllOfficial Sweepstakes Rules apply.

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fyi: We have had the opportunity to try the LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus, as I am part of the LeapFrog Review Program. All of the opinions here are my own, influenced only by the feedback of one of my best pals (and her sweet 16 month old) and my own experience as an educator and parent. This is an unsponsored post, but my family was given the LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus to review.  LeapFrog will provide the LeapFrog Peek-A-Shoe Octopus to the winner.