Tagged with 'fun'

To commemorate this holiday, here's a look past at Halloweens past here at the Educational Insights office.Marcia Gresko, our Sr. Product Manager, makes a dazzling Undead Spider Bride.Amy Opheim, our Marketing Director, bats her wings.Shelby the lioness. "I am Pug, hear me ROAR."Our Creative Director, Riley Wilkinson, as an Olympic champion.Our Creative Department as themselves.Silent-but-deadly Jessie Cho-- our Design Manager.Sonia Hernandez's real side. She's our Sr. Production Artist!Ernesto (our Graphic Designer) is on fire!Have a SAFE and Happy Halloween tonight!

Here's a fun fact for all you marital artist enthusiasts: The word Karate means "empty hand.”

Marcia, here. I’m the product manager for Language Arts and Teacher Resources, and I make toys for Educational Insights.Here’s one I invented last year --- Magic Moves. It’s my absolute, all-time favorite.There are thousands and thousands of toys in catalogs and stores! Where do they come from and how do they get there? Magic Moves started with an idea from my past life as a preschool teacher. For seven years, I read stories, did arts and crafts, dug in the sandbox, turned a jump rope, and “Hokey-Pokeyed” my way about. By far, circle time was my favorite time of day. It was cut-loose fun where we sang, danced, and got the wiggles out assisted (back then) by a tape player!Fast forward 20 years to working in product development for an educational toy company. I wanted to make something that would make circle time magical, that parents could use to inspire their kids to be active, and that was simple enough for preschoolers to play with themselves.I put my idea – a talking, musical magic wand that would promote creative movement play – down on a piece of paper and pitched it to the team here. I wish I could say its brilliance cast a spell over them, but it actually took me three tries to convince the group that it would be successful. So, if you think you have a great idea, stick up for it!After the idea was approved, I hired an industrial designer to draw a picture to show the factory what it would look like.I worked with a programmer to write a document to show the factory how it would work.I worked with a musician and lighting designer. He wrote the tunes and designed the light shows that go with them. He also designed this cool simulation to show us how they worked together.I had taken some wonderful workshops on creative movement and music and wanted to make sure the wand had a variety of musical styles so we incorporated Latin, Afro Pop, and techno or “club” style music.I also wanted to inspire children to move in different ways so there are slow tunes and fast tunes; heavy, ponderous tunes for stomping, and sinuous, mysterious tunes for slithering. And, that’s another thing. I wanted the children to hear rich vocabulary in the course of their movement play – stomp, slither, and strut, for example.In the meantime, the factory made me a model so I could test its size with children. It turned out to be too big so they made me a smaller one to test with kids again. This one worked.Next, the factory made me what we call a breadboard, a circuit board with switches that simulate how Magic Moves would work. It’s kind of weird looking, isn’t it? This helped me test the wand’s programming, lights, music, and speech.The factory also made me a plastic model with nothing inside. That model was used for photography for the wand’s package which our Creative Dept began designing. They also designed the decorations that add to the wand’s magic – like the stars and swirls.At this point, the factory made me another model. This model looked like and worked like the real thing only the electronics were outside the toy. It had to be tested and tested some more so that we could determine that it was working as expected.Finally, in October, everything was ready for production to begin. The factory started making Magic Moves. The first shipment of the toy arrived in our company’s warehouse in December – ready to ship to the toy stores that ordered it. From concept to shelf, it took over a year and a half to develop Magic Moves.I’m so proud of it I want to ….strut like a peacock! 

October is Children’s Health Month and we'll be celebrating all month long with fitness/health related tips, articles and activities for the whole family on our blog and Facebook![Here's a quick tip: If you like us, you'll be entered for a chance to win $500 worth of EI products!]Keep a look out for upcoming posts regarding child health and well-being this month and keep your eyes open for a behind-the-scenes look at our featured product of the month, Magic Moves! If you didn't know, Magic Moves is all about... MOVIN'! It has your kids shakin' it up and workin' it out. What better way to get healthy than to dance it out and have fun with your kids? To kick start the month, here's a fun fact: Did you know that your heart is about the size of your fist and weighs about as much as a softball? Speaking of softball, why not take 30 minutes out of your day to play outside? It's time to get up and start movin'! 

What a way to start the month off! Our featured product of the month, Magic Moves™, just won a 2012 Brilliance Award from Brilliant Sky! How cool is that?According to Brilliant Sky Toys & Books, The Brilliance Awards "recognize products that represent the very ideals that Brilliant Sky Toys & Books was founded upon – the importance of quality, the value of open-ended play, and the simple beauty of a child’s fascination and delight.  The products must meet the company’s high standard of offering developmentally sound products for children and must also engage children and encourage the growth of important values, such as self-esteem, patience, tenacity and cultural sensitivity."We are so honored to have received this award. Our team couldn't have done this without you, our fans, in mind.

Get your classroom ready for Halloween with today's spooky Deal of the Day! From now until midnight tonight PST you can get our 3-D Skeleton Demonstration Magnets for only $24.99 (down from $49.99—that's a 50% savings)!Build magnetic science models on your whiteboard that are large enough for the whole class to see! Assemble the models in whole–class demonstrations, then let students try it later to test their knowledge. This set includes 15 magnetic textured pieces detailing the major bones  as well as an activity guide with a blackline master of the human body. Engage children in hands-on discovery and give them the opportunity to manipulate 3D magnetic pieces that feel like real bones!Get your 3D magnetic skeleton set here: http://www.educationalinsights.com/product/3--45-d+skeleton+demonstration+magnets.do. Promo code EIFREE will get you free shipping too! It's scary how much you can save with EI!

A prehistoric picture–making race! Today's Deal of the Day is Stix & Stones™!Get creative like a caveman using only sticks and stones—no drawing skills required! Dare each other to make a picture with as few pieces as possible, then challenge the other players to guess what it is. Remember, the clock is always ticking! This game features 75 game cards providing 450 words of varying difficulty, ensuring a different game every time and an engaging experience for players of all ages.Get this super fun game for only $11.99 from now until midnight tonight PST. Promo code EIFREE at checkout will get you free shipping on your order as well! You don't want to miss out on this one! http://www.educationalinsights.com/product/stix+-amp-+stones-reg-+game.do