When I was in grade school, I was a tomboy. (Heck, sometimes I still feel like a tomboy!)

One of my favorite toys was a little green metal sports car.  (This was in the pre-Matchbox cars days.)

It was a one-seater sports car. I thought it was the neatest thing ever. I loved playing in the dirt with it. (We didn’t have a sandbox.  I grew up on a farm and the whole yard was far better than a sandbox any old day.)

When I was recently asked if I would review the iPhone app Cars in Sandbox, I just had to say yes. The app spoke to the tomboy side of me.

This app has eight different types of construction vehicles. The object of the game is to select a vehicle and ‘play’ with it in the sandbox by having the vehicle ‘pick up’ or ‘move’ other toys and items in the sandbox.

For instance, load the dump truck with a beach ball or a rocket and dump it into a box. The road grader scoots a tennis ball, soccer ball, and basketball and into a tube. With the claw of the crane, you pick up blocks out of one box, drive to another box, and drop the blocks in the second box.

When you successfully accomplish a task for the vehicle, you get a star. If you want to ‘play’ with another vehicle, you can easily switch to a different one.

There are many things about this app that delight me. When you press on a vehicle, a realistic sounding motor starts. I love this! The motor sounds different when you ‘drive’ the vehicle forward from when you drive backwards. It idles when the vehicle isn’t moving.

You can open and shut the vehicle’s door. turn on the headlights, and lower the stabilizer jacks. I especially love honking the horn. (I honked it so much my husband got rather annoyed . . .)

Here are some screenshots.

Here are a few of the things I like about this application:

• I love the bright colors.
• I am extremely impressed with the graphics. The vehicles are very realistic and well-drawn.
• I think it’s funny that you bump into another toy when you get to the end of the sandbox.
• This app kept my attention for a long time! I absolutely love it. I can’t wait to show it to my grandchildren.

While the game creators state that this game is for children over 1-2, I think that isn’t quite right. Yes, while children that young can move the vehicles back and forth, they won’t have the dexterity to manipulate the vehicle and the other items in the game. I think that this app would be better for children over 4 years old.

The app costs only $1.99. Check it out. I think this is definitely worth buying! It’s fun. It’s challenging. It’s colorful. And, I think children will really enjoy this app.  I sure did.

Giveaway

I would like to give away 2 copies of this app.  Woot!  Woot! All you have to do to enter is post a comment here about your memories of playing in the sandbox or a favorite toy that you had as a child.

Good luck!

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this application. However, that did not influence my opinion of the product.

A good children’s book is one that appeals to children AND adults.

Our youngest son loved the book Are You My Mother by P.D. Eastman. I read it over and over and over to him.

I grew to detest that book.

Recently, I gave it to him. I told him that was inheritance. Good riddance (to the book — not my son).

I recently came across a delightful, delightful book for children ages 4-8 — Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie by Laurie A. Jacobs.  When Grandma Tillie babysits Sophie and Chloe, she takes her knitting, disappears into a closet, and is replaced by a whole cadre of silly and outrageously fun people.

With a grand entrance, Tillie Vanilly (with a bouffant pink hair) recites the alphabet backwards, hangs a spoon on her nose, juggles and tells jokes. Then, she leads Sophie and Chloe all around the house and into the kitchen while doing the conga.

Let’s pause here to see what the conga dance is like . . . (I would like one of these outfits.  To wear to work, maybe?)  The video lasts 4 minutes.  You don’t have to watch it all to get the idea of how to dance the conga.

Chef Silly Tillie wants to feed the girls worm chili with glue gravy. They decline. At bath time, Madam Frilly Tillie makes the girls gorgeous by giving Sophie a bubble beard and Chloe a tower of bubbles on her head.

Regular Grandma Tillie tucks the girls into bed and as Sophie drifts off to sleep she believes she hears Grandma Tillie dancing down the hall.

This is a great book. I love the illustrations. They are very appealing. I love the plot — it’s fresh and fun. I would be willing to read this book over and over to my grandchildren. It would even spark a let’s-dance-the-conga activity with the grandkiddos. This book is definitely a keeper.

GIVEAWAY!  GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!

It’s been a long time since I’ve had a giveaway. Too long. So I’m changing that. Right now. Right this very minute.

If you would like to win a copy of Silly Frilly Grandma Tillie, post a comment and tell about a “Grandma Tillie” type of experience that you have had with your own grandmother or an experience that you have had as a “Grandma Tillie” to your grandchildren. (I can’t wait to hear your experiences!!)

The giveaway will go until Thursday February 9 at midnight. (By the way, the 9th is our daughter’s birthday.  Happy Birthday, Christi!)

I will announce the winner on Friday.

Good luck!

Remember the song Wild Thing?  I had just barely turned a teenager when that song came out.  I loved that song!  As a thirteen-year-old, I had no clue as to who the songwriter was.  But now, as a grandmother, I have just learned about the person who penned that song — Chip Taylor.

In addition to writing Wild Thing, Chip also wrote songs for Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, George Strait, Jimi Hendrix, and Janis Joplin.  Those are big name performers!

Well, Chip will be releasing a new CD on October 18.  Do big name, popular musicians sing his songs on it?  Nope.  His grandchildren do.  And I think that is fabulous.

Taylor recorded the songs on this CD with his granddaughters Riley, Kate, and Samantha.  One song, “Magical Horse,” is based on a poem that Kate wrote for school.  Other songs include the theme song Golden Kids’ Rules, Big Ideas, Daddy Is a Red Sox Fan/ Mommy Is a Yankee Fan.

My favorite song is The Possum Hunter.  Taylor’s granddaughters love their Uncle Kristian (Taylor’s son).  This song is based on a true experience when Kristian was afraid of tipping over a doghouse to free a trapped possum.  His future father-in-law nicknamed Kristian ‘the possum hunter.’ The song has a catchy tune and fun lyrics.

Another interesting fact about Chip Taylor.  He has a very famous brother.  Jon Voight.  Amazing.  (If you see a picture of Chip, you can tell he and Jon are definitely related!)

Here’s a little video where you can see Chip and his granddaughters sing.  Cool.

So here’s the giveaway.

I am giving away a copy of Chip’s CD “Golden Kids Rules.” Just leave a comment telling me about one of your favorite songs — or a favorite song of your grandchild. You have until midnight October 20 to leave a comment.  I will randomly select a person and announce the winner on October 21.

Recently, I’ve been contacted by lots of  iPhone and iPad app developers.  They are almost as thick as a shiver of sharks. (Remember in the grammar book giveaway that I recently had, I listed what groups of animals are called? I loved the one referring to sharks. I used ‘shiver of sharks’ here because I liked the onomatopoeia of the phrase and because I always shiver when I think of sharks.  Especially when I know that my husband is scuba diving amongst those man-eating critters.)

Back to the apps.

A lovely Swiss mother has produced an app for the iPhone and iPad based on the classic story of Heidi by Johanna Spyri. She (the Swiss miss mom and not the author who passed away in 1901) is allowing me to give away apps to two giveaway winners.

I applaud this mother for her programming prowess! Kudos go to her for doing such a fine job with her apps Heidi I, Heidi II, and Heidi III. I want to be an app developer like her when I grow up.

But first, do you remember that story?  Heidi’s parents die and she goes to live with her gruff grandfather up the mountain. Heidi becomes friends with Peter, the goat-herd, and starts enjoying her life with Grandfather. Then, Heidi is sent to live in Frankfurt to be a companion to Klara, who is an invalid. Heidi misses her life with Grandfather and goes back to live with him. Klara visits Heidi and grandfather.  Peter is jealous of Heidi’s attention to Klara and shoves Klara’s wheelchair off the mountain. Klara eventually learns to walk and everybody lives happily ever after.

As an interesting side note, 20 film or television versions of this story have been produced.  Now, thanks to one smart woman, it is reaching into the new media of this new millennium– mobile technology.

These apps, Heidi I, Heidi II, and Heidi II, are a delightful rendition of the story about Heidi.  The story is divided into three parts to make it more accessible to young children.

The artwork is reminiscent of the era in which the story was originally written (1880). Here are three screen shots to give you an idea of what the artwork is like. (Do be sure to click on the pictures to see a larger version. Then, you’ll really be able to appreciate the artwork.)

The apps give you the option to have the story read to you (which is good for young children) in English or German. Or, you can read the story yourself.

The reading level for these apps is for third or fourth graders and older. If your grandchild would have the application read the story to her, she should be at least three years old.  This is mainly because they would need to have the attention span to sit long enough to hear the story.  (I guess younger children could listen to the story, but they might not sit still long enough to listen to the whole story during one sitting.)

The artwork in these applications is delightful. It makes me want to visit the Alps and meander the streets of a Swiss village. (And drink hot chocolate and sleep under a down comforter.)

I love the sounds that are included in the story — bleating of goats, tinkling of bells, tolling of church bells, cracking fire, wind blowing in the trees, and swooshing down the mountain on a sled.

I do have one small concern. In the first story, it talks about Grandmother. I was confused as to whether or not this grandmother was married to Heidi’s grandfather of it it was Peter’s grandmother. FYI, I looked it up on Wikipedia and it is Peter’s grandmother. (What in the world would we ever do without good ol’ Wikipedia?!)

Enter the Giveaway

All you have to do is leave a comment and mention whether or not you have read this story.  Also, in your comment, mention if you would prefer an iPhone app or an iPad app.

Using random.org, I will select three lucky people to receive promotional codes for free copies — one iPhone winner and two iPad winners.

The contest will be open from now until midnight September 8. I will announce the winner on September 9.

Hurry now and leave a comment!