May 1, 2017 | Daddy Mojo

Education options for the cord cutting family on Netflix

We’re part of the Stream Team for Netflix and were compensated for this post. The end of a school year means the kids are home more. Even if you have summer camps and family vacations planned the kids will still be in front of the television more. This means that you’ve got to be careful what they watch, especially if your family is like ours and cut the cord. Relying on Netflix for your home entertainment options can still be educational for kids during the summer. Here are six cool options that are great for kids as young as two.

Octonauts

What’s the Midnight Zone? Our children saw that episode on Netflix more than four years ago and can still tell us marine trivia. Sure, The Octonauts are just an animated show, but it immediately attracts children who are two years old and up. It’s filled with fun characters and much more education than you realize. Case in point: the midnight zone, it’s the really deep part of the ocean where those shy, colorful creatures hang out.

BBC

A quick search of some BBC options on Netflix reveal Bob the Builder, Angelina Ballerina, Octonauts (!) and Sarah and Duck, but also dozens of fabulous nature documentaries. Those documentaries will be rated G or PG and have the trademark BBC quality that adults know and seek out. From sharks, wolves, planets, continents and weird animals there’s a BBC documentary that will suit your child (or you!).

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It’s time to tackle the elephant in the room with DIYZ® App

This post is in collaboration with DIYZ. All opinions of apps and companies that help me complete DIY projects are my own.

We needed to do something about our kitchen. It’s not that we’re selling our home; we just need to be ready in case it has to be sold quickly or we wanted to stop cooking in a room that hadn’t been updated since Growing Pains first aired. Combine that with the fact that Mother’s Day is coming up and we had to get going. Do we paint the kitchen cabinets ourselves or have someone else do it or get all new cabinets? That final choice was far too expensive and hiring someone to paint kitchen cabinets would’ve cost upwards of $3,000. With a little encouragement from DIYZ App we jumped into a relatively simple, but at the same time gargantuan task of painting our kitchen cabinets.

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New all age comics for May 31, 2017

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If you’re looking for some younger skewing all age comics this is your week. Is it just a coincidence that it’s the first week of no school for us? Regardless, we’re headed to the store to pick up some from last week, as well as a couple from this week’s very packed stack. Here are five all age comics that might sneak past your radar. There is one based on a massively popular online game, an old school compilation from the 80’s, one interactive book that builds vocabulary, a Netflix gem that segues well into comic books and a fabulous graphic novel that will delight kids 6 and up. The music in the podcast is from King Imagine, find all of his groovy stuff over at Free Music Archive.

Harvey Hits

This looks to be another home run from Joe Books. Take the greatest characters from Harvey Comics and put them in one of the all age comics that will be great for anyone and you’ve got Harvey Hits. This includes short stories from Casper, Richie Rich, Wendy the Good Little Witch and others. It’s got some art that is done by Art and Franco, plus Cesare Asaro, thus it will immediately appeal to kids five and up, even if they don’t know the characters.

Animal Jam

As any parent with a child who’s grown up since 2010 what their educational video go-to game is and Animal Jam will be one of the responses. From National Geographic this video game is educational, interactive, safe for all ages and actively encourages family participation. Animal Jam is now a monthly comic book from Dynamite, it even comes with some cool animal stickers to seal the deal.

Spider-Man Mad Libs

For kids that know their nouns from their verbs Mad Libs is the antidote to boring road trips. Just in time for the new Spider-Man film is Spider-Man Mad Libs. You’ll put Spidey in all sorts of funny and outlandish situations and solutions-all based on your words.

Time Shifters

The Free Comic Book Day snippet of Time Shifters merely whet our appetite for this graphic novel. Time Shifters is an original graphic novel from Graphix, which is an imprint of Scholastic Books that builds upon the high expectations that the free preview provided. It’s a graphic novel that doesn’t shy away from real consequences, but also embraces the time travel elements, albeit with a robot Abraham Lincoln, monsters, ghosts, dinosaurs and large spiders.

Voltron Legendary Defender Vol 2., #2

Are you watching Voltron Legendary Defender on Netflix? It’s a very good show that emphasizes team work, friendship and butt kicking robots when everybody bands together. This comic book from Lion Forge is like that, just one issue at a time. Readers seven and up will be able to go through the issue without any vocabulary assistance and the content will be OK for ages six and up.

Humor

Superhero

Action/Science fiction

Win an autographed copy of Brown Bear to celebrate its 50th anniversary

Has it really been 50 years since Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle was released? It’s a children’s classic book whose simple rhymes, distinctive art and perfect length make it one of the first books that children will have read to them. We’re giving away an autographed copy of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, as well as a handful of other Brown Bear swag to celebrate its landmark 50^th anniversary.

This special edition of the book is different for some because it’s the proper, full size release, instead of the board book version that some of us are accustomed to. That was our jam for three straight years. When we had a three and one year old in the house it was one that the younger could laugh at the older one could point to the words. From there we went to Panda Bear and Polar Bear, all of which we’ve also saved for the future library, should our children need it in 25 years.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group has a giveaway for a copy of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, autographed by illustrator Eric Carle, as well as a bag of Brown Bear swag. This is a giveaway that you’ll keep forever. The new 50^th anniversary copy of Brown Bear features the complete story of the book on CD that is read by Gwyneth Paltrow.

Win an autographed copy of Brown Bear to celebrate its 50th anniversary

Wordplay, a toon book is new reader creativity and fun

From the moment you look at Wordplay you know that it’s different. Its landscape format makes the book stand out because it doesn’t look like many books you see. Then you open up Wordplay by Ivan Brunetti and its graphics inside stand out also. It’s trippy and fun, think of a brand new reader’s book for compound words, but presented with a twist of Alice in Wonderland and you get a feel for Wordplay.

Kindergarten through first graders might not be studying what a compound word is in a grammatical sense. However, they do know several compound words, two separate words that combine to form something new and fantastic. From a tool or DIY perspective, they’re the hammer drill of the English language.

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Quest For The Golden Arrow, big scale middle Earth style fun for middle school

Time Stoppers, Quest For The Golden Arrow is the second book in the series by Carrie Jones. The first book in the series was one of our favorite releases of 2016. It was brisk, lively, fun and zipped along with parallel-world adventures about trolls, growing up and mystery. The sequel, Quest For The Golden Arrow is cut from a similar cloth and is a very good book, just more serious.

That’s not a bad thing, but the first book had such a sense of levity that reader who already enjoy the series might be taken off guard. Quest For The Golden Arrow starts out with a kidnapping bang and Mss. Cornelia, the elder time stopper has been taken prisoner by Raiff. Annie, the formerly nobody girl is practicing her abilities to stop time and this kidnapping put her and her friends at risk.

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BrandED aims for education branding, succeeds a little bit

Education is sales. In an ideal situation, if they have children, people move to a new residence because of the school’s reputation. Better schools retain their teachers, have higher achieving students and are a more integral part of the community. BrandED is the story of schools and how they can create their own brand. The book centers on eight chapters that break down situations and results that can provide educators with insight about the benefits of controlling, rather than reacting.

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Pirates of Hilton Head is must-visit fun for kids 10 and younger

So, you’re on vacation at Hilton Head Island and want to do something with the kids other than go to the beach? Ask anybody at your hotel or the kiosk at Coligny Plaza and the Pirates of Hilton Head Island will always pop up. Pirates of Hilton Head departs from Sea Pines, located on the south end of the island.

Once you arrive at Harbor Town just walk down to the marina and find The Black Dagger. It’s a large black ship with red and yellow accents and flying the Jolly Roger flag. It is a real pirate ship and the experience that you’re about to go on will enthrall children 10 and younger.

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