Thursday, November 20, 2008

Handmade Cards


This week is all about gifts.  I've written about our Gift Saturday, Webkinz as gifts, and gift cards. Today it's about cards.  We just got some new handmade cards in the store.  They're cute and affordable. With our complimentary gift-bags and a card, your present is ready to go before you leave the store.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Teacher Gift Day


This Saturday, November 22nd, we'll be hosting a FREE craft day from 11am to 2pm.  You can come by the store and make a handmade ornament for your teacher (or anyone else for that matter).

The ornaments are fun and easy to make, and are a perfect holiday gift. Handmade gifts are totally in this year, and this is a perfect craft even young children can enjoy making.

If you can't make it this Saturday, we'll have another one on December 6th (two weeks from now).  Same time: 11am - 2pm.

See you this Saturday at The Learning Bug!

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

The smell of chocolate

We used up the last gift card boxes last week so I stopped by About Memories and More (where my wife's entire Christmas list can be purchased) to pick up some cardstock. She had two big baskets of cute paper and I picked out a stack of really cute papers.

Last night I finally got around to cutting the boxes and stuffing them with tissue paper. We were out of chocolates too so I had to get some of those this morning. Now it smells like chocolate here at The Learning Bug. Ahhh.

Did you know the average teacher spends about $500 on class materials out of her own pocket? A new teacher spends nearly twice that each year. It's fun to see teachers come in with gift cards because as they shop they aren't pinching pennies. They can get something "cool" without feeling guilty. Plus with their teacher discount, they actually get more than the value of the card.

Monday, November 17, 2008

This bag is not a toy...

We've all seen it:

This bag is not a toy; Not for children under 3; small parts.

These are the warnings that keep our little ones safe. Sometimes too safe. I once received a package that had a single sheet of cardboard as packaging and on it was printed "not approved for children's sleepwear." Now really -- who sends their child to bed in ONE sheet of cardboard??

Anyway, we're all about to see these warnings a lot more. In response to last year's rash of toy recalls, the government has passed more strict rules about product safety. One of the rules is that the WARNING block you see on all the boxes must appear in catalogs, on the web, and everywhere else any product is listed. So you'll be seeing it popping up all over our web site over the next few months.

Don't be alarmed. These are great products; they just aren't great for everyone. If you have any product safety questions about any of our products feel free to ask us. Since we're familiar with each product we carry, we know exactly what parts require the warning.

As a matter of trivia, did you know that out of the 20,000+ products we carry none have been recalled for safety?

Friday, November 14, 2008

Don't you wish YOU could have a kid's Birthday party again?

I have to be honest, I have been working on 'personal' projects pretty much all day.  But I guess that's one of the perks for working 14 hours a day 6 days a week for 5 years (and being your own boss).  Every once in a while, you get to take the day off even though you're still at the store helping customers.  Today I've been getting things ready for our son's birthday party, which is tomorrow.  It's an Indiana Jones theme.  The kids will be hunting for clues at several stations like a scavenger hunt.  Michelle put me in charge of two clues.  I must admit I've had a blast making them.  The gold coins have to get fished out of "crocodile creek" and then decoded, while the torn up note has to be squeezed out of "brain soup" (jell-o).  Here are some pictures:



Thursday, November 13, 2008

More Christmas Webkinz



Okay, so they're just too cute not to post a couple more Christmas Webkinz.  This is the reindeer that I LOVE, and one of the ornaments (there are 24 different ones).  The ornaments are soooo adorable. Every year Michelle and I buy a new ornament for Christmas. We try to find something that seems appropriate for the year.  I can imagine there are a lot of kids out there that a Webkinz ornament would definitely sum up their 'theme' for the past year.

I promise tomorrow I'll talk about something besides Webkinz, but ya' gotta admit -- they just make you say "aaaawww!"

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Christmas Webkinz


Yesterday we received our Christmas shipment of Webkinz.  We had the Reindeer last year, and so we ordered him again (and more) because he sold out almost instantly.  We also ordered three times as many Santa suits (hopefully that will last longer than last year!)

This year they have ornaments and a new animal - a Snowman.  The snowman is soft and fluffy, and way cute.

We've received all the new animals lately as well, so there's a HUGE selection in stock.  They've come out with so many cool animals lately, it's getting hard for me to pick my favorite.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Literacy Festival


Michelle presented some great ideas at the Literacy Festival held at Kinsey Elementary this past Saturday.  If you didn't have a chance to stop by, here is one of the projects that we had for families to make.

To create this one, you need two paper plates.  Cut away the edge of the top plate.  Have the children draw the log, pond, and grass on this plate.  Place 5 frog stickers on the 'back' plate as shown.  Put the two plates together with a brad, and you're done!  The kids turn the back plate so that each frog 'jumps into the pool' as they sing the song Five Little Speckled Frogs.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Welcome to our new blog!

Welcome the The Learning Bug's new Blog.  We hope you'll enjoy coming here often to learn what's going on at The Learning Bug and to get great ideas that we'll be passing for parents and teachers.