I appreciate reading the reviews of Memory Magic...I'm still undecided as to whether or not it's a product for my 3  & 1 yr old...I'm going to continue researching this.  Thanks!

very helpful, thank you for the post -- it's been very helpful as we've begun the Little Pim Mandarin series.

Great post!  I appreciate the 411.  Very informative, thank you.

We've had the Tweedlwink series for a few months and so far, the kids (3 yrs old & 1 yr old) are enjoying them.  The Math program has helped our 3 yr old with skip counting & "understanding" basic fractions -- we also play alot of games with pretend pizza slices, but he gets the concept of whole, 1/2, 1/4...it's quite exciting to see him share 1/2 of the pizza with his little sister.  We have the 6 volumes of Tweedlewink & so far the kids are interested, we rotate showing the dvds so their interest level still remains high.  Overall, I think it's a great product!

A good dvd, our 14 month old daughter loves it.  Hopefully there will be additional dvds available for this series -- after watching this dvd we were left wanting more.

my 3 yr old son & 1 yr old daughter LOVE the Little Pim Videos.  We've had them for about a month (French, Mandarin & Spanish) -- my 3 yr old repeats and recognizes many of the words on the 1st disc of the French & Mandarin dvds.  It's quite amazing to hear him say & recall the words from memory.  My wife is able to pose questions to the kids in french & our son effortlessly answers her question in english or french.  I'm excited about the kids being exposed to Mandarin because I grew up speaking Cantonese -- almost a "completely" different language from Mandarin believe it or not...I watch the Mandarin dvd w/ the kids and I'm learning along with them.  Can't rave enough about the Little Pim Products!

i agree w/ hypatia...plus, from much of what I've read, infants and toddlers have a window of opportunity to learn before they offically start school.  I don't think flashcards are a bad thing, if you think about it, what we find on flash cards can be found in everyday life  -- pictures of objects, quantities of objects, etc.  Flash cards are a great convenience, thank goodness!

i appreciate this 411.  thank you for your insight!

are there colours that are better than others that make the learning environment more conducive to learning?  i would imagine light, calming colours would be best? and perhaps not too "busy" in terms of patterns?  also the "noise" level in the room should be considered too...

we've also found that a globe is a great teaching tool for our 3 yo, he loves finding the countries we call out as he spins the globe.  also, we have a placemat that maps the countries of the world which has proved to be another great way to expose our child to countries...we have great chats about the world while having meals!

impressive!  i'm looking forward to receiving the little pim vids i ordered for my toddler...will keep you posted as to how things go...

p.s.
my son loves our label maker so much -- we've put labels on the underside of his wooden puzzles, many of his toys & the storage containers that hold all his toys (and those of his sister).  we've helped our son decide what the label will say, we help him type out the label, he applies the label to the item, now he is surrounded by words, words, words.  He loves to read.

i'm glad i stumbled upon this post...i've been thinking about using chalkboard paint for one of the walls in our children's play room, lots of activities and learning could be had from that one wall

if you "don't" count dada & mama, our little one's 1st word was turtle, thanks to the YBCR dvds...

my wife & i have used many sling styles / brands for our kids -- our 2 favourite are the ergo and the baby trekker because they have excellent back and shoulder support